CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS IN HIGH- AND LOW-CONTEXT CULTURES: CASE OF FINLAND AND THE UK

Abstract

Even subtle cultural differences can have an impact on the effectiveness of advertising messages, and understanding these differences can help an organization in developing competitive international marketing strategies. The aim of this research is to develop an understanding on how the advertising differs in high- and low-context cultures and to find out if the theory used can be help in developing these strategies. The theory used in this research is Hall’s (1976) concept on high- and low-context cultures, which suggests that cultures can be characterized by the degree of non-verbal context used in communication to decode messages. The research involved qualitative content analysis of 14 advertisements from women’s lifestyle magazines from Finland and the UK. The findings of this study revealed clear differences in the advertising between the two countries that were resonating with the cultural theory in question. Therefore, it was concluded that the theory can help in developing international marketing strategies. The study can be of interest of marketing professionals and companies expanding their operations to different countries to understand the advertising communications style needed in them.