Cross-Cultural Advertising Research: What Do We Know About the Influence of Culture on Advertising?

Abstract

Ever since Levitt's (1983) article The Globalization of Markets, in which he claimed that marketing can be standardised across cultures, the debate whether or not marketing, and advertising in particular, can truly be standardised has divided both practitioners and researchers in the field. However, there is an increasing body of research which casts serious doubts over the claims made by Levitt and which suggests that advertising is strongly influenced by (local) culture. This paper summarises the research carried out so far, and provides an overview of the current state of knowledge. The paper also suggests further areas for research.