Cultural Values Conveyed through Celebrity Endorsers: A Content Analysis of Chinese Television Commercials

Zhen Sun

Abstract


This study proposes a content analysis to ascertain the primary cultural values in Chinese celebrity-endorsed and non-celebrity-endorsed television commercials and examine the relationships between celebrities’ characteristics and cultural values. Results show that Chinese celebrity ads are dominated by the celebrities who are from the Greater China Region (aka MainlandChina) and mainly promote modern and utilitarian values. Celebrity endorsers are most often associated with the values of quality/effectiveness, success/status, beauty/youth, and enjoyment/leisure. Their gender and age are stereotypically presented in advertising messages. The study shows a predictable pattern of matching relations between celebrity endorsers and cultural values and implies that advertisers inChinatend to depend on the shared common meanings of celebrities to create advertising messages.


Keywords


celebrity endorsement, Chinese television commercial, cultural value, gender, age, nationality

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