The Cultural Aspects of Advertising Communications in Modern China

Abstract

Advertising studies allow us not only to differentiate successful from unsuccessful marketing activities, but establish the fact as well that advertising reveals specific cultural norms that somehow differ depending on global regions. Advertising studies feature a clearly pronounced interdisciplinary nature and allow us to better understand what cultural basis specific advertising texts are made on. An advertising message is oriented on both rational and emotional-affective processes among the people perceiving the message. Modern Chinese consumers live in a complex social and cultural space. The ideology of the People’s Republic of China combines traditional philosophy, socialist ideas, and technological pragmatism. In modern China, advertising costs are skyrocketing (the year-to-year increase is about 100%). Chinese visual advertising images are based on a complex mixture of global and traditional cultural values and embody different aspects of “the Great Chinese Dream.” A visual analysis of Chinese advertisements allows us to see what traditional and global values are embodied by advertisers in advertising texts in order to render such advertising messages more effectively. Generally encountered are female images, nature-related images, and images pertaining to the ancient past of China. At the same time, ancient Chinese traditions are subject to globalization. Chinese traditional female images are created in the context of trends of mass culture. Nevertheless, the keynote remains within China’s traditional values. All the while, it features no forced separation from the global culture. It is more likely that China harmoniously includes the components considered acceptable within its own worldview.