Advertising and cultural values: reflections in the distorted mirror

Katherine Gallagher and Prof Richard W Pollay

This paper reviews the regrets and fears expressed by North American scholars about the commercialization of culture and presents a method for measuring the cultural character of advertising.

Advertising and cultural values: Reflections in the distorted mirror

Richard W Pollay and Katherine Gallagher

This paper reviews the regrets and fears expressed by North American scholarsabout the commercialization of culture and presents a method for measuring thecultural character of advertising. This content analysis of manifest values yields avalue profile of advertising and shows high consistency over time and across media.There is, however, a low correlation between this value profile and that of either thepopulation at large or of heavy media users. This seriously challenges theconventional notion that advertising merely mirrors social...

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