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Abstract

This paper conducts a content analysis of a total of 480 advertisements from three popular Chinese women's magazines-Rayli, Fashion Cosmo, and Bazaar-to assess the Consumer Cultural Positioning (CCP) of the ads. The results show that Global CCP is more commonly utilized for brand positioning strategies than Foreign CCP or Local CCP. Five elements of the advertisements-the language used for brand name, the pronunciation of brand name, the intended meaning rooted in original foreign country for brand name, the product's appearance of either utilitarian or symbolic, and a modern or westernized advertising appeal for brand positioning-are found to be indeed differentially related to GCCP and FCCP compared to LCCP.

Keywords: Consumer Cultural Positioning (CCP), Brand Name, Product Appearance, Advertising Appeal

INTRODUCTION

Advertisers constantly pursue strategies designed to attract attention to their communication efforts to distinguish their product from competing products with the hope of influencing purchases and brand positioning. In recent years, a wealth of literature has increased our understanding of cross-cultural differences in advertising content (Abernethy and Franke 1996). The cultural context of an ad may reflect several issues, including lifestyles, demographic characteristics, and/or values. One particularly compelling method of distinguishing a product is through the consumer cultural positioning for marketing communications. Alden, Steenkamp, and Batra (1999) recognize consumer culture positioning as an accepted marketing strategy and identified three classifications: GCCP (Global Consumer Cultural Positioning), FCCP (Foreign Consumer Cultural Positioning), and LCCP (Local Consumer Culture Positioning). This conceptualization of GCCP should not be confused with globally standardized advertising (cf. Duncan and Ramaprasad 1995), which entails the use of similar content around the world. While GCCP and FCCP can both be employed in a standardized advertising campaign, it is also possible that a manager may position the brand using GCCP in one national market, FCCP in a second, and LCCP in a third. Thus, while GCCP may be used in standardized advertising, we view it as a distinct construct. In other words, a GCCP may be communicated somewhat differently in each market (Alden, Steenkamp, and Batra 1999).

In addition to strategic orientation, advertising may differ across cultural contexts due to implementation issues. For example, the media selection and media habits differ from country to country and limitations exist due to the technical quality...

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