American culture is low-context. According to Mueller, in low-context cultures, “high value is placed on words, and communicators are encouraged to be direct, exact and unambiguous.” People need in-depth background information to base their purchase decisions on. This is one reason why American customers also like assertive messages in advertising.
Another culture-bound aspect which applies to the US is comparative advertising. In the US it is common to explicitly mention other brands’ names and compare the other companies’ products to their own products. For Americans this is a source of information and forms the basis for their purchase decisions.
These two facts correlate with the Americans’ preference for a hard-sell approach. This refers to the factual and explicit information proving the product’s superiority in advertising. The customer is provided with much factual information instead of indirect and implicit messages with symbolic character about the qualities of the product.
Furthermore, American society can be analyzed with Hofstede’s dimensions of culture. I picked out three of five dimensions which I briefly want to explain and apply to American culture.
In American society there is a strong focus on the individual. It is an individualist and not a collectivist culture. So advertising focusing on advantages for the individual rather than the group is well received and does not transmit negative images about the product. It is rather the opposite. A focus on the individual transmits a sense of uniqueness, independence, success as well as self-reliance (Mueller 136). All of these are core American values.
In addition, American society has a tendency towards masculinity rather than femininity. Typical traits which are placed emphasis on in masculine societies are “achievement, assertiveness, dominance, success, competition, and heroism.” (Mueller 139)
And lastly, in the US there is a prevalent short-term orientation. In countries with short-term orientation, people are open to change of values and traditions and do not place great emphasis on the past but rather planning for the future.
Sources:
An, Daechun. Advertising visuals in global brands' local websites: a six-country comparison. Korea: Hongik University, 2007. Print.
Mueller, Barbara. Dynamics of International Advertising. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2011. Print.
