Marketing Communications

236 CHAPTER 7 ADVERTISING

to appreciate diff erent types of humour. Incongruent humour is more oft en used in Germany

(92%) and Th ailand (82%) than in the USA (69%) and Korea (57%). Th e English like black

humour, the Germans slapstick and demeaning humour, while the Japanese seem to prefer

black humour and dramatisations.^142

Gender roles

A review of content analyses in diff erent countries leads to the conclusion that gender roles

in advertising diff er to a great extent from one country to another. In Malaysia, women are

usually depicted in the home taking care of the children. In Singapore, women are concerned

with looking beautiful and are oft en shown in white-collar and service occupations. German

and Japanese advertising sticks much more to traditional gender roles than ads in Denmark,

France, New Zealand and the USA. Australian and Swedish ads have a more balanced and

non-traditional way of presenting men and women in advertising.^143 Using traditional gender

roles, such as talking about the ‘lady’s kitchen’, the ‘lady’s vacuum cleaner’, etc., when trying

to sell a house to a young European couple, will not be appreciated by these women since

more and more men and women share household chores, while in Muslim countries, such as

Malaysia, it would be unwise to imply that men could have a role in the housekeeping.

High- and low-context cultures

A high-context communication or message is one in which most of the information is either

in the physical context or internalised in the person, while very little is in the coded, explicit,

transmitted part of the message. A low-context communication is just the opposite; that is,

the mass of the information is vested in the explicit code.^144 In other words, in low-context

cultures , a lot of emphasis is placed on words. One is as accurate, explicit and unambiguous

as possible so that the receiver can easily decode the message and understand what is meant.

In high-context cultures words are one part of the message, the other part is formed by body

language and the context, i.e. the social setting, the importance and knowledge of the person.

In the latter case, the message is more ambiguous and implicit. Th e Japanese, for example, have

16 ways to avoid saying ‘no’.^145 Advertising appeals diff er to a great extent in diff erent context

cultures. For example, Japanese ads have been shown to contain fewer information cues, less

emphasis on the product’s benefi ts, fewer comparisons and to consist of more emotional

appeals than American ads.^146 In other words, in Japan a soft sell approach is preferred, while

in the USA a hard sell approach is more frequently encountered.

Cultural dimensions 147

According to Hofstede, fi ve cultural dimensions can be distinguished which can explain the

diff erences in cultural components across countries ( Figure 7.7 ).

Th e characteristic of an individualist culture is that there are loose ties between people and

that they look aft er themselves and their immediate family only. In a collectivistic culture

people belong to strong, cohesive in-groups (oft en extended families) who look aft er and

protect each other in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. Central to individualism is giving

priority to personal goals over the goals of the group, as well as an emphasis on diff erentiation

and achievement, while collectivism stands for the reverse: harmony, conformism, group goals,

participation and teamwork above all. Th is leads to diff erences in advertising appreciation.

An empirical study shows that Americans respond more favourably to an individualistic

appeal, while Chinese people react more positively to a collectivistic appeal. It should be

added, though, that a culturally incongruent appeal is less harmful when the appeal matches

the product use condition. For example, a Chinese individualistic appeal for a toothbrush is

less harmful than a Chinese individualistic appeal for a camera.^148

Th e degree of power distance refers to the extent to which authority plays an important

role, and to what extent less powerful members of the society accept and expect that power

M07_PELS3221_05_SE_C07.indd 236M07_PELS3221_05_SE_C07.indd 236 6/5/13 3:01 PM6/5/13 3:01 PM