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Using celebrities to promote products is a popular advertising technique around the world. However, little is known about how the implementation of celebrity endorsement varies according to dominant cultural values. This study content-analyzed television commercials featuring celebrities from two diametrically different countries--the United States and Korea--in terms of two fundamental cultural dimensions: (1) low versus high context, and (2) individualism versus collectivism. Findings of this study suggest that the strategic use and creative executions of celebrity endorsement mirror the respective prevalent cultural orientations in the two countries, although some similarities do exist. Extensive discussion and suggestions for future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross-cultural comparison aims to understand whether the influence of consumer ethnocentrism (CE) on consumer preference for domestic versus foreign products is product category and country-of-origin dependent. Three countries with dissimilar cultural orientation and economic status—China, South Korea, and the United States—were examined. American consumers were found to be more ethnocentric than Chinese and South Korean consumers. CE was found to significantly and positively predict American and Korean consumers’ preference for domestic products across product categories, while Chinese consumers’ CE did not translate into their preference for Chinese products. In addition, the relationship between CE and purchase preference varied across product categories as well as countries of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As consumers’ ethnocentric tendencies heighten in intensity when a country is threatened, this cross-cultural comparison study aims to understand how the recent global financial crisis may have influenced the phenomenon of consumer ethnocentrism (CE). This study compares the levels of CE in the U.S. and China and examines patriotism, nationalism, internationalism, and demographic factors as antecedents of CE in order to understand how consumers’ ethnocentric tendencies vary across cultures. Results indicate that American consumers are more ethnocentric than Chinese consumers, while nationalism has the strongest impact on CE in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]