An Analysis of Advertising Across Product Categories and Countries

Due to an increasingly international marketplace with multinational companies selling their products around the world, the issue of advertising products across countries has received considerable attention. In the academic literature, two basic and opposing approaches to international advertising can be identified. The localisation (adaptation) approach requires that advertisers focus on the differences between countries in order to develop advertising messages that are tailored to local markets. Proponents of this approach emphasise cultural uniqueness. In order to be successful, advertising needs to reflect differences in needs, wants, values, traditions, language, and economic variables (Britt, 1974; Nielsen, 1963; Unwinn, 1974; Ricks, Arpan & Fu, 1974; Ricks, 1983). The standardisation (globalisation) approach, on the other hand, focuses on the similarities between countries and develops global advertising campaigns which eliminate the need for adaptation to local conditions. Proponents of this approach see the world as a “global village” in which the differences between countries are diminished and where consumers have developed similar needs and wants, independent of location (Fatt, 1967; Elinder, 1965; Levitt, 1983; Lynch, 1984).