The Effect of Advertising Appeals in Activating Self-Construals: A Case of Bicultural Chinese Generation X Consumers

Abstract

Adopting a dynamic constructivist approach to culture (Hong and Chiu 2001), this project examined the effect of advertising appeals in activating self-construals among Chinese Generation X consumers. In Study I, the bicultural disposition of this generation was evident when its salient self-construals were found to shift toward independence or interdependence in response to individualistic versus collectivistic advertisements. Study 2 demonstrated further that this self-shifting effect emerged only among bicultural Generation X individuals. Specifically, compared to when exposed to collectivistic ads, when exposed to individualistic ads, low biculturals (low in both individualistic and collectivistic orientation measures) responded with more independent self-construals, whereas high biculturals (high in both orientation measures) responded with more interdependent self-construals. Overall, these results are consistent with the theoretical expectation about the impact of globalization on biculturalism. Moreover, the results also reveal new knowledge about the role that contemporary advertising in China plays in promoting cultural changes at the individual level.