Persuasion and Culture: Advertising Appeals in Individualistic and Collectivistic Societies

“Han & Shavitt (1994) found that matching messages to one’s culture enhanced persuasion, and Strathman et al (1994) found that people who chronically consider the future consequences of potential behaviors were more persuaded by a message that included such consequences than one that did not.”

“Previously, researchers conducting a cross-cultural comparison of magazine advertisements found that Korean advertisements commonly use collectivistic appeals emphasizing relationships with others, whereas American advertisements commonly use individualistic appeals emphasizing the individual ( Han & Shavitt, 1994 ).”

“…served by the recipient’s attitudes (e.g., Clary, Snyder, Ridge, Miene, & Haugen, 1994; Petty, Wheeler, & Bizer, 2000), the recipient’s culture (e.g., Han & Shavitt, 1994), the cognitive or affective basis of one’s attitude (e.g., Fabrigar & Petty, 1999), and the recipient’s chronic selfguides…”

“…functions provided by a brand (e.g., Levi's allows for the expression of independence, strength and masculinity; Solomon, 1986) tend to vary to a larger degree due to the fact that individuals vary in their needs and self-views (Fiske et al., 1998; Han & Shavitt, 1994; Kim & Markus, 1999).”

“Kim and Markus (1999) and Han and Shavit (1994) used a similar approach in examining the kinds of cultural messages evident in magazine advertisements, a reflection of the shared ideas of the cultures.”

“…as China and Korea, appeals focusing on in-group benefits, harmony and family are more effective, whereas in individualistic cultures like the united States, advertising that appeals to individual benefits and preferences, personal success and independence is more effective (Han & Shavitt 1994).”

“For example, the persuasiveness of advertising appeals has been shown to vary across cultures; appeals that stress individualistic benefits are more persuasive in individualistic cultures than collectivistic cultures (United States versus Korea), and appeals that stress group (family) benefits are more persuasive in c…”

“Although previous studies have compared the content of magazine advertisements in different cultural contexts (e.g., Han & Shavitt, 1994; Kim & Markus, 1999), none have examined the affective content displayed in magazine photographs.”

“Nevertheless, the underlying influence of complex cultural paradigms often is manifested in meaningful between-group differences in shared cognitions, behaviors, and normative practices (Han & Shavitt 1994, Kashima & Kashima 1998, Kim & Markus 1999, Peng & Nisbett 1999, Rothbaum & Tsang 1998).”

“Regrettably, neither the Han and Shavitt (1994) study nor any other study of which we are aware has investigated the relative impact of purely social proofbased appeals across cultures or persons differing in I/C orientation.”

“…and constructs related to this theme, such as the independent versus interdependent self-construal, have been extensively investigated in psychology and consumer behavior (Aaker and Lee 2001; Agrawal and Maheswaran 2012; Escalas and Bettman 2005; Han and Shavitt 1994; Lee, Aaker, and Gardner 2000).”

“…Gelb 1996), separated (Wang et al. 2000), and ego focused (Aaker and Williams 1998), whereas other-focused appeals (Aaker and Williams 1998; Nelson et al. 2006) have been referred to as collectivist (Han and Shavitt 1994), connected (Wang et al. 2000), and interpersonally focused (Lau-Gesk 2003).”

“Individualism-versus-collectivism (I-C) is perhaps the most frequently used dimension of cultural variability in cross-cultural consumer research (Aaker & Maheswaran, 1997 ; Han & Shavitt, 1994 ).”

“Han and Shavitt (1994) and Zhang and Gelb (1996) also examined ad effectiveness in individualistic versus collectivistic cultures.”

“…independence, uniqueness, and success of individuals, whereas advertising in collectivistic cultures is more likely to display interdependence, family integrity, group well-being, and concern for others (Belk and Bryce 1986; Han and Shavitt 1994; Miracle, Chang, and Taylor 1992; Mueller 1987).”

“see, Han & Shavitt, 1994; Markus, Uchida, Omoregie, Townsend, & Kitayama, 2006).”

“Given prior evidence that advertisement preferences effectively reflect goals (Clary et al., 1994; Han & Shavitt, 1994; Lavine & Snyder, 1996), these findings provide further support for socioemotional selectivity theory’s contention that people place more emphasis on emotionally meaningful goals, relative to knowledg…”

“the message recipient (e.g., Aaker & Schmitt, 2001; Han & Shavitt, 1994; Kim &”

“Previous research has established that cultural values are often reflected in cultural artifacts such as advertisements (e.g., Han & Shavitt, 1994; Kim & Markus, 1999) and that the persuasiveness of culturally relevant ad themes varies across cultures (e.g., Han & Shavitt, 1994; Zhang & Gelb, 1996).”

“…Lee, 2001; Lee et al., 2000; Sherman et al., 2011), individual (vs. collective)-focused appeals for independent (vs. interdependent) selfconstrual (Han & Shavitt, 1994; Zhang & Gelb, 1996), as well as temporally distant (vs. proximal) benefits for independent (vs. interdependent) selfconstrual…”

“Previous cultural analyses of magazine advertisements have revealed that the majority of U.S. advertisements use individualist themes, emphasizing uniqueness and the individual self (Aaker & Williams, 1998; Han & Shavitt, 1994; Kim & Markus, 1999).”

“Han and Shavitt (1994) found that advertisements emphasizing individual benefits were more persuasive than ads emphasizing family or ingroup benefits in an individualistic society (United States) as compared to a collectivistic society (Korea), but this cultural difference was evident only for public consumption. Furt…”

“whole hand will hurt,” China), and advertisements often make more appeals to in-group benefits and harmony than to independence ( Hans & Shavitt, 1994 ).”

“As proposed by Han and Shavitt (1994), this process is the attempt by individuals to deal rationally with their work environments.”

“…the product is to be shared with others (e.g., a car) or not (e.g., beauty products), affects consumers’ propensity to value culture-congruent information (i.e., social harmony and conformity in collectivist cultures, uniqueness and self-promotion in individualist cultures) (Han and Shavitt, 1994).”

“As such, consumers in several East Asian countries (e.g., Han and Shavitt 1994; Markus and Kitayama 1991; Monga and John 2007) and the Mediterranean region (e.g., Oyserman, Coon, and Kemmelmeier 2002), ethnic groups such as Asian Americans and Hispanics (e.g., Oyserman, Coon, and Kemmelmeier 2002),…”

“…academic research has recognized the importance of other various elements of the social and cultural environments in marketing, such as values (Han and Shavitt 1994), goals (Aaker and Lee 2001), or language (Luna and Peracchio 2005), individuals' superstitious beliefs and their impact on…”

“…self-concept on various marketing outcomes such as consumer–brand relationships (Swami nathan, Page, & Gürhan-Canli, 2007), consumes’ attitude toward the advertising (Han & Shavitt, 1994), consumers’ evaluation on brand (Escalas & Bettman, 2005) and purchase behavior (Zhang & Shrum, 2009).”

“…Asian or South Asian models of agency, actions are responsive to the expectations of others as prescribed by social roles and obligations (e.g., Han & Shavitt, 1994; Kitayama, Duffy, & Uchida, 2007; Markus & Kitayama, 2003; Miller et al., 1990; Miller & Bland, 2009; Miller et al., 2011), and…”

“items drawn from Han and Shavitt (1994); e.”

“We found cultural-level persuasion effects similar to those reported by Han and Shavitt (1994) and Zhang and Gelb (1996).”

“Research has shown that advertising messages that are congruent with the dominant cultural norms of a society are more persuasive than those that do not reflect the cultural values of the society in which the advertising is disseminated (Cho et al., 1999; Han & Shavitt, 1994).”

“…psychological perspectives have been useful in explaining various cultural differences such as self-concepts (e.g., Kanagawa, Cross, & Markus, 2001; Oyserman & Lee, 2008), cognitive processing (e.g., Kuhnen & Oyserman, 2002; Oyserman & Lee, 2008), and consumer behaviors (e.g., Han & Shavitt, 1994).”

“Besides their content, social norms are generally more important for individual behavioral intentions in collectivistic cultures compared with individualistic cultures, where personal preferences receive more weight and are less likely to incorporate normative content.(111,150,151) In addition, cultures differ in how…”

“Consequently, distinct cultural patterns can be identified by analyzing artifacts, such as song lyrics (DeWall, Pond, Campbell, & Twenge, 2011 ), advertisements (Han & Shavitt, 1994 ), children's books (Tsai, Louie, Chen, & Uchida, 2007 ), and newspaper articles (Menon, Morris, Chiu, & Hong, 1999 ).”

“…to explain differences in communication patterns and content, business practice, and preferences for communication styles and per-suasive message appeals (Cho, Kwan, Gentry, Jun, & Kropp, 1999; de Mooij, 1998; Hall, 1984; Han & Shavitt, 1994; Hofstede, 1983, 1994; Miracle, Chang, & Taylor, 1992).”

“Yet, despite its central place in the discipline of social psychology, social inXuence has received limited attention in cross-cultural investigations (e.g., Aaker, 2000; Barrett et al., 2004; Cialdini, Wosinska, Barrett, Butner, & Gornik-Durose, 1999; Han & Shavitt, 1994 ).”

“Keywords: culture; individualism-collectivism prime; health communication; match; persuasion”

“Cultural values are the core of advertising messages, and Holbrook (1987) has suggested that in order to convince potential customers to purchase a client’s product or service, the advertiser must comply with a public’s value system rather than run against it. Empirical research has supported that advertisements that…”

“For example, Han and Shavitt (1994) found that cultural differences were more evident with products that tend to be purchased and used with others, as opposed to products that are typically purchased and used individually.”

“The cultural congruency effect in the persuasion studies was found to emerge for shared products and diminish for personal-use products (Han and Shavitt 1994; Zhang and Gelb 1996).”

“[25,26]), and evidence suggests that differences in horizontal/vertical cultural values are reflected in the ad”