Cultural Differences in Message Strategies: A Comparison between American and Japanese TV Commercials

Carolyn A Lin

Describes a content analysis study of American and Japanese commercials, to test certain hypotheses about likely culturally-related differences between them.

Cultural Differences in Message Strategies: A Comparison between American and Japanese TV Commercials

Carolyn A Lin

As American economic competitiveness in the global marketplace is being challenged, Japan - which runs a large trade surplus over the United States - has become a much pursued overseas market. However, US marketers often seem perplexed by the question of how to select successful marketing or advertising strategies for the Japanese market. As a result, some have committed marketing blunders that could have been avoided, given a better understanding of Japanese markets and consumers (eg, Nishina, 1990).

While US advertising expenditures have traditionally...

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