Possible Disparities in Consumers' Perceptions Toward Personalized Advertising Caused by Cultural Differences: U.S. and Korea

Abstract

ABSTRACT Personalized advertising, which uses the consumer's name and other personal information, has become extremely popular in the United States as well as in numerous countries worldwide. However, to date there have been few empirical studies investigating consumers' perceptions of this type of advertising. Also, an examination of possible gaps in consumers' perspectives toward personalized advertising caused by culture differences has yet to make inroads into the academic literature. This exploratory study reports findings on perceptions of personalized advertising delivered online (e-mail), off-line (letters/brochures), and telephone calls utilizing consumers from two different cultures: the U.S. and Korea. Both countries have been compared in the previous literature in regards to numerous aspects of advertising and marketing, but have not yet been compared in terms of perceptions toward personalized advertising. The results showed that personalized advertising generated negative, rather than positive, effects on the participants overall. More specifically, the American participants had more negative opinions about the advertising than did the Korean participants.