Global Consumer Culture Positioning: Testing Perceptions of Soft-Sell and Hard-Sell Advertising Appeals between U.S. and Japanese Consumers
Abstract
This study tests the effectiveness of global consumer culture positioning (GCCP) in terms of perceptions of soft-sell (indirect and image-based) and hard-sell (direct and information-based) appeals across markets. The authors draw the theoretical base for the study from previous research, along with a series of recent conceptualizations on culture and branding based on global consumer culture theory. If the same appeal is homogeneously and favorably perceived in different markets, such an appeal should be a good candidate for use as part of a GCCP strategy. From prior research, the authors predict that soft-sell appeals are more similarly perceived across markets than hard-sell appeals. They conduct a quasi-experimental study in the United States and Japan with a general consumer sample. After choosing six advertisements using rigorous content analysis, they examine the perceptions of soft-sell and hard-sell appeals, including attitude toward the ad, believability, irritation, and purchase intention. The results indicate somewhat more homogeneous acceptance of soft-sell appeals but, surprisingly, also show relatively homogeneous acceptance of hard-sell appeals across markets. These findings are suggestive of both types of appeals having the potential to be used as part of a GCCP across the United States and Japan and perhaps other markets.
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Biographies
Shintaro Okazaki is Associate Professor of Marketing in the College of Economics and Business Administration at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), from which he received his doctorate in Marketing. His primary research interests lie in cross-cultural issues in marketing, online consumer behavior, and social marketing. He has published articles in Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, International Journal of Advertising, Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of World Business, European Journal of Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, International Marketing Review, and Information & Management, among others. He serves on the editorial review boards of several journals, including Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, and Internet Research, and on the executive boards of European Advertising Academy and Spanish Marketing Association. He is currently Deputy Editor of Journal of Marketing Communications.
Barbara Mueller is Professor of Advertising in the School of Journalism & Media Studies at San Diego State University. She received her doctorate from the University of Washington. Her research has appeared in Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, International Journal of Advertising, International Marketing Review, Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, and Advances in Consumer Research, among many other professional journals. She is the author of Communicating with the Multicultural Consumer: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives (Peter Lang, 2008) and Dynamics of International Advertising: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives (Peter Lang, 2004, 2d ed. forthcoming) and coauthor (with Katherine Toland Frith) of Advertising and Societies: Global Issues (Peter Lang, 2010).
Charles R. Taylor is John A. Murphy Professor of Marketing at Villanova University and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Marketing and Policy Research. He received his doctorate from Michigan State University. His primary areas of research interest are international advertising and advertising and public policy issues. He currently serves as editor of the International Journal of Advertising. He is also a past-president of the American Academy of Advertising. Taylor has published numerous books, journals, and conference papers. In addition, he serves on the editorial review boards of several journals. His research has received best paper awards from Journal of Advertising and Journal of Macromarketing as well as the Hans B. Thorelli Award for outstanding contribution to international marketing theory in 1998 from Journal of International Marketing.
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