Immigration, acculturation, and mass media effects: Cultural values and evaluations of Caucasian and Asian advertising models

The purpose of this study is to examine how exposure to mass media affects Korean consumers' cultural values from the perspective of mass communication, and how certain formed cultural values, such as acceptance of American cultural values vs. affinity for Korean cultural values, affect subjects' racial evaluations (e.g., Caucasian vs. Asian) and their responses to advertising stimuli. Using a cross-cultural method, the study compares the responses of Koreans living in Korea and the responses of Korean immigrants to Asian and Caucasian models. It would be useful to know whether there are different self concepts and racial evaluations in advertising models between members of an ethnic group living in their own cultural area (e.g., Koreans living in Korea) and those who have moved to and become acculturated to life in a different country (e.g., Korean immigrants in the U.S.). Two different studies performed in Seoul, Korea and Chicago, U.S. using structural equation modeling suggested the following results.; First, in Chicago, exposure to Korean mass media was a significant predictor of cultural values, while exposure to American mass media was partially related to subjects' cultural values. At the same time, in Seoul, exposure to Korean mass media was partially related to subject's cultural values. Second, in America, cultural values lead Korean Americans to react to specific racial models positively or negatively, while cultural values were not related to subjects' racial preferences in Seoul, Korea. Third, with regard to the indirect relationship between media exposure and racial preferences, we found different results in different geographical locations. In the U.S., exposure to mass media is indirectly related (through Korean immigrants' cultural values) to their attitudes toward racial preference in print advertisements. However, exposure to media was not related to racial preference in Seoul. Based on our findings, we predict that when advertisers use an international marketing strategy in which model race may be relevant for Asian consumers, geographical difference is the key factor.