Seeing the small picture: Ad-self versus ad-culture congruency in international advertising

Participants in a cross-cultural study in the United States and Taiwan indicated no preference for ads depicting values (individualist or collectivist) consistent with those of their culture. Congruency between personal and ad-portrayed values, however, significantly affected responses. The higher the congruency between ad and self, the more participants related personally to the ad. In addition, affective response, ad liking, perceived ad believability, and brand attitudes were all positively associated with ad-self congruency, but not with ad-culture congruency. Implications for international advertising and cross-cultural research are discussed.