CULTURED MINDS
An Investigation of How Culture Affects Decision Making
ADVERTISING
”Advertising must be compatible with the values of the consumer if it is to influence behaviour”
(Petit & Zakon, 1962)
Advertising Context is Important
Those operating under an individualist cultural orientation are more likely to process advertisements analytically. They treat the endorser and message/endorsement as independent pieces of information, so are less sensitive to their fit. As would be predicted by a holistic processing style, Collectivists appear more sensitive to the relationship between endorser and message. They evaluated advertisements “more negatively when fit was low than when it was high.” (Kwon, Saluja & Adaval, 2015)
High Fit = an older man on the “Help Age” advertisement
Low fit = a young man on the “Help Age” advertisement
Tailored Advertisements are more Persuasive
Numerous studies suggest that consumers have a heightened receptivity to culturally-tailored advertisements (Uskul & Oyserman, 2010). Meanwhile (Hornikx & O’Keefe, 2009) noticed that adapted appeals were significantly more persuasive for Asian-pacific & North American audiences but observed no effect for EU, or Central/South-American audiences.
Research in China has revealed a strong generational component to the persuasiveness of targeted advertisements. (Zhang, 2009, 2010) note that young Chinese consumers were equally persuaded by individualistic and collectivistic ad appeals, whereas their older counterparts were more persuaded by collectivistic ad appeals. Other findings from the commercial world validate ( Zhang 2009, 2010)’s results: TV ads targeting younger Chinese score high in individualism (compared to those for older Chinese), but still lower than TV ads targeting Americans (Hsu, 2011). A recent study across 5 countries also analysed advertisements and showed that emphasis on status corresponded to each country’s vertical/horizontal cultural profile (Shavitt, Johnson & Zhang, 2011)
Case study
Despite the two countries’ geographical proximity, Belgian consumers (high uncertainty avoidance) prefer insurance schemes that entail, on average, higher but less variable fees than Dutch consumers (lower uncertainty avoidance).
(Steenkamp, Hofstede & Wedel, 1999)
Creativity
Receptiveness to creativity in advertisements has been linked to uncertainty avoidance by (Bilby, 2012) who opines that consumers from high uncertainty avoidance cultures might be more reluctant to process highly creative ad messages because unpredictable (creative) messages are conflict with their preference for certainty. Accordingly, (Steenkamp, Hofstede & Wedel, 1999) measured lower innovativeness in national cultures with high uncertainty avoidance. They recommended that companies position new products as “continuous innovation that does not require radical changes in existing consumption patterns” for high uncertainty avoidance cultures. They also advise offering free sampling and generous return policies and note that these consumers are likely willing to pay a premium for any products/services that “yield additional certainty” e.g warranties.
Humour
Although humour itself appears universal, styles of humour and its public appropriateness differ greatly. In Alden, Hoyer, and Lee’s 1993 study, countries with more collectivist cultures (Korea & Thailand) included more group-oriented humorous situations in advertisements (sketches with more people) than those from the more individualist cultures (Germany & USA).
Storytelling Style
In keeping with analytic/holistic thinking style behaviour predictions, (Lee, Hallahan & Herzog, 1996), found that sports editorial writers in Hong Kong focused on situational explanations of sports events (more holistic) while American sports writers preferred to use the dispositions of individual team members as explanations (more analytic).
Language
Language can affect receptivity to advertising by activating the ‘cultural accommodation’ whereby subjects exposed to stimuli in their second language adopt values and thinking styles of the culture associated with that language.
In one study, Hong Kong Chinese-English bilinguals were exposed to an English advertisement and asked to respond in English, whilst others were exposed to a Chinese advertisement and asked to respond in Chinese. It was expected that Chinese participants would react negatively to the advertisement because of their heightened sensitivity to message source/context and dislike of the ‘hard-sell’ American tactic. Although they did not rate the advertisement more favourably, Chinese participants who responded in English reacted more similarly to an English-speaking Canadian sample than those who were presented with the all-Chinese version of the experiment. People who spoke in English (both Chinese and Canadian) perceived “greater source honesty, less forcefulness on the part of the source and reported a more positive attitude toward the brand, than those who were exposed to the Chinese advertisement and responded in Chinese” (Toffoli and Laroche, 2002).
Vision/Attention in Advertising
The Analytic/Holistic distinction again holds true for visual perception (eye-movement) and attention to pictures. Americans have a propensity to fixate sooner and longer on focal objects in pictures while Chinese exhibit a pattern of more balanced fixations on the foreground object as well as background. (Chua, Boland & Nisbett, 2005). This distinction also held for viewing videos with Japanese participants remembering a different range of objects from Americans. It was harder for Japanese participants to recognise objects that had been taken out of their original settings/context compared to Americans. (Masuda & Nisbett, 2001)
Color Preferences/Frequency in Advertisements
France: black and brown
United States: black and brown*
Venezuela: red, orange and green
Taiwan: yellow*
“Green is associated with money in the United States while in France it is pharmacies”
Larke and Honeycutt (2000)
*Huang (1993) cited in (Littrell & Miller, 2001)