indian print ads

Dominant Cultural Values:Content Analysis of the U.S.

and Indian Print AdvertisementsDurriya H. Z. Khairullah

Zahid Y. Khairullah

SUMMARY. This study expands on previous work in exploring domi-nant cultural values portrayed in print magazine advertisements in theUnited States of America (U.S.) and India across and within product cat-egories. A modified version of Cheng and Schweitzers (1996) codingframework is used for the study. The differences and similarities in theobserved frequencies of the dominant cultural values portrayed in theprint magazine advertisements are discussed. The analysis shows a com-monality of the dominant values frequently portrayed in the magazineadvertisements of both countries although statistically significant differ-ences in their frequency of occurrence are also present for several of theobserved values both across and within product categories. The resultsare consistent with those of researchers advocating a middle-of-the-road

Durriya H. Z. Khairullah is affiliated with the School of Management, SyracuseUniversity, Syracuse, NY, and is Associate Professor, Marketing, Saint BonaventureUniversity, Saint Bonaventure, NY 14778. Zahid Y. Khairullah is affiliated with theSchool of Management, State University of New York, Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, and isProfessor, School of Business Administration, Saint Bonaventure University, St.Bonaventure, NY 14778.

Both the authors have contributed equally and are listed in alphabetical order.The authors wish to thank the Editor and the anonymous referees of JGM for their

guidance and helpful comments.[Haworth co-indexing entry note]: Dominant Cultural Values: Content Analysis of the U.S. and Indian

Print Advertisements. Khairullah, Durriya H. Z., and Zahid Y. Kairullah. Co-published simultaneously inJournal of Global Marketing (International Business Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc.) Vol. 16,No. 1/2, 2002, pp. 47-70; and: Strategic Global Marketing: Issues and Trends (ed: Erdener Kaynak) Interna-tional Business Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc., 2002, pp. 47-70. Single or multiple copies of thisarticle are available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service [1-800-HAWORTH, 9:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m. (EST). E-mail address: [email protected]].

2002 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. 47

approach in the standardization versus adaptation debate of advertisingmessages. Advertising campaigns in each country should be assessedcarefully in terms of target market, cultural and environmental factors,and also upon the nature of the product. [Article copies available for a feefrom The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail ad-dress: Website: 2002 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]

KEYWORDS. Advertising, content analysis, cultural values, standard-ization/adaptation

INTRODUCTION

Several cross-cultural studies have stressed the importance of culturein analyzing consumer responses to marketing stimuli in different coun-tries (e.g., Clark 1990; Farley and Lehmann 1994; Kaynak and Cavusgil1983; Takada and Jain 1991). The use of cultural dimensions to explaindifferences in advertising between two cultures is based on a commonlyheld belief that consumers reactions to advertising are influenced by cul-tural norms (Albers-Miller and Gelb 1996; Freidmann 1986; Mueller1987). Culture is defined as the sum total of learned beliefs, values,and customs that serve to direct the consumer behavior of members of aparticular society (Schiffman and Kanuk 2000, p. 322). Value, an im-portant part of culture, is defined by Rokeach (1973, p. 50) as: A valueis an enduring belief that a specific mode of or end state of existence ispersonally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode ofconduct or end state of existence. Thus, cultural values are very impor-tant determinants of behavior, both personal and social life (Srikandath1991). The elements of culture are transmitted by family, educationalinstitutions, social institutions, houses of worship and mass media, allof which play a major role in the transfer of culture throughout society(Schiffman and Kanuk 2000).

Consumers are exposed daily to advertising, an important compo-nent of mass media. Advertising not only propagates information abouteditorial or programming contents to a large number of audiences at thesame time and at an economically feasible price, but also transmits im-portant cultural information. Although the function of advertising is toinfluence demand for specific products and services, nevertheless in acultural context the role of advertising is to reinforce conventional cul-tural values and help communicate new tastes, habits, and customs.

48 STRATEGIC GLOBAL MARKETING: ISSUES AND TRENDS

Since advertising acts as an agent of social change in society, it is neces-sary for marketers to design advertising campaigns in a way that reflectsthe cultural values of their target audience (Srikandath 1991).

The impetus for cross-cultural research of cultural values in advertis-ing content is sparked by a continuous debate over standardization or lo-calization of international advertising messages (Mueller 1987; 1992).Standardized advertising refers to messages which are used in globalmarkets with virtually no change in theme, illustration, or copy, exceptin case of translation where required. Proponents of standardization ar-gue that improved, faster communication has stimulated a worldwideacceptance of art, literature, tastes, thoughts, beliefs, language, andtherefore advertising. Although people are different, their basic physio-logical and psychological needs remain the same (e.g., Fatt 1967; Levitt1983). Localized campaigns on the other hand require adaptation orcustomization of advertising messages in global markets (Caillat andMueller 1996). Tansey, Hyman and Zinkhan (1990) contend that it isimportant to understand cross-cultural differences in the way the valuesare conveyed since they provide situations for interpreting advertise-ments, are frequently implied by advertisements, vary across countries,and may be used for market segmentation. According to Pollay (1983,p. 74) values are manifest in advertising in every way possible. Otherresearchers are of the opinion that targeting consumers by using theircultural values is a potent marketing strategy in developing successfulinternational advertising strategies. (e.g., Henry 1976; Munson andMcIntyre 1979; Vinson et al. 1977) and consumers reward advertiserswho understand their culture and tailor advertisements to reflect theirvalues (e.g., Boddewyn et al. 1986; Harris 1984). In light of this debateseveral studies have content analyzed cultural values of advertisementsof several countries and compared them with those of the U.S. (e.g.,Albers-Miller and Gelb 1996; Caillat and Mueller 1996; Cheng andSchweitzer 1996; Frith and Sengupta 1991, and others).

Against the background of the globalization debate and within thetradition of content research, the aim of the present study is to expandon previous work and to explore what dominant cultural values are fre-quently manifested in the U.S. and Indian magazine advertisementsacross and within product categories. A modified version of Cheng andSchweitzers (1996) coding framework is used for the study. It shouldbe noted that this study does not intend to test any hypothesis. The studyis an exploratory research. It tries to examine differences and similari-ties in dominant cultural values of magazine advertisements of the twocountries and to examine whether a case can be made for standardiza-

Durriya H. Z. Khairullah and Zahid Y. Khrairullah 49

tion or adaptation of cultural values in magazine advertising for the U.S.multinational marketers operating in India.

U.S. and Indian Advertisements

We selected advertisements from the U.S. and India for comparisonfor several reasons. First, the U.S. is the advertising capital of the worldand it has the largest and most influential advertising business in theworld (Baudot 1989). In 1999, the total estimated advertising expendi-tures in the U.S. was $215.229 billion (Statistical Abstract of the UnitedStates 2000). As the worlds largest advertiser, the U.S. contains the ad-vertising sponsors who are most likely to attempt standardization acrosscountries (Cutler and Javalagi 1992). The liberalization of the Indianeconomy in the 1990s and accompanying media boom, multinational ac-counts, and severe competition has revolutionized the advertising indus-try. The industry which had less than $300,000 annual turnover in the1950s now had a turnover of more than $1.145 billion in the late 1990s(Sengupta 1997). Second, most studies of the cultural content in adver-tising have been conducted between the U.S. and developed countriesor the developing countries (e.g., Cheng and Schweitzer 1996; Frith andSengupta 1991; Hong et al. 1987; Mueller 1987, 1992; Tansey et al.1990). These studies have used the U.S. as either a reference frame ora model of typical western culture (Cheng and Schweitzer 1996). TheU.S. is a highly developed nation and has one of the largest democraciesin the world. India too is considered one of the largest democracies inthe world (Jain 2001). India is considered also to be the fastest growingindustrialized nation among Third World countries (Frith and Sengupta1991). It is considered to be one of the Big Emerging Markets(Cateora 1999) with its imports amounting to $60.8 billion and exportsof $43.1 billion in the year 2000. The U.S. is one of its major tradingpartners with imports from the U.S. amounting to $5.47 billion and ex-ports to the U.S. amounting to $9.48 billion in the year 2000 (The WorldFactbookCIA 2001). India is a major center for multinational corpora-tions operating in Asia (Frith and Sengupta 1991). The direct invest-ment of U.S. in India went from $0.37 billion in 1990 to $1.48 billion in1998 (Statistical Abstracts of the United States 2000).

The middle class population in India is growing very rapidly. An esti-mated 100 to 300 million Indians have enough disposable income to rep-resent an increasing consumer class for both durable and non-durableproducts (Chakravarti 1997; Jain 2001). Most middle-class Indians canwrite and speak English and can afford 20-inch color televisions, wash-


ing machines, motorcycles, mopeds. They drink Coke and patronize U.S.fast food outlets. The U.S. multinational companies are very active inves-tors in the Indian economy. These multinationals include General Elec-tric, Texas Instruments, Motorola, Ford, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Philip Morris,Timex, Kelloggs, McDonalds, and others (Fuhrman and Schuman1994; Jain 2001; Ranjan 1997). Furthermore, India was under the influ-ence of British rule for over 200 years and western influence is still preva-lent in the daily lives of urban Indians. For instance, they wear westernclothing, speak and write in English, use western products, discuss theirtrips abroad to Europe and North America, watch popular western televi-sion shows and movies, and read western magazines and newspapers(Cox and Daniel 2000; Israel and Grewal 1985).

The Indian press has experienced remarkable growth since its inde-pendence from the British rule. In the 1970s, photographic reproduc-tion in publications became sophisticated and color advertisements inmagazines became very popular. Moreover, data on consumer readinghabits became available. These advances created more media opportu-nities and provided Indian advertisers with means of evaluating effec-tiveness of media (Doctor and Alikhan 1997). The growth of literacyand the spread of consumerism during the 1980s led to the speedygrowth of newsweeklies and other periodicals. The liberalization ofgovernment economic reforms in the 1990s led to the growth of theprivate-sector, which in turn led to an increase in private-sector adver-tising (Heitzman and Worden 1996). Although the majority of publi-cations are in local Indian languages, the English-language press has awide circulation amongst the upper and middle-class Indians through-out India (Heitzman and Worden 1996; Turner 2000). A comparativestudy of cultural values depicted in the print advertisements of thesetwo countries would provide a good test for the case in standardizationversus adaptation of advertising messages. A review of the literature in-dicates that little, if any, research has been done on cross-cultural valuesmanifested in Indian magazines advertisements versus those depicted inthe U.S. magazines of the same product categories. The present study,therefore, seeks to offer some insights in this area of mass media re-search in India.

LITERATURE REVIEW

This section addresses briefly the literature on cross-cultural differ-ences between the U.S. and other countries in the way advertisements de-


pict cultural values. Albers-Miller and Gelb (1996) found that magazineadvertising appeals varied across countries (e.g., Japan, Chile, Brazil, In-dia, Israel, Mexico, United States, France, Finland, Taiwan, and SouthAfrica) in terms of cultural dimensions of individualism, uncertainty,avoidance, power distance, and masculinity. A study by Biswas, Olsenand Carlet (1992) found that French advertisements made greater use ofemotional appeals, humor, and sex appeals, while the U.S. advertise-ments contained more information cues. Another study found that the TVadvertisements of beer in the U.S. focused more on American culturalvalues such as achievement, individualism/independence, and moder-nity/newness, while British advertisements focused on predominantlyBritish values of tradition/history and eccentricity. British advertisementsused humor appeals almost exclusively while the U.S. advertisements re-lied on emotional and sex appeals (Caillat and Mueller 1996). Cheng andSchweitzer (1996) found that the U.S. commercials used both symbolicand utilitarian values, while the Chinese commercials used more sym-bolic values. The commercials of imported products in China depictedmore western cultural values so did commercials for joint-venture prod-ucts. Frith and Senguptas (1991) study indicated that the cultural valueof individualism was most pronounced in TV advertisements in the U.S.,less pronounced in Great Britain, and least pronounced in India.

A study by Hong, Muderrisoglu and Zinkhan (1987) found that Japa-nese magazine advertisements used more emotional appeals and lesscomparative appeals than the U.S. Japanese advertisements were alsofound to contain at least as many information cues as the U.S. advertise-ments. The results of Muellers (1987, 1992) studies indicated that de-pending upon the involvement level of the product, Japanese magazineadvertisements used soft sell and status appeals more than the U.S. ad-vertisements. Also, the westernized appeal of individuality and inde-pendence was utilized in many Japanese advertisements. Tansey,Hyman and Zinkhans (1990) study found that urban themes were usedmore frequently in Brazilian advertisements than in the U.S. advertise-ments. Leisure themes were used more frequently in the U.S. advertise-ments than in Brazilian advertisements. Work themes appeared asfrequently in Brazilian advertisements as in the U.S. advertisementsand the work themes appeared more frequently in the U.S. advertise-ments as the 1970s progressed.

The findings of a longitudinal study of advertising appeals fromHong Kong, China and Taiwan by Tse, Belk and Zhou (1989) showedthat Chinese advertisements emphasized utilitarian appeals, promised abetter life, and focused on states of being as a consumption theme. The


Hong Kong advertisements stressed hedonistic values, promised easierand American-type lifestyles and focused on doing things. The Taiwan-ese advertisements were a blend of values emphasized in China andHong Kong, however they were converging more towards the HongKong advertisements in consumption appeals over time. Ueltschy andRyans Jr. (1997) found that the good things in life, harmony and beauty,mental characteristics, societal requisites, and Christian values weremore important to Mexicans than to Americans. The results of two stud-ies (e.g., Zhang and Gelb 1996; Zhang and Neelankavil 1997) noted thatthe U.S. subjects preferred individualistic appeals to collective appeals,while the Chinese subjects generally preferred collective appeals partic-ularly in case of their rating scores on non-personal products.

METHODOLOGY

The method used in this study was content analysis that focused onthe content of verbal, written, and pictorial communications, such as thecopy, headline, art composition, etc. of an advertisement. Content anal-ysis can be used to objectively evaluate the social and cultural changesthat have occurred in a specific society. It is also used to find trends instyles and layouts of various types of advertising. Content analysis isuseful to marketers and public policy makers interested in comparingadvertising claims of competitors within a specific industry, and alsofor evaluating the nature of advertising claims aimed at specific targetgroups (Schiffman and Kanuk 2000). It is a method that is commonlyused in the study of cross-cultural advertising to help international mar-keters decide what strategies to adopt in overseas markets (Firth andWesson 1991; Hong et al. 1987; Rice and Lu 1988).Print Magazine Advertisements Used

In order to examine the cross-cultural differences in dominant cul-tural values in advertisements appearing in Indian magazines and ad-vertisements appearing in the U.S. magazines, some of the popularIndian and U.S. magazines from the years 1999 and 2000 were re-viewed. To maintain comparability, the magazines of both countrieswere selected based on similarity of format, content, audience demo-graphics, and product categories advertised. The advertisements se-lected were limited to five popular durable and non-durable productcategories.


The products were selected because they were the most frequentlyadvertised in the Indian and the U.S. magazines that were reviewed. Alist of the five product categories selected for the present study togetherwith the names of the Indian and the U.S. magazines in which they wereadvertised are presented in Table 1. The frequency distributions of theselected advertisements for the five product categories are shown in Ta-ble 2.


TABLE 1. U.S. and Indian Magazines and Product Advertisements Selected

U.S. IndianMagazines Advertisements Magazines Advertisements

Business 2.0 Airlines, cars, computers Business India airlines, cars cigarettes,computers, hotels

Business Week Airlines, computers, hotels Business Today airlines, cars, cigarettes,computers

Forbes Cars, computers, hotels Business Week computers, hotels

Ladies Home Journal Cigarettes Business World cars, computers, hotels

Newsweek Airlines, hotels Femina cars, cigarettes

People Cars, cigarettes Filmfare airlines, cars, cigarettes,computers

Sports Illustrated Cars, cigarettes, computers,hotels

India Today airlines, cars, computers,hotels

Time Airlines, cigarettes,computers, hotels

Stardust airlines, cars, cigarettes,hotels

U.S. News & WorldReport

Airlines, hotels The India Magazineof Her People andCulture

airlines, cigarettes, hotels

Vogue Cigarettes, cars

TABLE 2. Frequency Distribution of Advertisements

ProductU.S. Magazine Advertisements Indian Magazine Advertisements

Count % Count %

Airline 16 14.8% 26 28.3%

Car 29 26.9% 19 20.7%

Cigarette 24 22.2% 17 18.5%

Computer 13 12.0% 13 14.1%

Hotel 26 24.1% 17 18.5%

A total of 200 Indian and the U.S. magazine advertisements werecontent analyzed in this study. Duplicate advertisements appearing indifferent magazines were discarded. The unit of analysis was restrictedto full-page black and white and color advertisements. All of the Indianmagazines reviewed were in English and all the advertisements selectedfrom them were in English. Although India has obtained its independ-ence from Great Britain in 1947, English still today remains one of theofficial languages used in India to conduct official business and com-mercial transactions (The World FactbookCIA 2001). Educated Indi-ans in urban areas of India are proficient in both spoken and writtenEnglish (Mehta and Belk 1991), and many popular national magazinesare in English and advertisements that appear in them are in English aswell.

Killough (1978) has suggested that one way to look at internationaladvertising is to consider two major elements: (1) the idea proposition,which is the message to be conveyed or the content and (2) the creativepresentation that includes the headlines and all the visual and verbal ele-ments. In this study, as in several other comparative advertising studies,this separation of the two elements proposed by Killough was not con-sidered. However, researchers did observe a number of similarities aswell as differences in the U.S. and the Indian print advertisementsacross and within the selected product categories.

An attempt to describe the 200 advertisements used in this studywould be beyond the scope of this paper. However, the following briefcomments regarding the description of advertisements of two of theproduct classes, cigarettes and computers, may be useful as examples.The cigarette advertisements often had outdoor scenes, e.g., there wereadvertisements showing men on horseback and others with scenes ofmountain climbing in the magazines of both countries. All the cigaretteadvertisements of both countries had very limited copy. On the otherhand, a few U.S. cigarette advertisements portrayed a romantic sceneand a few others showed a woman smoking, but there were no romanticportrayals in the Indian advertisements and no Indian advertisementshowed a woman smoking a cigarette. The majority of computer adver-tisements of both countries had a plain background with a lot of copydescribing the product features. In some instances the computer andcomponents were prominently shown while in many others there weresmall pictures of the computer and components. There were no personsshown in the U.S. advertisements for computers while in some Indianadvertisements family members or individuals working together wouldbe shown around a computer.


Coding Instrument and Procedure

The coding design for the present study was based on Cheng andSchweitzers (1996) modified typology of thirty-two cultural valuesmanifested in advertising, that was originally built on Pollay (1983) andMueller (1987, 1992) frameworks (see Table 3). Pollays typology hasbeen subsequently adapted by several other studies on cultural values(e.g., Cheng 1994; Firth and Wesson 1991; Mueller 1987; Srikandath1991; Tse et al. 1989).

A portfolio containing a mix of Indian advertisements and the U.S.advertisements of the five selected products were given to fourAsian-Indian coders. These coders were educated, middle-class Indiansresiding in Mumbai, a major metropolitan city in India. All of themwere fluent in both spoken and written English, had been constantly ex-posed to western culture through magazines, movies and television, andhad traveled widely in North America and Europe. Thus they were fa-miliar with the Indian as well as the American cultural values. Thesecoders were provided with a coding sheet and a sheet explaining each ofthe thirty-two cultural values. They were instructed to first spend sometime familiarizing themselves with the thirty-two cultural values andtheir descriptions. Then they were requested to answer a brief question-naire covering demographic information. Next they were asked to iden-tify the dominant theme in each advertisement that was manifested inthe copy, headline, pictures, and situation or context of the advertise-ment. They were asked to focus on the cultural values depicted in theadvertisements rather than the qualities that flowed out of the advertisedproduct itself. Reference to descriptions of the thirty-two values waspermitted throughout the coding task. The four Asian-Indian codersworked independently in completing the tasks assigned to them.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

As mentioned at the outset, the purpose of this study is exploratory innature. The objectives are to examine which cultural values are mostfrequently depicted in Indian and U.S. magazine advertisements acrossand within product categories, and to explore similarities and differ-ences in these values as manifested in the advertisements of these twocountries. While interpreting the results of this study it is important totake into consideration the socio-economic characteristics of the coderswho participated in this study, the product categories considered, and



TABLE 3. Listing of Cultural Values

Cultural Value Brief Description

Adventure Suggests boldness, daring, courage or thrill in use of productBeauty Suggests enhancement of loveliness, attractiveness, elegance of an individualCollectivism Emphasis on belonging to a reference groupCompetition Emphasis on differentiating the product from its competitorsConvenience Suggests product is handy and easy to useCourtesy Suggests politeness and friendship towards consumersEconomy Suggests inexpensive, affordable and cost-saving characteristics in productEffectiveness Suggests power and capability of product in achieving desired resultsEnjoyment Suggests users of product would enjoy itFamily Emphasis on family life and use of product by entire familyHealth Suggests use of product enhance vitality, strength and general health of the bodyIndividualism Emphasis on the self-sufficiency and self-reliance of an individual or on the person being

uniqueLeisure Suggests product will provide comfort and relaxationMagic Suggests miraculous effects in nature of productModernity Portrays newness, currency or futuristic qualities of productNatural Suggests spiritual harmony between human beings and natureNeatness Emphasizes cleanliness and neatness in the advertisementNurturance Stresses giving in charity, help, protection, support, or sympathy to those who need itPatriotism Suggests love of and loyalty to one's nation inherent in the nature or use of the productPopularity Suggests universal recognition and acceptance of a product by consumersQuality Emphasizes excellence and durability of productRespectfor Elderly

Suggests respect for older people by using older models, asking for opinion and advice of el-ders

Safety Emphasizes the reliable and secure nature of the productSex Portrays glamorous and sensual models or had background portraying people in loveSocial Status Suggests use of product elevates social position or rank of user; feeling of trend setting, pres-

tige and pride through the use of the product is conveyedTechnology Emphasizes advanced and sophisticated technical skills to engineer and manufacture the

productTradition Emphasizes qualities of being historical, time-honored, conventional; honoring established

custom

Uniqueness Emphasizes the unrivaled, incomparable and unparalleled nature of productWealth Suggests product will make user well-off; being affluent, prosperous and rich is encouragedWisdom Suggests respect for knowledge, education, intelligence, expertise, or experienceWork Suggests respect for diligence and dedication to one's job and means of earning

a livelihoodYouth Emphasizes being young through use of younger models; stresses rejuvenating benefits of

product

Source: Adapted from Cheng and Schweitzer (1996).

the medium examined, because these factors could have an importantbearing on the results.

Frequently Observed Dominant Cultural Values Across ProductCategories

In this study, values most frequently depicted in the U.S. magazineadvertisements (with frequencies above 5.0%) are: adventure (6.5%),convenience (10.7%), courtesy (5.6%), effectiveness (9.8%),leisure (9.8%), and technology (7.5%). The cultural values seenmost often in Indian magazine advertisements (with frequencies greaterthan 5.0%) are adventure (11.2%), convenience (7.6%), courtesy(5.7%), effectiveness (5.7%), leisure (7.4%), natural (9.0%),quality (5.2%) and technology (7.6%) (see Table 4).

It is remarkable that most of the relatively high frequency values (fre-quencies > 5.0%) are common to both the U.S. and the Indian advertise-ments. The frequencies of the values natural and quality in the U.S.advertisements are 4.2% and 4.7% respectively which are close to the5% cutoff frequency we have arbitrarily chosen. So in effect we have anearly complete similarity of dominant cultural values most commonlyportrayed in both the U.S. as well as the Indian advertisements. This re-sult can be explained by the magazines selected for the study and thecoders used in the study. The Indian magazines selected were all en-tirely in English and aimed at the urban population in India. The U.S.and the Indian magazines (from which the advertisements were ob-tained) were comparable in nature with respect to their format, targetaudience demographics, and products advertised. The coders were alleducated, affluent individuals from a major metropolitan city (Mumbai)in India, familiar with western media and culture. These factors wouldcontribute to the fact that similar values would be observed in both theU.S. as well as Indian advertisements. This finding supports earlier re-sults of the Khairullah and Khairullah (1995) study where educatedmiddle-class urban Indian respondents, irrespective of their degree ofwesternization, seemed to like both Indian as well as the U.S. advertise-ments of the same product categories.

Three of the values, courtesy, quality, and technology have ahigh frequency in both the U.S. and Indian advertisements, but do nothave a statistically significant difference in their frequency of occur-rence in the two countries. The high frequency of occurrence impliesthese values are important both in the U.S. as well as in India, which isnot surprising since customer satisfaction and quality are increasingly



TABLE 4. Dominant Cultural Values in U.S. and Indian Magazine Advertise-ments Across Product Categories

Cultural Value

Magazine AdvertisementsChi Square StatisticU.S. Indian

Column%

Count Column%

Count Significance** < 0.05 *< 0.10

Adventure 6.5 28 11.2 41 2.45 *

Beauty 0.2 1 0 0

Collectivism 1.9 8 1.1 4 1.33

Competition 0.9 4 1.1 4 0.00

Convenience 10.7 46 7.6 28 4.38 **

Courtesy 5.6 24 5.7 21 0.20

Economy 4.9 21 0.5 2 15.97 **

Effectiveness 7.9 34 5.7 21 3.07 *

Enjoyment 3.7 16 3.3 12 0.57Family 2.6 11 4.1 15 0.62

Health 2.3 10 0.5 2 5.33 **

Individualism 2.8 12 1.9 7 1.32

Leisure 9.8 42 7.4 27 3.26 *

Magic 0.2 1 0.3 1 0.00

Modernity 4.4 19 4.6 17 0.11

Natural 4.2 18 9.0 33 4.41 **

Neatness 0.9 4 0 0

Nurturance 0.7 3 0 0

Patriotism 0.5 2 1.9 7 2.78 *

Popularity 2.6 11 2.2 8 0.47

Quality 4.7 20 5.2 19 0.03Respect for Elderly 0.7 3 0 0

Safety 0.7 3 3.5 13 6.25 **

Sex 3.3 14 1.6 6 3.20 *

Social Status 2.6 11 4.6 17 1.29

Technology 7.5 32 7.6 28 0.27

Tradition 1.2 5 1.6 6 0.09

Uniqueness 1.9 8 3.3 12 0.80

Wealth 0.2 1 1.4 5 2.67 *

Wisdom 0.5 2 0.3 1 0.33

Work 0.9 4 1.1 4 0.00

Youth 2.3 10 1.6 6 1.00

important in the global marketplace. The value technology is impor-tant also to both the Indians and the Americans. The U.S. economy isdriven by technology that has revolutionized the market place. In Indiatoo technology is making strides with software development becomingone of its fastest growing industries (Cipriani 2000). This finding sup-ports results of Srikandaths (1991) study where the values, technology,modernization, and consumerism were predominantly depicted in In-dian television advertising.

Values with Statistically Significant Differences in the U.S.and Indian Advertisements

Among the thirty-two values considered, observed frequenciesshowed significant differences between the U.S. and Indian advertise-ments with respect to the number of times the advertisements conveyedthe following ten values: adventure, convenience, economy, ef-fectiveness, health, leisure, natural, patriotism, safety, andsex. The chi square values and levels of significance at p < 0.05 and p

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