The Role of Culture in Creative Execution in Celebrity Endorsement: The Cross-Cultural Study

ABSTRACT

In advertising literature, an area rarely explored is cross-cultural studies on celebrity endorsements. A good deal may be learned from understanding how a culture's communication style can shape the type of advertising most effective for that culture. This study examines the creative styles (creative executional factors) found in the advertising of Korea and America. The two countries represent two distinct cultures—Korea being a collectivistic culture and the United States being individualistic. Both cultures affect the norms and rules that guide their inhabitants’ behavior, directly affecting communication styles. The study finds that embedded in the use of celebrity endorsement are cross-cultural characteristics. The details of these findings will be useful to international advertisers executing celebrity endorsement campaigns in different cultural settings.