Longitudinal Study: Cultural Value Shift Reflected In Chinese Print Advertisements

This study examines the shift of cultural values reflected in Chinese advertising appeals over decade. The conceptual base for this study is the cultural framework of individualism-collectivism originated from Hofstede and typology of cultural values developed by Richard Pollay, Cheng and Schweitzer, and other researchers. The author analyzes the content of 287 Chinese magazine advertisements from 1991-1992 and 2002-2003. Results reveal that "beauty," "effectiveness," "quality" and "technology" predominate in Chinese advertising in the early 1990s, while "convenience," "beauty," "effectiveness," and "enjoyment" predominate in Chinese advertising in the early 2000s. The study indicates that individualistic values suggesting self-centered and hedonistic lifestyles, such as "independence ", "enjoyment", and "freedom" more frequently occur in ads from 2002-2003 than those from 1991-1992. However, traditional Eastern cultural values as "nurturance", "status" and "wealth" are increasingly utilized in Chinese magazine advertisements from 2002-2003. We also find that emotional appeals for both individualistic and collectivistic cultural values occur more frequently than rational appeals in 2002-2003 advertisements. Product categories have been found to moderate the cultural effect. These changes imply that contemporary Chinese advertising is not only a "distorted mirror" but also a "melting pot" of Eastern and Western cultural values. Implications and future research directions are discussed. Chi-square test has been used to measure significant difference in advertising cultural values between 1991-1992 sample and 2002-2003 sample. The use of a one-way ANOVA model indicates that ratios of emotional and rational appeals in two samples are significantly different; and product category has a great impact on cultural values.This study will advance our understanding of the dynamics of individualism- collectivism in an era of mass communications and globalization. It will also shed light on advertising globalization and localization issues in contemporary China, by focusing on a generation that has multiple cultural frames in mind.