Print Advertising at the Component Level: A Cross-Cultural-Comparison of the United-States and Japan

We examined the visual components in 339 advertisements drawn from seven different U.S. magazines, with similar components in 194 ads from seven different Japanese magazines. The visual components examined were related to elements of the visual, process of visual appeal, the content of the appeal, headline type, and the portrayal of people shown in the ad. The specific hypotheses examined were: (1) the product is portrayed more often in the United States; (2) price information is included more often in the United States; (3) process appeal types differ by country; (4) content appeals differ by country; (5) headlines types differ by country; (6) ethnic groups portrayed more often in the United States; (7) sex roles portrayed more traditional in Japan; (8) elderly portrayed more often in the United States; (9) children portrayed more often in the United States; (10) young adults portrayed more often in the United States; (11) people are participating in product use more often in the United States. To investigate the specific hypotheses, χ ² tests were used, and this was followed by a discriminant analysis to examine overall country differences in advertising practice.