To describe contemporary US society based on the dominant themes featured in magazine advertisements.
From eight general circulation magazines, 2,158 full‐page advertisements are examined using content analysis. The analysis includes the examination of ad characteristics, creative strategies and a critical literary analysis.
The results show evidence that US cultural values are embedded in popular magazine advertisements. In particular, individualism, low context communication patterns and action/achievement values are most common.
This study represents a snapshot in time. Neither culture nor media options are static. As a result, future work in this area should examine these changes.
Since only a few cultural dimensions are dominant in the sample, the results suggest that advertisers need not embed all social values in ads.
This paper provides evidence that an adaptive advertising strategy may be more effective than a global approach.
