A Comparative Study On Cultural Values In Chinese And American Advertising

As a form of communication, advertising is the fruit of human wisdom and at the same time bears a marked brand of culture. Therefore, the content and images in advertisements usually contain different kinds of information such as value orientation, etc. Studies have proved that advertisements from different cultural backgrounds generally reveal different cultural values. By comparing cultural values revealed in American and Chinese advertising, the present thesis attempts to explore similarities and differences in them and put forward some suggestions which are intended to help solve relevant problems in intercultural communication.Value system is one of the cultural elements which have substantial influence on intercultural communication. Different scholars have classified value system in different ways. The thesis just bases on the following classifications. Kluckhohns and Strodtbeck supply us with five value dimensions for analyzing cultural patterns. After examining hundreds of cultures, Kluckhohns and Strodtbeck reached the conclusion that people turn to their culture for answers to the following questions:(1) What is the character of human nature? (2) What is the relation of humankind to nature? (3) What is the orientation toward time? (4) What is the value placed on activity? And (5) What is the relationship of people to each other? The answers to these questions serve as the bases for classifying different value systems and consequently cultural patterns. By comparing Chinese and American advertisements, the author has found that the values revealed in Chinese and American advertising have both similarities and differences.The author will structure the thesis for 5 parts. The first part is the introduction of this thesis. It is including research background, objective and significance. The second part is the literature review, generally discussing previous researches on advertising and cultural values. First, the review on advertising will include the definition of advertising and Social and cultural functions of advertising. Second, the review on cultural values will include the definition of cultural values and Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's cultural dimension theory. The third part mainly focuses on dominant Chinese and American cultural values, laying a primary foundation for the further detailed analysis of the reflections in the two countries'advertising, as well as the causes of differences between Chinese and American cultural values. In the fourth part, an elaborate comparison is made between Chinese and American advertisings, which embodies different cultural values and further illustrate causes of these differences. In the fifth part, there will be some suggestions for the advertisers who want to launch into international market.