论文总字数：28062字

摘 要

广告是文化的载体，本文通过对当前中西方汽车广告的分析研究，从个人主义与集体主义的对比，权力取向，价值观取向，理性主义与感性主义的对比，男性主义与女性主义的对比以及幽默取向六个角度认识中西方文化取向的差异。接着对导致这些文化差异的原因进行了分析，探讨了中西方国家的意识形态，文化背景以及思维方式。最后描述了西方的汽车广告在中国的本土化，目的在于说明地区的文化差异在汽车跨国销售上的影响，让人们通过汽车广告意识到反映在广告中的文化现象,。

关键词: 汽车广告；文化差异；中西方

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. Differences Between Chinese and Western Culture Orientation in Automobile Advertising 1

3.1 Individualism vs. Collectivism 1

3.2 Power Orientation 2

3.3 Value Orientation 3

3.4 Rationality vs. Sensibility 4

3.5 Musculism vs. Feminism 5

3.6 Humor Orientation 6

4. Reasons for the Differences 6

4.1 Ideology and Cultural Background 6

4.2 Ways of Thinking 7

5. The Localization of Western Advertising in China 8

5.1 Advertising Slogan 9

5.2 The selection of Elements of Advertising and Advertising Style 9

5.3 Core advertising Appeals 10

6. Conclusion 11

Works Cited 12

1. Introduction

Advertisements often use a large number of symbols and images to propagate enterprises their brands to the public. With the rapid economic development, the market of automobile consumption is growing steadily. The auto advertising is the most direct way to persuade target customers and the public, so various car advertisements frequently appear in all kinds of media. However, the advertising, a form of communication, is the key mechanism to present the tangible and intangible cultural values. To some extent, it represents cultural characteristics during the specific period. The core cultural values in each society stimulate the consumers’ motivation, shape the lifestyle of consumers and affect their decision-making of consumption through the advertisements. Due to different cultural backgrounds, advertising may put different emphasis on contents. Through these auto advertisements, we can sum up the differences in cultural orientation and values reflected behind those advertisements.

2. Literature Review

Mueller finds that cultural values are embedded in advertising appeals, which are the specific approaches advertisers use to convey how their products will satisfy customer needs.

Chinese scholars, like Huang Lu, whose data analysis studies cross-cultural communication strategies of foreign brand auto advertising. She stresses the localization of western advertising in China from several aspects.

3. Differences Between Chinese and Western Culture Orientation in Automobile Advertising

3.1 Individualism vs. Collectivism

When it comes to cultural values in different districts, the most important dimension is individualism vs collectivism. Individualism orientation encourages personal decision-making and emphasizes individual behaviors, self-fulfillment; while collectivism views the individual as a part of a group and underlines correlative dependence, pays attention to the group goal, friendship and stresses the concept of “us” not “me”.

Images appeared in domestic automobile advertisements are usually sweet scenes that all family members drive their car to have a family journey or the lovers enjoy their trip in a car, or close friends go for their expedition by their car. Most of them present the relationship among the group life. On the contrary, in the western advertisements, there are more scenes of a man driving alone which expresses personal heroism. For example, the advertisement The Race with God of Mercedes-Benz, the leading man drives as fast as a flash in a vast desert and wins the competition in the end. What’s more, the advertisement Hostile Takedown of BMW also shows the same spirit. There are several reasons account for the differences, different backgrounds, languages and ideology. Chinese pay more attention to the sense of group and family while westerners emphasize freedom and an individual adventure. Chinese tend to rely on each other, cooperate with each other and care much about the international relationship.

3.2 Power Orientation

Power orientation refers to the degree of acceptance and recognition of social power differences. Advertising appeals of power distance emphasize tradition and authority and pay attention to social class. (Luo Xiaoyan, 2007: 286）

Compared with western culture, Chinese culture respects the history and the elder, stresses tradition and the past, attaches importance to ancestral wisdom and experience, identity and class. Due to thousands of years of Chinese tradition, China has not developed professional association and evaluation system. The quality of commodities in ancient times is often checked by the emperor and celebrities’ evaluation while commodities today are appraised through government authorities. There are so many compliments such as the level of diamond, the flagship model, world-class quality and a lot of titles such as CEO and VIP in auto advertising copies. For instance, the propagation of the 2nd generation of Chang’an is the model of minicars, trustworthy. The advertising copy of Transit Express Car reads that we are the wisest choice of global top 500 enterprises, we lead the sales of Chinese high-end light passenger for two years in a row and we are awarded Chinese annual commercial vehicles by national mainstream media alliance in both 2005 and 2006. The message in the advertising of Dongfeng NISSAN is that three-month consecutive sales of TEANA outdistances the sum sales of two brand cars and is ahead of other top luxury cars. What’s more, the dignity of the world of Suzhou Higer, KIA, the worldwide leader in the automotive manufacturing industry etc. all show the worship to the state and the authority which is rarely used in foreign auto advertising.

3.3 Value Orientation

The perception of the symbolic meanings of cars has been beyond the product itself through the transformation of advertising. Cars have become the symbol of mobility, the show of personal image and the evidence of owners’ social values. In order to manifest personality and freedom, advertising attaches greater importance to satisfying consumes’ demands. We can see not only the practical value of products, but also its additional psychological value when we watch advertisements. Cars are combined with human spirits, for example, luxury cars can add happiness to the owners.

The brand symbolizes the owner’s identity and status which causes many domestic auto advertising to pursue the feeling of honor, luxury and success. Some advertisements always imply that this car is the first choice of pursuing high-quality life. Owning a car nearly becomes a symbol of success and shows a man’s taste, especially some high-end cars more set this concept as their main appeal. For example, noble car goes with you of BRILLIAN China and a car defines a kind of life of MAZDA Wagon. The advertising appeal of NISSAN TEANA is honorable auto for the new generation of successful people which suggests that owning a car becomes a symbol of strength and first-class people.

While the United States of America is known as a country on wheels, automobile for hundreds of years has penetrated into every aspect of their life. Auto culture is rooted deeply in each American’s heart, which indicates that automobile is not just a kind of transportation. Just like the advertising of FORD says that there is no boundary among your worlds from now on. What’s more, love life, enjoy life of VOLVO and pleasure of driving, limits of innovation of BMW both show the attitude of owing a car and enjoying life.

3.4 Rationality vs. Sensibility

There’s profound humanism in Chinese culture. Chinese introversive personality is based on benevolence and patience. And Chinese people tend to realize their values through introspection and self-denial. For customers in China, advertising attaches great importance to the value of the product itself and the convenience in daily life. They expect to get specific information from the automobile advertising, such as what equipments there are in the car (ABS, airbag, etc.) and whether it is safe or energy-saving. Most domestic car advertisements focus more on the introduction of the product performance and appearance. Domestic auto advertisements always describe that the car is safe, saves energy and has a powerful horsepower directly. For example, the slogan of GEELY LG-1 is that a crystal diamond sculpt and an efficient engine. What’s more, NISSAN Livina propagandizes it is a perfect car with a decent appearance and spacious space. A new-generation swift horse and get refined internally and externally, safe, artistic and practical are also pointed out in the NISSAN Livina advertising copy.

While the mental structure of Westerners is complexed and loose compared with Chinese，they pay more attention to the external form of the advertising and sensory effects. As westerners care more about the artistic quality of the automobile advertising and emotional appeals, in addition to the product itself, they also lay emphasis on the attached values of the product and the feelings it brings to a human mind. Foreign advertising often reflects the harmony between human and nature with the help of animals. For instance, NISSAN SUV series advertising shows the outstanding performance of their product through animals in the wild. One of BENZ advertisements is that the hedgehog beside the road wears a gas mask. It takes off the mask only when the BENZ passes by to show that the BENZ car has less gas. In one more BENZ advertising, a bird stays at the car brand logo, which tells us that BENZ attaches importance to the environment protection and reveals that BENZ can satisfy human’s yearning for the nature. Also, VOLVO has an advertisement showing its safety performance through dogs and cats to transmit its consistent concept love your life, enjoy your life. These anthropomorphic appeals achieve a psychological resonance with the audience and arouse audience’s favorable feelings to the product. On the contrary, domestic advertising seldom takes animals as the leading role and at the most lets them be an ornament in the protagonist’s happy life.

However, with the growing competition of the automobile market, advertising which satisfying consumers with emotional appeals appears and is believed to gradually become the mainstream. For example, the advertising language of a new series Li of BMW5 is a large capacity, a good mood which shows definitely that enlarged back space makes passengers feel more comfortable and enjoyable. Another one, the advertising of BUICK Excelle uses some important moments of life as the entry point, positive attitude to life is conveyed by the advertising message devoting yourself in every process, receiving rich life. What’s more, a television advertising of BUICK Regal majorly advocates be calm, you can be against the wind and snow to stress that blizzard can’t stop the hero.

3.5 Musculism vs. Feminism

Musculism refers to the importance of traditional masculine values (such as success, money and material) to the society which mainly emphasizes motivation of self-realization. On the other hand, feminism shows care for others and the quality of life.

Cars are always endowed with masculine image which gives us a feeling that transportation should be controlled by men. It is common for masculism to be seen in the automobile advertising, especially advanced auto. Drivers in the automobile advertising are always men. Although the display of advertising is warm and sweet, men are also casted as the head of the family, the spiritual pillar of a family and the master of the steering wheel. This kind of image deepens the masculine temperament of a car and also suggests that the male is to handle the authority and the center role of the family while the female always plays the role of loving wife and caring mother. The traditional gender concept that men play the key role in the society while women are confined to the family chores is obviously seen everywhere in the auto advertising. In an advertising of BMW, a title above a middle-aged man on the left side reads that where does the charm of a 40-year-old men come from. While on the other side, the line above a car with its door open says charm consists in the inward. The advertising copy is that men can’t stop loving cars. From here on, BMW has become a symbol of successful middle-aged men.

However, some changes have occurred in auto advertising in recent years that advertising does not simply respected masculinity any more and have added some sweet and gender appeals. Even in some advertising, the female start to become the leading role. Also cars designed for female consumers have appeared which have compact design, fashionable appearance and a mid-range price represented by CHERY QQ, TOYOTA VIZI and GEELY Beauty Leopard, etc. Is it a declaration that the gender temperament of transportation has not been clear and definite like before any more?

3.6 Humor Orientation

Humor, one of the most widely used communication skills, especially in the western advertising. The picture of one Volkswagen advertising is that a person hangs himself because of bankruptcy as he can’t sell out his cars. The advertising says what if he sells Volkswagen cars... which is westerners’ black humor. In a POLO advertising, the police hide behind a POLO car and shout at criminals with a loudspeaker to show the security and robustness of this car. In addition, heaven can wait of BENZ reminds the audience of the necessity fasten their seat belts through a car accident and VOLVO shows the importance of the safety of a car by death of the god. As Chinese are deeply influenced by traditional culture and pray for luck, humorous ways related to hanging oneself and suicide are rarely used in Chinese auto advertising. For Chinese, traditional humor is just used to explain a concept or make a point.

4. Reasons for the Differences

4.1 Ideology and Cultural Background

Ideology refers to various kinds of values, vision for humanity and social beliefs established on some kind of political and economic theory which is the product of a national and historical precipitation. Compared with Chinese long history, the history of western countries is relatively short. Therefore, western ideology does not have a mature development. Their characteristic is practical, shallow, common and also has cognitive and moral judge at the same time. In contrast, as China has five thousand years of cultural heritage, Chinese people are under the influence of systematic and traditional ideas. The combination between these concepts and Chinese traditional values, Chinese ideology and political system maintained by this standard and values stresses that we should maintain their seriousness in any occasion. Chinese advertising is more implicative and at the same time pays more attention to the collective.

What’s more, advertising is an important cultural phenomenon. Culture and ethic are inseparable. Each ethic has its own unique behavior pattern, thinking mode and values which is rooted in people’s heart in the form of a subconsciousness and inner thinking mode. Advertising appears in the form of promoting products, it has to cater to the understanding of customers to the objective world and social mainstream ideology from their own interests. So each country’s culture and thoughts have severely restricted the appeal and strategy of the advertising and audience’s acceptance and understanding of the advertising information. Western culture emphasizes individual value, they attach importance to developing themselves through their own struggle. They think that only when they get fully developed, their society would develop, so they also pursue sensory gratification.

Chinese culture emphasizes the reconciliation and centers on the family, so much Chinese advertising set family as the background and set emotion as the theme with a strong humanism color. Chinese advertising reflects the group concept of Chinese culture, emphasizes the whole and attaches great importance to the family and emotional connection while western advertising reflects the personal value, emphasizes individual independence and pays attention to publicizing individual characteristics.

4.2 Ways of Thinking

The thinking mode between Chinese and western culture is quite different. The way of thinking in the east is circular and tends to use intuitive experience as the tool to emphasize integrity; while western thinking mode is linear and stresses analysis by logical positivism. As Mr. Fu Lei (2008:176) explained that the ways of thinking between easterners and westerners have basic differences. We pay attention to synthesis, induction, insinuation and connotation while westerners emphasize analysis. The mentalities are extremely difficult to merge and communicate with each other. The differences between Chinese and foreign advertising are similar with the main differences between Chinese and western traditional aesthetics--realism and freehand portrayal in traditional Chinese painting.

Analogy is one of the basic way of thinking. It is mainly used as the overview and instructions from known image to unknown image, also used in the inference of specific image taking place of the abstract concept in quantity. For example, Chinese are good at changing similar images to cognitive objects which are easier to be understood by the method of metaphor, symbolism, analogy and so on. The elocutionist Mencius rarely uses rigorous deductive logic to force others to accept his point of view; instead, he uses a large number of analogy to make his theory righteous. The methods of description, metaphor and analogy are literature methods in the book of The Book of Songs. But throughout the history, it has gradually become a main way of inference and argumentation and an ordinary habit of thinking. This kind of way of thinking pays more attention to intuitive experience. Therefore, Chinese advertising tends to look for a common thing to take the place of the product in creation which can show the characteristics of the product well.

Westerners’ thinking mode is rational and logical and has strong abstractness and generality which is different from Chinese figurative thinking. To talk with Chinese people, you’d better give more examples and stick to the facts. In contrast, to talk to westerners, you can talk more about ideas, means or rules as they develop a rational thinking mode. This way of thinking makes them prefer to be straightforward, rational and quickly get to the point in designing advertisements. Just due to this way of thinking, much suspense advertising appears in the west and makes us enlightened until the end of the advertising.

5. The Localization of Western Advertising in China

With the globalization of the world economy, the multinational marketing has been a very common phenomenon in automobile industry. As the Chinese auto market is highly internationalized, the market is filled with all multinational brands. In this situation, in order to realize the global promotion of their products, multinational auto company has to consider global market and cultural differences among districts when making advertising for their products and service. Multinational companies usually run into some obstacles when entering China. One of the most important problems is how to coordinate the internationalization and localization. (Huang Lu, 2007:43）There are completely different cultural background and consumer preference in different countries and districts. If one piece of advertising made in some district is put into another market with the same mode directly may cause the failure of the spread of advertising. So no matter international agency or local advertising agency has to study cultural tradition and consuming characteristics in different regions to avoid causing harm to the brand.

5.1 Advertising Slogan

Due to the differences of region and culture, foreign auto brand always has special advertising ideas when delivering advertising into Chinese market. Some advertising slogans of foreign auto brand combine their own characteristics with the cognition of Chinese. They usually use knowledge widely known by Chinese people to show Chinese culture. For example, the advertising slogan of BMW in 2010 says enjoy, different in approach but equally satisfactory in result; nature and humanity, enjoy as own duty and passion and dream, enjoy by nature.

Some advertising slogans of other foreign auto brands are commoner and simpler. For instance, BENZ is used to pursuing a luxurious atmosphere, but it hardly uses honor, luxury and so on words in the advertising, instead, it states the brand commitment in a simple and humorous way. The serial advertising the best or nothing promoted in 2010 with a meaning that just doing the best shows BENZ’s pursue to the quality with such a simple and straightforward slogan. In our eyes, BENZ cars are the representatives of premium and luxury cars, but the advertising slogans become very simple in China.

5.2 The selection of elements of advertising and advertising style

The advertising of foreign auto brand in China usually uses some traditional Chinese elements appropriately. For example, a series of advertising promoted by BMW in 2010 used a large number of Chinese elements, from facial painting of Beijing Opera to fish, shrimp, lotus, mountain and other Chinese ink painting, from a classic beauty holding a Chinese musical instrument lute to children writing Chinese characters, from Chinese characteristic brush calligraphy to a red seal with China on it, from colorful embroidery to delightful paper-cuts etc. Chinese elements are used incisively and vividly.

In addition, foreign advertising presents a style of bold and fluent. For instance, the advertising of CADILLAC gives us a feeling of grand, magnificent, luxury and energetic. The advertising joins technique, strength, speed and luxury together and represents the highest quality and image.

5.3 Core advertising appeals

The key points of foreign auto brand are safe, comfortable and environmental protection. For example, the core appeal of BMW is pure driving pleasure and stresses a pursuit of advocating enjoyment. The advertising sticks to the core points of their brand closely and maximizes the cultural effects of different places.

Emotional appeals are emphasized in today’s advertising as this kind of advertising can be close to consumers’ hearts well and reduce the distance between products and consumers. The advertising of foreign brand cars whose factories are in China is still in the constant exploration and development, for example, in a promotion advertising of TOYATA VIOS, Daniel Wu and his girlfriend stop the car because of the quarrel. When they are getting on each other’s nerves, a passerby acted by Fan Wei gets into the open car curiously and turns on the music in the car. At that moment, a piece of slow, wonderful music Imagination of Pu Shu brings the young couple in anger back to their former happy memory in which the VIOS car accompanies them all the time and witnesses their happiness all the way here and just like what the actress says the car has been a part of their home. At the same time, the English lyrics appears on the screen never stop imagination, never lose passion, it’s my way, my way... From actors to the singer, from lyrics to subtitle of the advertising slogan, this piece of advertising reflects a happy and positive atmosphere and melts feelings of consumers into the advertising with a love story skillfully. This way makes full use of emotional appeals pursuing happiness of consumers and shortens the distance between foreign brand and Chinese consumers. All these innovative attempts have obtained a good result.

6. Conclusion

Through case study of Chinese and western auto advertising, we can draw a conclusion that the values of Chinese and western advertising shows basically in conformity with Chinese and western traditional value system and the two show a significant difference at the same time. In order to please the target audience, advertisers and the advertising company measure the local condition carefully and then make the advertising. It also shows that in the advertising and marketing, as an important means of cross-cultural communication, mastering consumers’ different kinds of psychological demands and then conducting targeted product advertising appeal is necessary. At the same time, we need respect differences in cultural value orientation, after all of these; we can win consumers in the fierce market competition.

Works Cited

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