Abstract

With the development of society, culture is playing more important role in the globalization of the world economy. Nowadays, advertisements are more and more important in the development of society for their special function: 1. Expressive Function 2. Informative Function 3. Vocative Function. And many cultural values can be found on the advertisements. However, different advertisements have different cultural values. This thesis is based on the studies of Hofstede’s Model of Cultural Dimensions and Hall’s background cultural theory. According to Hofstede and Hall’s theories, the author focuses on four dimensions: power distance, macho culture, cultural background and human centrism to compare differences between Chinese and American cultural values on advertising. At the same time, the author finds out similarities between Chinese and American cultural values on advertising at the three aspects: idea of people orientation, the pursuit of quality and practical values. In the end, this thesis aims to reduce barriers existing in the process of cultural communication, promote the understanding of cultural communication, and facilitate the mixture of cultural communication, and reinforce the cultural communication.  

Keywords: advertising; cultural values; comparative study

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. Literature Review-1

2.1 Studies on advertising-1

2.2 Studies on cultural values-3

2.3 Theoretical basis-5

3. Differences in Cultural Values Reflected in Chinese and American Advertising-5

3.1 Differences in power distance-6

3.2 Differences in macho culture-7

3.3 Differences in cultural background-8

3.4 Differences in human centrism-9

4. Similarities in Cultural Values Reflected in Chinese and American advertising-11

4.1 Similarity in the idea of people orientation-11

4.2 Similarity in the pursuit of quality-11

4.3 Similarity in practical values-12

5. Conclusion-13

Works Cited-14