Cultural Differences Reflected In Magazine Advertising

The standardization versus specialization of international advertising has been a subject of great controversy that has been debated for more than 50 years, which fuelled an increasing demand for more cross-cultural advertising researches on advertising content. In addition, with regard to more and more important role of China in international market, it is meaningful to compare China with the United States which is typical representative of Western culture. Applying cultural theory and Hofstede and Hall's cultural dimensions frameworks, the current study investigated the cultural differences reflected in terms of information content, comparative advertising and the use of celebrity endorsement manifest in magazine advertising from China and the United States.This study utilized the quantitative method of content analysis. Sample advertisements were selected from two categories of magazines in each country (general interest and news). And finally, ads sample analyzed in this study were composed of 73 Chinese ads and 45 U.S. ads.The author applied to SPSS to analyze the research data. The results of this study are summarized as follows:1. The average number of information cues contained in magazine ads from two countries was compared. And Chinese magazine ads were found to contain more information cues than U.S. magazine ads, which is opposite to the prediction of hypothesis 1. It indicates that ads in low context culture do not necessarily need more information than those in high context culture. Besides cultural factors, other elements such as economy and media also influence advertising content. However, there were some similarities in some information cues which were utilized frequently in both countries such as quality, component and performance.2. Comparative advertising both explicit and implicit was used more frequently in U.S. magazine ads. As a kind of competition in some sense, comparative advertising is more prevalent in individualistic cultures (the United States). Through addressing superiority over competitors'products, comparative advertising makes consumers to figure out advertised product's advantages more easily. It is consistent with communication styles of low context cultures which prefer direct and clear messages. In addition, social conventions, religion and advertising regulations or law also contribute to different comparative advertising use in China and the United States.3. Chinese magazine ads contained more celebrity-endorsed advertising than its U.S. counterparts. Celebrity endorsement advertising is more credible and influential in high uncertainty avoidance and high power distance cultures. And in collectivistic countries such as China, advertising featuring celebrity endorsers is more likely to guides consumers.