Exploring cross-cultural differences in cognitive responding to ads

This study explored differences in cognitive response content across two cultures and the role of these responses in predicting advertising effectiveness. In laboratory experiments, subjects from the United States (an individualist culture) and Taiwan (a collectivist culture) listed thoughts toward ads and then evaluated the ads on a series of attitude scales. Thought content was coded into categories reflecting product-oriented or ad-related cognitions. It was found that the types of thoughts that were listed and those that were the most relevant for predicting attitudes varied with cultural orientation. Whereas the U.S. subjects focused more on product-related claims in the ads, Taiwanese subjects were more persuaded by their ''ad evaluation'' thoughts about the appropriateness of the ads than by their product thoughts. These findings suggest that persuasion may be mediated by different cognitive processes across cultures. In addition, substantial correlations between thoughts and attitudes in both cultures supported the validity of using cognitive response methods cross-culturally.