A Comparative Analysis Of Chinese And English Cosmetics Advertisements From Cross-cultural Perspective

In modern society,cosmetics have entered a diversified era and become a new hot topic.Meanwhile,cosmetics are playing more and more important roles in people’s daily lives,especially they are loved by women.Of course,what consumers buy is not only the real experience of cosmetics but also its symbolic meaning.Therefore,it is of great importance to study cosmetics advertisements.This paper combines Hofstede’s cultural dimensions,Kluckhohn and Stodtbeck’s cultural values theory as well as Hall’s high-context and low-context theory.The research data are mainly collected from the Internet,which also includes television,cosmetics leaflets,magazines,outdoor broadcasting and other channels.This paper applies the method of both theoretical and corpus analysis to compare and analyze the collected Chinese and English cosmetics advertisements.Based on the theories of cross-culture,the author summarizes the characteristics of Chinese and English cosmetics advertisements and analyzes the differences as well as similarities between Chinese and English cosmetics advertisements in cultural values under the guidance of contextual adaptation theory of Verschueren.Besides,the cultural factors that influence differences in cosmetics advertisements will be studied.This paper first introduces the research background,significance of cosmetics advertisements and the framework of the paper,then systematically states and summarizes the previous studies on advertising and cosmetics advertisements at home and abroad.At the same time,the related theories of cultures and contextual adaptation theory are introduced to support the analysis of the data.Based on the above theories,it is found that there are certain differences as well as similarities between Chinese and English cosmeticsadvertisements through comparative analysis.For example,China belongs to collectivism,belief in authority,past-time orientation,low uncertainty avoidance and high context culture while Western countries tend to be individualism,belief in facts,future-time orientation,high uncertainty avoidance and low context culture.At the same time,the cultural factors behind the differences are analyzed: first of all,the differences in traditional cultural values;secondly,other social factors,such as history,economy,politics and so on.Of course,due to the development of globalization and the continuous exchange of Chinese and Western cultures,similarities are reflected in cosmetics advertisements of the two cultures.Finally,it is the conclusion of this paper that summarizes the main findings and limitations of this paper.Through the comparative study of Chinese and English cosmetics advertisements,the author hopes to provide a reference for the design and creativity of cosmetics advertisements and further advertising.At the same time,understanding the cultural differences between the two sides can avoid cultural conflicts and help strengthen the intercultural communication of the two cultures.It can also promote exchanges and cooperation between the two sides.