Foreign Languages in Advertising as Implicit Country-of-Origin Cues: Mechanism, Associations, and Effectiveness

Abstract

Brands can position themselves as belonging to a foreign culture by using foreign languages (FLs) in advertising. FLs in ads have been suggested to be implicit country-of-origin (COO) cues. This paper examines the expectations that FLs operate through the COO effect (Study 1), and that they evoke associations (Study 2) and generate persuasive effects (Study 3) similar to COO mentions. The findings of the studies, employing different language slogans for different products, lend support to these expectations. Thus, FLs in advertising derive their effectiveness from the COO effect, and practitioners can use them to benefit from this effect.