incongruency across cultures in a competitive advertising context

Journal of Business Research 67 (2014) 288–294

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Journal of Business Research

Effects of culturally verbal and visual congruency/incongruency across cultures in a competitive advertising context☆ Lefa Teng a,⁎, Nan Ye b, Ying Yu c, Xiaochuang Wu d a

University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada China University of Mining and Technology, Jiangsu, China Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China d Central South University, Hunan, China b c

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history: Received 1 June 2011 Accepted 1 April 2013 Available online 1 July 2013 Keywords: Culturally verbal congruency Culturally visual congruency Brand attitudes Culture Competitive advertising context

a b s t r a c t Existing consumer behavior theories suggest that consumers tend to recognize, better comprehend, and respond favorably to information that is both relevant and consistent with their beliefs and values. This study extends these theories by employing cultural arguments and pictures to examine the effects of culturally verbal and visual congruency/incongruency on consumer ad and brand attitudes in multiple-ad and multiple-brand environments. The studies were conducted with subjects in Canada and China. The results suggest that, when the contrast ad is culturally incongruent, an ad containing a culturally congruent argument and congruent picture elicits the most positive responses, compared to other ads with different combinations of arguments and pictures. However, an ad containing a culturally incongruent argument and incongruent picture also elicits more positive responses than an ad with a culturally congruent argument and incongruent picture or a culturally incongruent argument and congruent picture. © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction There is a large body of research that has highlighted the key role that cultural values play in the design of advertising messages (Albers-Miller & Gelb, 1996; Cheng, 1994; Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996; Khairullah, 1995; Lin, 2001; Mueller, 1987; Zandpour, Chang, & Catalano, 1992). It is not surprising then that advertising arguments often reflect the cultures of different consumer groups. Pictures, which have been shown to enhance the effectiveness of persuasive communications (Miniard, Bhatla, Lord, Dickson, & Unnava, 1991; Mitchell, 1986), may also reflect the cultural values and norms of target consumers. Although several studies have attempted to understand how cultural arguments influence consumer ad and brand attitudes (Mueller, 1987; Zhang & Gelb, 1996), there is a paucity of research on the effects of culturally congruent/incongruent arguments and pictures in advertisements in the consumer behavior and advertising literature. It is important to note, however, while several important studies have examined the effects of advertising arguments and pictures on consumer attitude and purchase intention separately (Holbrook & Batra, 1987; Miniard et al., 1991; Zhang & Gelb, 1996), little research ☆ They would like to thank Sarah Clemente and Sourav Ray for their invaluable comments on this research. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of OMAFRA (#200261). ⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies, University of Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada. Tel.: +1 519 824 4120x53818; fax: +1 519 8231964. E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Teng). 0148-2963/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.05.015

has focused on exploring how cultural arguments interact with cultural pictures to influence how consumers process advertising information, evaluate the ad, and form their brand attitude. Existing consumer behavior theories have suggested that consistent or relevant information is more easily recognized, comprehended, and favorably evaluated by consumers (Heckler & Childers, 1992; Peracchio & Meyers-Levy, 1997; Srull, 1981). In addition, the cross-cultural literature indicates that the differing cultural values, norms and characteristics of consumers from various countries may be embedded in the advertising arguments and pictures directed at them. The goal of this study is to extend these theories by examining the effects of advertisements with culturally congruent and incongruent arguments and pictures on consumer ad and brand attitudes in multiple-ad and multiple-brand environments. Specifically, this research focuses on contrast effects in a competitive ad setting rather than simple congruency effects; our research more thoroughly explores, both conceptually and empirically, the nature of congruencies and incongruencies that may affect consumer ad and brand attitudes than previous studies have to date. 2. Theoretical background and hypotheses Consumer and marketing research has long investigated the issues of congruency and incongruency (Goodman, 1980; Heckler & Childers, 1992; Meyers-Levy & Tybout, 1989), as well as verbal and nonverbal combinations in print ads (Edell & Keller, 1989; Houston, Childers, & Heckler, 1987; Miniard et al., 1991). However, existing studies have produced conflicting results. Some studies demonstrate

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that congruent information is more easily recognized and comprehended, and encourages consumers to mentally complete their own images (Peracchio & Meyers-Levy, 1997; Srull, 1981) while other studies show that mildly incongruent information might lead to more elaboration and persuasion than fully congruent information. Compared with incongruent information, congruent information may lead to greater recall of that information in an ad (Heckler & Childers, 1992). Taken together, these theories suggest that an ad with a culturally congruent argument and picture will tend to elicit more favorable thoughts than one without these two key characteristics. Prior studies, however, have not explored the effects of advertising argument and picture combinations in relation to different cultures in a competitive environment on consumer ad and brand attitudes. In the following section, key concepts from cross-cultural and information processing research, which together form the theoretical foundation of our experiment, are discussed and integrated. 2.1. Culture and the verbal advertising component Numerous researchers have reported that Eastern and Western cultures are fundamentally different. For example, Markus and Kitayama (1991, 1994) state that Eastern cultures emphasize attending to and fitting in with others, with individuals seeking a harmonious interdependence with members of their community. In contrast, Western cultures stress attending to the self and asserting one's independence from others. Interdependent self-construals are illustrative of collectivistic cultures, whereas independent self-construals are representative of individualistic cultures (Gudykunst, 1997; Gudykunst, Matsumoto, Ting-Toomy, Kim, & Heyman, 1996; Kagitcibasi, 1997; Singelis & Sharkey, 1995). It has been pointed out that China is a collectivistic culture, whereas North America is an individualistic culture (Hofstede, 1980; Hui, 1988; Hui & Triandis, 1986). Members of collectivist societies are more focused on the in-group and its needs, goals, and interests whereas those of individualist societies are more centered on their individual needs, goals, and interests. Such cultural values are considered not only as the governing ideas and directing principles for thoughts and actions in a given society (Douglas & Urban, 1977), but also as a powerful force that shapes consumers' lifestyles, motivations, and overall purchase behavior. These values influence how consumers recognize their needs, search for information and evaluate products and alternatives (Andrews, Lysonski, & Durvasula, 1991; Triandis, 1981; Tse, Belk, & Zhou, 1989; Zandpour et al., 1992). For example, when Chinese consumers consider buying certain products, family considerations and opinions are highly considered. However, for North Americans, asserting one's individualism and expressing oneself through the purchase of products is often emphasized. Advertising is considered a form of social communication that reflects the cultural values of a society (Andrews et al., 1991; Khairullah, 1995). Some cross-cultural researchers have included advertising arguments in their studies (Albers-Miller & Gelb, 1996; Cheng, 1994; Khairullah, 1995; Mueller, 1987; Zandpour et al., 1992; Zhang & Gelb, 1996). Their findings suggest that different cultures seem to emphasize different advertising arguments, with ads embedding the cultural values, norms, and characteristics of the country in which they are released. Chinese commercials, for example, often utilize arguments that are geared at reflecting traditional Chinese cultural values (e.g., an emphasis on family/group) in advertising content and strategy (Cheng, 1994; Lin, 2001). Conversely, North American commercials more commonly use arguments that reflect individualism, independence, self-sufficiency, and self-achievement (Zandpour et al., 1992). Research suggests that culture may play a central role in shaping emotional experiences (Lutz, 1998). Cultural factors have been shown to influence how consumers respond to the content of advertisements (Tse et al., 1989) and their attitude toward both the advertisement and the promoted product (Andrews et al., 1991). Thus, members within an individualistic culture differ from members within a collectivistic

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culture in terms of their affective responses to the cultural values and interests conveyed by an advertising argument. 2.2. Culture and the visual advertising component In addition to the impact that advertising arguments have on consumer perceptions, pictures may also evoke affective responses that play an important role in the persuasion process (Burke & Edell, 1989; Edell & Burke, 1987; Holbrook & Batra, 1987). Pictures have been shown to enhance the persuasiveness of ads (Miniard et al., 1991; Mitchell, 1986). Furthermore, advertising pictures are thought to activate both visual and verbal message learning and processing by enhancing consumers' memories of other semantic information (Childers & Houston, 1984; MacKenzie, Lutz, & Belch, 1986; Miniard et al., 1991). The literature suggests that pictures play such a central role in ads that, even without explicit product-relevant information, pictures still exert a considerable influence on the persuasiveness of advertisements (Peracchio & Meyers-Levy, 1997). Pictures are thought to be more influential mostly due to their ability to evoke strong emotional responses from consumers (Mitchell, 1986; Mitchell & Olson, 1981). Therefore, pictures in advertising can powerfully convey meaningful concepts, including cultural values, such as individualism and collectivism, and affect product perception (Mitchell & Olson, 1981; Peracchio & Meyers-Levy, 1997; Scott, 1994). However, the particular concepts conveyed by pictures may vary depending on the contextual and individual factors in a given culture. Given the fact that pictures play such a key role in how consumers perceive both ads and the products portrayed in them, it is important to fill the gap in the literature and examine the role that pictures expressing various cultural values play in influencing consumer ad and brand attitudes. 2.3. Verbal and visual congruency/incongruency across cultures Within one product category, there are often no significant attribute differences between brands and it is not the objective, intrinsic attributes of the advertised brand that influences consumers' behavior, but rather the emotional design of the ad (Peracchio & Meyers-Levy, 1997). Consumers always compare ads, whether consciously or subconsciously, in order to identify the ad which most resonates with them. As such, other factors, such as cultural, verbal, and visual components, may play an important role in influencing consumer decision-making. This point is of particular relevance to marketing in an international context, because a company that appropriately tailors a global or domestic advertising strategy, to a local or foreign culture may enhance consumers' attitude toward the advertisement and brand. Contrast effects are likely to occur in cross-cultural advertising. Consumers may compare their own cultural roots and values with the values reflected in the advertisements. In general, culturally congruent ad appeals are more effective than culturally incongruent ad appeals. That is, an ad appeal that appropriately matches with the cultural values of consumers (i.e., individualistic appeal used in an individualistic culture, collectivistic appeal used in a collectivistic culture) tends to illicit more positive ad and brand attitudes, and positively influences product choice, than ad appeals that do not match consumers' cultural values (i.e., collectivistic appeal used in an individualistic culture, individualistic appeal used in a collectivistic culture; Zhang & Gelb, 1996). For example, an individualistic appeal for a camera (“Come and Indulge in the Joy of Self Expression!”) received greater attitude ratings among American subjects, whereas a collectivistic appeal (“Share the Moments of Joy and Happiness with Your Friends and Family!”) enhanced attitude ratings among Chinese subjects. A culturally congruent ad would be a North American ad that conveys individualistic values, and a Chinese ad that conveys collectivistic values. Individualistic and collectivistic cultural values and norms are portrayed in ads in both verbal (written) arguments and appeals and

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visual pictures (Zhang & Gelb, 1996). Ads tend to convey the same cultural values that are emphasized or shared by the country's or region's cultural values. For example, ads in China contain more utilitarian appeals than ads in North America (Tse et al., 1989). Therefore, an ad that contains a culturally congruent argument and picture—is expected to evoke more positive emotional responses than other ads lacking or inappropriately containing this feature, resulting in a contrast effect. For instance, if core cultural values and characteristics are embedded in an advertisement where audiences can find similarities between themselves and the characters in the advertisement, a positively responsive ‘culture’ chord may be struck in these consumers. However, if differences are found, a negatively responsive ‘culture’ chord may be struck. Following the body of consumer research that has explored the impact of various verbal and visual elements of ads, this study will explore how the interaction between cultural arguments and pictures influence consumer ad and brand attitudes in a competitive advertising context. It is expected that an ad is more persuasive when its characteristics (i.e., the argument and picture) are congruent with the cultural values of consumers than when the characteristics are incongruent with consumers' cultural values. For example, an ad containing both an argument and picture that conveys individualistic values is expected to evoke more favorable responses from consumers within an individualistic culture than consumers from a collectivistic culture because the two components of the ad express values of an individualistic culture rather than the values of a collectivistic culture. Conversely, an ad that conveys collectivistic values is expected to evoke more favorable responses from consumers in a collectivistic culture than consumers from an individualistic culture. However, an ad including an individualistic argument with a collectivistic picture may elicit unfavorable responses, since the picture and argument are culturally incongruent and the picture may offset the responsive chord elicited by the argument. Thus, an ad that is culturally congruent is expected to elicit positive feelings in consumers, while an ad that is culturally incongruent is expected to induce negative reactions (Miniard et al., 1991). We expect that our proposed framework of culturally verbal and visual congruency/incongruency works in both individualistic and collectivistic cultures. In other words, it is expected that there is no difference on the proposed framework across the two cultures. Therefore, we hypothesize that: H1. When the contrast ad is culturally incongruent, an ad containing a culturally congruent argument and congruent picture elicits the most positive responses, compared to the ad with a culturally congruent argument and incongruent picture or a culturally incongruent argument and congruent picture or a culturally incongruent argument and incongruent picture in both individualistic and collectivistic cultures. H2. When the contrast ad is culturally incongruent, an ad containing a culturally incongruent argument and incongruent picture elicits more positive responses than the ad with a culturally congruent argument and incongruent picture or a culturally incongruent argument and congruent picture in both individualistic and collectivistic cultures. H3. When the contrast ad is culturally incongruent versus culturally congruent, an ad containing a culturally congruent argument and congruent picture elicits more positive responses in both individualistic and collectivistic cultures.

3. Research methodology 3.1. Overview and design In the present research, congruency and incongruency are manipulated through the argument and picture of print ads. The overall objective of this study is to examine the effects of culturally verbal and visual congruence/incongruency on Canadian and Chinese respondents in a

competitive adverting context. A 4 (focal ads: individualistic argument & individualistic picture vs. collectivistic argument & individualistic picture vs. individualistic argument & collectivistic picture vs. collectivistic argument & collectivistic picture) × 2 (contrast ads: collectivistic vs. individualistic) × 2 (cultures: individualistic vs. collectivistic) factorial design is employed. Two digital cameras were chosen as the stimulus product because (a) the subjects in both Canada and China were familiar with the product and (b) subjects had an interest in the product. The cameras in the focal and competing ads differed in their design but were similar in size and layout. As well, it would be almost impossible to identify one camera as being superior to the other based simply on the physical appearance of the two cameras. Two hypothetical brands of digital cameras were presented and their price was the same in each country. In addition, the print ads for the digital cameras which differed in argument and picture were presented in full color to imitate magazine ads. One version of the camera ad is presented in Fig. 1. 3.2. Stimuli development Previous research indicates that Canadian individuals, when compared to Chinese individuals, have more favorable attitudes toward verbal arguments that emphasize self-expression, self-improvement, and the achievement of personal goals, whereas Chinese individuals respond more favorably to ads that highlight family benefits, shared goals and feelings of harmony with others (Aaker and Maheswaran 2000; Williams and Aaker 2002; Zhang & Gelb, 1996). Advertising arguments which would evoke positive or negative feelings were manipulated. Based on prior interviews with both Canadian and Chinese subjects, five individualistic arguments and five collectivistic arguments were developed. Several rounds of pretesting were conducted with separate groups (total sample size = 56) of Canadian and Chinese subjects. From the results of the pretest (p b .01), “Achieve Genuine Self-expression” was selected for the final individualistic argument for the digital cameras and “Share the Joy with Those You Love” for the final collectivistic argument. They were translated from English into Mandarin and back-translated to ensure equivalence. The two arguments reflected their respective cultural values and norms (Lin, 2001; Zhang & Gelb, 1996). Four individualistic pictures, five collectivistic pictures, and ten neutral pictures were obtained from (a) popular photography magazines and (b) the Internet. Based on the pre-test (total sample size = 21: ten Canadian subjects and eleven Chinese subjects), three pictures were selected for use in the study. The first picture emphasizing self-expression, differentiation, and uniqueness tends to be more favorable for Canadians (vs. Chinese), while the second picture emphasizing group integrity, connections, and the feeling of harmony with others tends to be more favorable for Chinese (vs. Canadians). The third picture reflects neither individualistic nor collectivistic cultures. The pre-test suggested that the culture-laden pictures were identified correctly (p b .01). 3.3. Participants and procedure The study was conducted with participants in Canada and China. Two large central cities were chosen for data collection sites in Canada. Similarly, Chinese experimental participants were also from two cities in China. All subjects participated in return for a gift. The participants were chosen as randomly as possible by using the telephone directory and consisted of genders and various occupations, income level, and social status. The experiments were run in small groups (n = 5–25), where participants were randomly assigned into one of the design groups. A total of 176 Canadian consumers (56% female, mean age = 36), as well as 221 Chinese consumers (55% female, mean age = 35) participated in the study.

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Canview introduces a new digital camera for photographers. Its flawless mechanical

precision, incredible speed, quick handling and incomparable optical quality represent an obsession with perfection that is unavailable anywhere else. Truly impressive! Fig. 1. Experimental stimuli: An individualistic argument and picture.

Participants were seated at partitioned desks and were asked to read a scenario which provided a purchase goal introduction. All participants were given the same scenario to read. In the experiment, the text described a person (your good friend) who needed a camera for performing relatively complex photographic tasks. They were asked to help their friend choose the best camera based on the ads presented. The experimenter then drew the test group's attention to two envelopes, which were placed on the top right-hand side of the participant's table. The two envelopes included two ads featuring two fictitious digital camera models. After participants had an opportunity to study the two ads, they were asked to rate the ads and advertised brands in terms of their ad and brand attitudes. However, they were not permitted to review the ads or previous questions as they moved through the list of questions. Finally, each participant selected one brand of her/his choice for her/his good friend. 3.4. Dependent measures The measures used in China and Canada were identical, apart from the language they were presented in. In order to ensure equivalence, the measures were translated from English into Mandarin and then back-translated. The measurement of ad attitude and brand attitude was rooted in literature from advertising, consumer behavior, and psychology. The questionnaire was pretested several times and was refined on the basis of the pretest results. In terms of construct reliability and percentage of variance extracted by the latent construct (i.e., greater than .50), all the individual scales exceeded the recommended minimum standards proposed by Bagozzi and Yi (1998). The two dependent variables are: • Attitude toward the Ad (Aad). This construct was measured by a four-item, 7-point scale (1 = very bad, very unfavorable, highly uncreative, least attractive; 7 = very good, very favorable, highly creative, very attractive). Some of these items are drawn from previous research and have been used in a number of other studies (Coulter & Punj, 1999; Gardner, 1985; MacKenzie et al., 1986;

Miniard, Bhatla, & Rose, 1990; Zhang & Gelb, 1996). The Cronbach's Alpha and AVE were .81 and .58, respectively. • Attitude toward the Brand (Ab). This construct was measured with four items (dislike quite a lot/like quite a lot, unsatisfactory/ satisfactory, very unappealing/very appealing and very bad/very good) with end-points labeled “1” to “7” (Gardner, 1985; Laroche et al., 2005; MacKenzie & Lutz, 1989; Miniard et al., 1990; Mitchell, 1986). The Cronbach's Alpha and AVE were .87 and .67, respectively. 4. Results 4.1. Preliminary analyses A scale of 16 items was used to assess the extent to which the subjects actually varied on specific cultural dimensions (Triandis and Gelfand 1998). Factor analysis revealed that 12 of these items loaded onto four distinct factors, horizontal collectivism (HC: “If a coworker gets a prize, I would feel proud,” “The well-being of my coworkers is important to me,” “To me, pleasure is spending time with others”) and vertical collectivism (VC: “Parents and children must stay together as much as possible,” “It is my duty to take care of my family, even when I have to sacrifice what I want,” “Family members should stick together, no matter what sacrifices are required”) and horizontal individualism (HI: “I'd rather depend on myself than others,” “I rely on myself most of the time; I rarely rely on others,” “I often do my own things”) and vertical individualism (VI: “It is important that I do my job better than others,” “Winning is everything,” “Competition is the law of nature”), with three items loading onto each factor (factor loading > .50). Items that did not load onto either of these factors were removed. We conducted analyses of variance (ANOVAs) on the measures of the four dimensions to examine whether there are significant differences between Chinese and Canadian subjects. An ANOVA on HC (α = .71) revealed a significant effect of culture such that Chinese subjects were more horizontally collectivist than Canadian subjects (Ms = 5.03 versus 4.54, F = 17.66, p b .001). An ANOVA on VC (α = .77) suggested that Chinese subjects had higher

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scores than Canadian subjects (Ms = 4.94 versus 4.27, F = 29.57, p b .001). An ANOVA on HI (α = .75) yielded a significant effect of culture (F = 35.18, p b .001). As expected, Canadian subjects had higher scores than Chinese subjects on the HI scale (Ms = 5.21 versus 4.50). An ANOVA on VI (α = .72) revealed that Canadian subjects had higher scores than Chinese subjects (Ms = 4.82 versus 4.33, F = 13.65, p b .001). These results suggested that Chinese and Canadian subjects differed in both vertical and horizontal dimensions of individualism and collectivism. The assumption of differences in individualism versus collectivism held in our study, as expected. In addition, an initial analysis indicated that there was no treatment effect for the order in which the two ads appeared (Fs b 1). There was also no treatment effect for the two hypothetical brand names (Fs b 1). 4.2. Manipulation checks Consistent with the manipulation, Canadian subjects evaluated the individualistic argument more favorably than the collectivistic argument (Ms = 5.25 versus 4.41, F = 25.55, p b .001). In contrast, Chinese subjects rated the collectivistic argument more favorably than the individualistic argument (Ms = 5.46 versus 4.32, F = 64.15, p b .001). A composite score consisting of two items was derived and used to check the manipulation of the pictures for the Canadian and Chinese subjects. For the Canadian subjects, the scores of the individualistic picture, neutral picture, and collectivistic picture decreased significantly in order (Ms = 5.18, 4.69 and 4.30, F = 14.34, p b .001). For the Chinese subjects, however, the scores for the three pictures significantly increased in order (Ms = 4.34, 4.77 and 5.37, F = 21.11, p b .001). Overall, the advertising argument and picture manipulations were effective for both the Canadian and Chinese subjects. In addition, we also conducted manipulation checks on ad congruence/incongruence with both Canadian and Chinese subjects. The results held in our study, as expected (e.g., for one example of ad congruence, please see an ad with an individualistic argument and picture in Fig. 1). 4.2.1. Attitudes Data was analyzed based on a 4 (focal ads) × 2 (contrast ads: congruent/incongruent) × 2 (culture: individualistic/collectivistic) factorial design. An ANOVA on attitude toward the advertisement revealed that, when the contrast ad was collectivistic, the ad containing both an individualistic argument and individualistic picture yielded the most favorable attitude toward the ad for Canadian subjects (M = 5.60), compared to the other three combinations: individualistic argument and collectivistic picture (M = 3.94), collectivistic argument and individualistic picture (M = 3.86), and collectivistic argument and collectivistic picture (M = 4.77, F = 22.57, p b 0.001). Furthermore, a similar pattern was observed for Chinese subjects. The ad containing a collectivistic argument and collectivistic picture yielded the most favorable attitude toward the ad for Chinese subjects (M = 5.91), compared to the other three combinations: individualistic argument and collectivistic picture (M = 3.90), collectivistic argument and individualistic picture (M = 3.81), and individualistic argument and individualistic picture (M = 4.53) when the contrast ad was individualistic (F = 44.23, p b 0.001). In addition, analysis of attitude toward the brand revealed a similar pattern of results as attitude toward the ad when the contrast ad was incongruent with the subject's culture. Canadian subjects exhibited the most favorable attitude toward the brand when they viewed the ad containing an individualistic argument and individualistic picture (M = 5.73), compared to the other three combinations: individualistic argument and collectivistic picture (M = 4.07), collectivistic argument and individualistic picture (M = 3.88), and collectivistic argument and collectivistic picture (M = 4.99) when the contrast ad

was collectivistic (F = 37.19, p b 0.001). Likewise, Chinese subjects reported the most favorable attitude toward the brand when they viewed the ad with a collectivistic argument and collectivistic picture (M = 5.91), compared to other three combinations: individualistic argument and collectivistic picture (M = 3.91), collectivistic argument and individualistic picture (M = 3.72), and individualistic argument and individualistic picture (M = 4.48) when the contrast ad was individualistic (F = 57.44, p b 0.001). These results suggest that advertisements are most effective in eliciting favorable responses from consumers when both the ad's argument and picture match consumers' cultural values (i.e., ad is culturally congruent). These results support H1. The above paragraphs report the findings across individualistic and collectivistic cultures (Canada and China, respectively) when an advertisement's argument and picture are culturally congruent. Next, we will examine the findings when the verbal and visual components of the advertisement are culturally incongruent. An ANOVA revealed that an ad with a collectivistic argument and collectivistic picture (M = 4.77) yielded more favorable attitude toward the ad for Canadian subjects when the contrast ad was collectivistic. The ad with a collectivistic argument and individualistic picture (M = 3.86), and the ad with an individualistic argument and collectivistic picture (M = 3.94) both yielded lower attitude toward the ad for Canadian subjects when the contrast ad was collectivistic (F = 7.81, p b 0.005). Furthermore, a similar pattern was observed for Chinese subjects. The ad containing an individualistic argument and individualistic picture (M = 4.53) yielded more favorable attitude toward the ad for Chinese subjects when the contrast ad was individualistic. Both the ad with an individualistic argument and collectivistic picture (M = 3.90), and the ad with a collectivistic argument and individualistic picture (M = 3.81) yielded lower attitude toward the ad for Chinese subjects when the contrast ad was individualistic (F = 7.09, p b 0.005). In addition, analysis of attitude toward the brand revealed a similar pattern of results as attitude toward the ad when the contrast ad was incongruent with the subject's culture. An ANOVA on attitude toward the brand showed that Canadian subjects reported more favorable brand attitudes when they viewed the ad containing a collectivistic argument and collectivistic picture (M = 4.99) when the contrast ad was collectivistic. The ad with a collectivistic argument and individualistic picture (M = 3.88), and the ad with an individualistic argument and collectivistic picture (M = 4.07) both yielded lower attitude toward the brand for Canadian subjects when the contrast ad was collectivistic (F = 18.37, p b 0.005). Furthermore, a similar pattern was observed for Chinese subjects. The ad with an individualistic argument and individualistic picture (M = 4.48) received more favorable attitude toward the brand when the contrast ad was individualistic. The ad with an individualistic argument and collectivistic picture (M = 3.91), and the ad with a collectivistic argument and individualistic picture (M = 3.72) both yielded lower attitude toward the brand for Chinese subjects when the contrast ad was individualistic (F = 8.93, p b .005). These results support H2. Consumers emphasize the importance of harmony and consistency in their lives. Therefore, ads containing either a culturally incongruent argument and congruent picture, or a culturally congruent argument and incongruent picture elicit less favorable responses than ads containing both a culturally congruent argument and picture, and culturally incongruent argument and picture. Consumers disliked the inconsistency of the ad when either the argument or picture was culturally incongruent but liked the consistency of the ad when both the argument and the picture were either culturally congruent or culturally incongruent. Fig. 2 depicts these results (due to space limitation, only brand attitudes across the two cultures were provided). Finally, we examine whether an ad containing a culturally congruent argument and congruent picture elicits more positive responses

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Attitudes in Canada

6.5 6 5.73

5.5 5

4.5 4

5.12

4.99

4.68 4.07 3.88

3.99 3.79

3.5 Congruent Contrast

Incongruent Contrast

Congruent Argument - Conruent Picture Congruent Argument - Inconruent Picture Incongruent Argument - Congruent Picture Incongruent Argument - Incongruent Picture

Attitudes in China

6.5 6 5.5

5.91 5.36

5 4.5 4 3.5

4.48 4.16 3.87 3.69

Congruent Contrast

3.91 3.72

Incongruent Contrast

Congruent Argument - Congruent Picture Congruent Argument - Incongruent Picture Incongruent Argument - Congruent Picture Incongruent Argument - Incongruent Picture

Fig. 2. Three-way interaction on brand attitude.

when the contrast ad is culturally incongruent versus culturally congruent. An ANOVA on attitude toward the advertisement revealed that the ad containing an individualistic argument and individualistic picture elicited more favorable ad attitudes from Canadian subjects when the contrast ad was collectivistic (M = 5.60) versus individualistic (M = 4.95, F = 6.70, p b 0.05). A similar pattern was also found for Chinese subjects. The ad containing a collectivistic argument and collectivistic picture evoked more favorable ad attitudes from Chinese subjects when the contrast ad was individualistic (M = 5.91) versus collectivistic (M = 5.20, F = 10.86, p b 0.005). Further, our analysis showed that Canadian subjects reported more favorable brand attitudes when viewing the ad containing an individualistic argument and individualistic picture where the contrast ad was collectivistic (M = 5.73) versus individualistic (M = 5.08, F = 10.87, p b 0.005). No surprise, analysis of brand attitudes revealed the same pattern of results with Chinese subjects showing more favorable brand attitudes when they viewed the ad containing a collectivistic argument and collectivistic picture where the contrast ad was individualistic (M = 5.91) versus collectivistic (M = 5.18, F = 9.38, p b 0.005). Thus, these results from both Canadian and Chinese subjects support our H3. Consumer responses are driven by an argument and picture interaction. When the cultural elements of the ad argument matched the cultural elements of the picture in terms of individualism and collectivism, consumers' attitude toward the ad and brand was enhanced. However, the degree of enhancement is influenced by the appropriateness of arguments and pictures of those contrast advertisements. 5. Discussion, implications and future research The goal of the present research was to contribute to the cross cultural advertising literature by filling the knowledge gap pertaining to how cultural values influence consumer behaviors. In doing so, we built upon previous studies that have focused on the effect of congruent and incongruent information on consumer perceptions (Heckler & Childers, 1992; Peracchio & Meyers-Levy, 1997) and the influence of

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individualistic and collectivistic advertisement arguments and pictures on consumers from individualistic and collectivistic cultures (Zhang & Gelb, 1996). This research indicates that the objective and measurable features of a brand are not the only factors that influence consumers' attitudes toward that brand. Consumers' cultural beliefs and values also have a significant influence on ad and brand attitude formation (Albers-Miller & Gelb, 1996; Lin, 2001). In particular, our study shows that consumers are more likely to favor an advertised brand when the cultural meaning expressed by the ad is congruent with their own cultural beliefs and values. However, when the cultural meaning expressed in the ad is incongruent with consumers' cultural beliefs and values, consumer attitude toward the ad and brand may decrease. There are significant differences in how consumers from Canadian and Chinese cultures respond to advertisement's cultural arguments and pictures. Consumers are likely to compare their own cultural values with those embedded in ads. An ad that contains cultural characteristics that are congruent with the cultural values of its target market is likely to elicit more positive attitudes than ads that contain culturally incongruent characteristics. Specifically, Canadian subjects had the highest ad and brand attitude when they viewed the ad that contained an individualistic argument and picture when the contrast ad contained a collectivistic argument. Similarly, Chinese subjects had the highest ad and brand attitude when they viewed the ad that contained a collectivistic argument and picture when the contrast ad contained an individualistic argument. Overall, subjects had the most positive attitude for the ad and brand when the ad elements (i.e. argument and picture) were congruent with and reflected the values of their culture and when the congruent ad was contrasted with an incongruent ad (i.e., ad elements were incongruent with subjects' cultural values). The individualistic argument and picture conveyed values such as self-expression and self-focused emotions, while the collectivistic argument and picture expressed group-focused and other-focused emotions (Zhang & Gelb, 1996). The individualistic ad elements reflected Canadian culture, whereas the collectivistic ad elements reflected Chinese culture. The mechanism driving this verbal–visual-cultural congruity effect appears to be due to contrast effects. When consumers perceive no significant difference in objective product characteristics between two advertised brands, subjective components of advertised brands, such as culturally congruent verbal and visual ad elements, play an important role in positively influencing consumers' ad and brand attitudes. Contrast effects occur when consumers compare an ad with culturally congruent verbal and visual elements with an ad that contains culturally incongruent verbal and visual elements. Interestingly, we found that both Canadian and Chinese subjects rated the ad with a culturally incongruent argument and incongruent picture higher on ad and brand attitude than the ad that contained either a culturally incongruent argument and congruent picture or a culturally congruent argument and incongruent picture when the contrast ad was culturally incongruent. One possible explanation for these results is that the match between the cultural orientation of the argument and picture when both ad elements are culturally incongruent offsets any possible negative effect on consumers' attitudes when the ad elements are culturally incongruent (e.g., individualistic argument and picture when the consumer is from a collectivistic culture). The findings of our study provide key insights into advertising in a competitive, cross-cultural context and hold key implications for marketers that can help guide strategic advertising decisions. First, matching elements in an advertisement with the cultural values and beliefs of the advertisement's target market is important for international marketers; this is especially the case when marketers launch advertising campaigns in a foreign country that has cultural values that are in sharp contrast with their domestic cultural values, as is the case between individualistic and collectivistic cultures (Lin, 2001; Zhang & Gelb, 1996). Marketers should rely on a more specialized approach when communicating with consumers in a foreign market by matching the cultural elements in

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their communication material with the cultural values of the target market. Thus, marketers should take the cultural congruity advertising content into consideration. Second, in order to enhance the target market's ad and brand attitude, international marketers must know the variables that influence consumers' evaluations. Advertising campaigns must be tailored to match the target markets' cultural values, otherwise the campaign will have a negative effect on consumers' attitudes. For example, using advertisements developed in an individualist country (e.g., North America) for use in a collectivistic country (e.g., China), would not only have a detrimental effect on the ad and brand, but also enhance the attractiveness of the competitor's ad and brand. Overall, this study provides relevant and interesting solutions for international marketers who are attempting to enhance consumer ad and brand attitudes in foreign markets. This study has several limitations that deserve attention in future research. First, subjects only evaluated two hypothetical brands. In reality, consumers often face many alternatives while making brand evaluations (Laroche, 2002). Future research studies should replicate our study using more advertisements and real product stimuli in order to generalize our findings. Furthermore, we only used one product category (digital cameras); therefore, future research studies should examine different product categories. Expanding research to a variety of product categories will also improve the generalizability of this study. Another limitation is that we did not control gender differences (Klein et al., 2000). For example, it is possible that female consumers prefer ads that espouse certain family values where male consumers may rate ads that focus on individualistic values more favorably. We did not take into account gender differences because of the small size of our study. Future research studies should consider overall gender differences (e.g., are there any differences between female and male consumers, regardless of their specific cultural values?), as well as gender differences within individualistic and collectivistic cultures (e.g., are Canadian women more similar to Canadian men or to Chinese women?). Such research would add more depth to the present study, and could possibly provide marketers with even more specific information that can be used to target even more specific groups of consumers (e.g., Chinese men). In general, this study contributes to the cross-cultural advertising and consumer behavior literature by studying the interaction effect of culturally congruent and incongruent advertising arguments and pictures on consumer ad and brand attitudes in a competitive advertising setting.

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