In recent years, a wealth of literature has increased our
understanding of cross-cultural differences in advertising content.
Abernethy and Franke (1996) point out a gap in literature stating that
"no study has examined the advertising information in any African
nation, any part of the Middle
East other than Saudi Arabia, or any of
the economies in transition associated with the former USSR." The
current study, therefore, investigates differences in content of
magazine advertisements from the United States and the Arab world
comprising twelve Middle Eastern countries and ten African countries.
Differences in the depiction of men and women, the extent of comparative
advertising, the extent of information content, and the extent of price
information are hypothesized, based on the role of religion in forming
values (Luqmani, Yavas and Quraeshi 1987), the level of individualism
(Hofstede 1980), and whether the culture is high-context or low-context
(Hall 1976), as well as economic differences. One thousand sixty- four
ads from Egyptian, Lebanese and United Arab Emirates, as well as
pan-Arabic general interest, family, and women's magazines,
together with 540 ads from three U.S. general interest, family and
women's magazines, were content analyzed. It was found that people
are depicted less frequently in Arabic magazine ads. However, in ads in
which people are shown, there are no differences in the extent to which
women are depicted. In ads in which women are shown, they are depicted
wearing long dresses, and tend to be pictured in ads when their presence
relates to the advertised product. Also, in ads showing people, there
are no differences in the extent to which male models are depicted. U.S.
ads have more information content, provide more price information, and
use more comparative advertising than Arabic ads. Implications for
international marketers wanting to advertise in Arab magazines are
offered. Limitations and extensions are also discussed.
In recent years, a wealth of literature has increased our
understanding of cross-cultural differences in advertising content
(Abernethy and Franke 1996). Many studies have compared ad content
across dissimilar cultures such as the United States and Japan (e.g.,
Hong, Muderrisoglu and Zinkhan 1987; Javalgi, Cutler and Malhotra 1995;
Mueller 1987, 1992). Other studies have focused on the similarities and
differences in advertising expressions between the United States and
other culturally similar countries such as Great Britain and Australia
(Dowling 1980; Weinberger and Spotts 1989a, 1989b), the European
Community (Cutler and Javalgi 1992), Sweden (Wiles, Wiles and TjernlUnd
1996) and France (Biswas, Olsen and Carlet 1992). In a meta-analysis of
advertising content studies, Abernethy and Franke (1996) found that
those involving the United States dominate the literature, with 40 out
of 59 studies analyzed dealing with United States media. In reviewing
the literature, they noted that "much less is known about a
dvertising information in other countries. For example, no study has
examined the advertising information in any African nation, any part of
the Middle East other than Saudi Arabia, or any of the 'economies
in transition' associated with the former USSR" (p. 15).
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