  We investigate the problem of cross-cultural interactions through mass media
in a model where two populations of social agents, each with its own internal
dynamics, get information about each other through reciprocal global
interactions. As the agent dynamics, we employ Axelrod's model for social
influence. The global interaction fields correspond to the statistical mode of
the states of the agents and represent mass media messages on the cultural
trend originating in each population. Several phases are found in the
collective behavior of either population depending on parameter values: two
homogeneous phases, one having the state of the global field acting on that
population, and the other consisting of a state different from that reached by
the applied global field; and a disordered phase. In addition, the system
displays nontrivial effects: (i) the emergence of a largest minority group of
appreciable size sharing a state different from that of the applied global
field; (ii) the appearance of localized ordered states for some values of
parameters when the entire system is observed, consisting of one population in
a homogeneous state and the other in a disordered state. This last situation
can be considered as a social analogue to a chimera state arising in globally
coupled populations of oscillators.
