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Consumer Attitude toward Advertising: A Comparison between the U.S. and

China

Jun Yu

Joyce Zhou

Background The importance of advertising International advertising Globalization: convergence of

consumer patterns? This study examines consumers in

two of the largest economies: China and the U.S.

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Advertising in China and the U.S.

China’s advertising industry started around 1980

China has become one of the most intense advertising battlegrounds in the world since then(Tefft, 1994).

Nielsen Media Research reports that advertising in China experienced a 25% growth in 2006 and another 20% in 2007.

Currently U.S. ranks first in ad spending, China the third

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Consumer Attitude toward Advertising

Advertising value (Ducoffe, 1995) A subjective evaluation of the relative worth or utility of

advertising to consumers It comprises of the key dimensions of

Informativeness Entertainment Deceptiveness Irritation

Advertising Value

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Informativeness

Entertainment

Deceptiveness

Irritation

Advertising Value

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Different National Cultures

The two markets have different cultures

Culture (Hofstede, 2005) Individualism / collectivism Uncertainty avoidance

U.S.: a highly individualistic society (IND = 91)

China: a highly collectivistic society (IND = 20)

Individualism (Hofstede, 2005) Individualism pertains to societies in

which the ties between individuals are loose

People are expected to stand up for themselves Emphasize independence, self-

assertion and self-control

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Collectivism (Hofstede, 2005) Collectivism pertains to societies in

which people from birth onward are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups Close friends, family and so on

Information obtained from in-group sources is much more reliable than info from out-group sources.

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High-Context and Low-Context Hofstede (2001): Most collectivistic cultures are

high-context, whereas most individualistic cultures are low-context.

High context: rich information is in either the physical environment or supposed to be known by those involved

little info is in coded, explicit message

Low context: the mass of info is vested in the explicit code

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Uncertainty Avoidance The extent to which the members of a

culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations

China and the U.S. are similar on this dimension UAI: uncertainty avoidance index China: UAI = 30 (ranked 68th) U.S.: UAI = 46 (ranked 62nd)

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Advertising Informativeness The U.S. and China are similar on

uncertainty avoidance Looking for information

The primary role of advertising is to inform consumers of products or brands (Bauer and Greyser, 1968)

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Hypothesis 1

H1a: Consumers from both cultures will find advertising informative.

H1b: Informativeness plays a significant role in contributing to advertising value in both cultures.

Advertising Entertainment De Mooij (2005)

Individualistic / low-context cultures are more verbally oriented (read more)

Collectivistic / high-context cultures are more visually oriented (watch more)

Messages that can be watched are more conducive to entertainment elements (e.g., commercials with plots)

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Hypothesis 2 H2a: Chinese consumers are more likely to

feel advertising to be entertaining than American consumers.

H2b: Entertainment plays a more influential role in contributing to advertising value for Chinese consumers than for American consumers.

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Advertising Deceptiveness In collectivistic cultures, the most

reliable sources are members of the same group, not external ones (Hofstede, 2005)

Advertisers pay to send messages to consumers (not in-group)

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Hypotheses 3

H3a: Chinese consumers perceive advertising to be more deceptive than American consumers.

H3b: Deceptiveness plays a more influential role in negatively contributing to advertising value for Chinese consumers than for American consumers.

Advertising Irritation Irritation: individuals react adversely

if they believe their freedom is in some way threatened (Brehm, 1966 & 1972) Freedom not to see ads Freedom to choose products on their own

The U.S. is the most individualistic society in the world

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Hypotheses 4 H4a: American consumers perceive

advertising to be more irritating than Chinese consumers.

H4b: Irritation plays a more influential role in negatively contributing to advertising value for American consumers than for Chinese consumers.

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Samples Surveys were conducted in universities in both

China and the U.S. A total of 440 questionnaires were completed in

China and 395 in the U.S.

Many studies in this area have used students as the survey respondents

They represent young consumers (Haller, 1974).

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Model FitModel chi-square d.f. chi-

square/d.f.P-value CFI NNFI RMSEA

The China group

66.13 48 1.34 .04 .97 .96 .04

The US group

95.39 67 1.42 .01 .96 .95 .05

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The U.S. group Informativeness Entertainment Ads Value Deceptiveness Irritation γ14 = -.19*

γ12 = .28**

γ11 = .51**

γ13 = .00

The China group Informativeness Entertainment Ads Value Deceptiveness Irritation

γ14 = -.11*

γ12 = .39**

γ11 = .37**

γ13 = -.10

** p<.01 * p<.05

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Results: Informativeness

A t-test to compare the means of informativeness scores between the two groups lends support to H1a (P-value =.33) in finding no significant difference between the two groups.

For both groups, informativeness has a significant and positive impact on advertising value (P-value = .00 for both groups), supporting H1b.

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Results: Entertainment

A t-test to compare the mean entertainment scores between the two groups lends support to H2a (P-value =.04) in finding that Chinese consumers perceive advertising to be more entertaining than American consumers.

The entertainment factor has a significant and positive impact on advertising value, and the coefficient for China is larger that the coefficient for the U.S. (.39 vs. .28). H2b is supported.

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Results: Deceptiveness

A t-test to compare the mean deceptiveness scores between the two groups does not show a significant difference (p=.08).

Our findings indicate that deceptiveness does not have a statistically significant effect on advertising value in both groups.

Therefore, H3 is not supported.

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Results: Irritation

A t-test to compare the mean irritation scores between the two groups lends support to H4a (P-value =.01) in finding that American consumers perceive advertising to be more irritating than Chinese consumers.

The irritation factor has a significant and negative impact on advertising value, and the coefficient for China is larger that the coefficient for the U.S. (-.11 vs. -.19). H4b is supported --- irritation adversely affects advertising value more for American consumers than for Chinese consumers.

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Implications It appears that consumers in both cultures look to

advertising as an important source of information on products and services.

Thus “advertising as information” is expected by consumers in general and will be well received by consumers from both countries.

Ads should provide adequate information for both cultures

Implications Consumers in the U.S. find advertising

more irritating than those in China.

For advertisers, this implies more flexibility in the type and frequency of advertising for Chinese consumers (to a certain extent), in comparison to U.S. consumers.

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Implications Since entertainment is valued

more by Chinese consumers, advertising adopting entertainment elements could be highly successful High-context --- rely on visual rather

than verbal message An example A Pepsi commercial

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