Beyond polarized cultural values - A new approach to the study of south Korean and US newspaper advertisements

Abstract

This study content-analyzed US and South Korean newspaper ads for the year 2000, to challenge bipolarized cultural value frameworks prevalent in cross-cultural advertising studies and to establish more rigorous methodology. Our multi-group confirmatory factor analysis showed that the two-factor model of individualism/collectivism dimension was not equivalent across the two cultures, while the future/past time orientation dimension was comparable. As predicted, both Korean and US ads conveyed more individualistic than collectivistic indicators. In addition, Korean ads were more future-time oriented than the US ads. Findings are discussed in tenus of theoretical, methodological and socio-cultural considerations.