Culture in advertising: model for Indian markets

Abstract

Advertising is omnipresent and cannot be ignored. The advertisers intertwine the cultural practices prevalent in the country to make a lasting impact on the viewers. The culture of the nation has a deep impact on the psychology of the individuals and therefore can increase the recall value. India is extremely rich in culture and heritage; thus, the advertisers get opportunities to project cultural values in different ways. One such way is to use emotional appeals in the advertisements so as to reach the heart of the target audience. There are deluge of advertisements targeting young consumers which reflect Indian culture. The study attempts to develop a model for depiction of culture in the advertisements taking into account the rituals, clothing, language, jingoism, festivity, religion etc. The analysis of 200 print advertisements is done to identify significant cultural values that are transmitted to consumers. A model is proposed by using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis and then impact on recall value is determined.