Article2013

A Multi-Country Examination of Hard-Sell and Soft-Sell Advertising

Shintaro Okazaki · Barbara Mueller · Sandra Diehl

52 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Advertising Research

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Marketing and Advertising Strategies Consumer Behavior and Marketing Influence Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification

Abstract

ABSTRACT Prior research has revealed that advertisements utilizing a global consumer culture positioning (GCCP) strategy more often adopt soft-sell (indirect and image-based) rather than hard-sell (direct and information-based) appeals. However, little empirical research has examined consumer preferences for soft-sell versus hard-sell advertising appeals in multi-country settings. This investigation attempted to fill this gap by proposing a multi-country research framework and conducting a pilot study. Soft-sell and hard-sell versions of a print advertisement were pretested with nearly 2,000 subjects in both holistic- and analytical-thinking countries. Findings indicated that employing a soft-sell appeal would be more effective than its hard-sell counterpart in global markets. Results from t-tests collectively indicated that soft-sell advertisements were more likely to generate favorable attitudes and less likely to evoke advertising irritation in most of the countries examined. In closing, the authors discuss theoretical as well as managerial implications, recognize important limitations, and summarize suggestions for future research.

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References

2003Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies.1991Culture and the Self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion, and Motivation 1988Possessions and the Extended Self 1998Assessing Measurement Invariance in Cross‐National Consumer Research 2001Culture and systems of thought: Holistic versus analytic cognition.1990Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy 2005Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty Years of Research 2010From the Editors: Common method variance in international business research

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