This document analyzes cultural differences between French and American advertisements. It finds that American ads focus more on storytelling to build emotional connections with consumers, while French ads emphasize product details. For example, a BMW ad in France only mentioned technical specs, while a US version showed the car in a family's daily life. The document also discusses how ads reflect cultural values like individualism in the US versus collectivism in France. While some messages can be standardized across cultures, adaptations are often needed to appeal to each audience's norms and sensibilities.

1. St. John's University
Cultural Differences between French & American Advertisements:
The Standardization of Hegemony vs. Adaptation in Translating Messages
Rosalie Messina
COM 1001-12236
Dr. Tuija Parikka
April 27, 2016

2. 2
Differences in culture are determining elements that advertisers must attend to
when designing international advertising strategies. Culture can be defined as the symbolic
process equated with communication. (Parikka, Tuija) Cultural values can be significantly
different across cultures, which affords advertisers the freedom to determine if the
translation of certain messages can be done vis-à-vis the standardization of hegemony1, or
if an adaptation (using different advertising messages in separate markets) to the message
must be made for it to be internalized in the cultural correctly. Accordingly, the messages
derived from advertisements and relationships that exist between consumers and brands
in various cultures are derived from the different societal values2 that exist among cultures.
When examining the differences among advertisements in France and the United States,
the differences in cultural values can be reflected. However, there also exist universally
accepted values, such as health, that can be constructed without having to adapt the
advertisement to fit a particular culture.
In terms of the fundamental framework of an advertisement, advertisements in the
United States are mainly focused on the power of storytelling. (Knight, Kristina) By
virtue of this, they are seeking to define who the consumer is by appealing to them
through showing them a certain situation. As a result, the audience will identify with
that situation, imagining themselves in the storyline, thus constructing their own sense
of self-understanding. (Parikka, Tuija) In contrast, the European market does not seek
1 Hegemony: less powerful members of society accept and expect that power be distributed
unequally. In terms of advertising, this means that a cultural imperialism exists, in which
American media dominates the global market and shapes the identities of other nations.
(Parikka, Tuija)
2 For the purposes of this research, “value” is defined as an enduring belief that a specific
mode of being is socially preferable to alternate modes of being, and motivate lifestyle and
product choices (Begu, Ciprian)

3. 3
to have an indetificating effect on its audience rather it seeks to have a hypodermic
effect, where information is directly delivered to the consumer. More specifically, ad
messaging in Europe usually includes unique selling points of the product or service,
versus emotional selling points that are typical of American advertisements.
A recent example of this could be seen when BMW promoted their new all-electric
vehicle, the BMW i3, with television commercials that broadcasted in both the United
States and France. The French commercial was only 18-seconds long, and featured the
car driving down various streets. Each time the vehicle turned, a phrase came across
the screen. The two phrases that were used were, “100% Électrique,” (100% electric)
and “170 Chevaux” (170 horsepower). In contrast, the commercial that aired in the
United States was 1-minute and 30-seconds long, and featured the storyline of the
typical day of a working father. Each element of his day featured the car, whether he
was picking up his daughter from school, parking the car at work, or leaving the garage
with his wife and daughter for a ride. Thus, underlying tone of the European ad is "this
vehicle is for you because of its capabilities," versus the American tone of, "this vehicle
is for you because we at BMW know what the lifestyle of a classic, American man is.”
The differences in advertising styles also illustrate the relationship that exists
among American consumers and brands are starkly different from that of French
consumers and brands. (Kimmelman, Michael) In the United States, consumers are
pulled into forging a direct relationship with brands, while French culture tends to be
less sensitive to the cultivation of a mutualistic relationship among consumers and
brands. This also suggests that European consumers are most sensitive to the cost and
value of products, while Americans are being sold to the advertising more so than the

4. 4
value of the actual product. In fact, Jacques Séguéla, chief creative office for Havas,
France’s second largest advertising agency, notes how American advertisements are
“lean on facts and nearly allergic to the rough and tumble of commerce.” (Kimmelman,
Michael) This demarcates how American advertising is based upon ornament, the
outward show of a product. This creates a bandwagon effect, which gives the consumer
the idea that they should use a certain product, which is predicated on the exaggerated
claim that everyone is using it. This type of advertising, however, is not propagated in
French culture.
Moreover, in France it is forbidden to denigrate competitors in a television
advertisement or to instruct viewers to call a certain number now to buy a product.
(Kimmelman, Michael) Séguéla attributes this to the France’s societal values, which view
money as a catalyst for an unhealthy relationship between the consumer and the brand.
“To us money implies corruption, and moreover, because we consider ourselves the
inventors of freedom, never mind if that’s not true, we still consider advertising as a
kind of manipulation.” (Kimmelman, Michael) Accordingly, the differences in French and
American advertising also shed light on the different sets of cultural values that each
have.
This being so, in order to be influential in another culture, the advertiser needs to
have an understanding of the culture and its respective social norms and reciprocities.
Each of the four levels of advertising should be faceted along this understanding. They
are mission, proposition, concept and execution. (Begu, Ciprian) It is important to note
that there can exist both identical and different elements of advertising across cultures.
How similar or different the advertising is contingent upon the similarity of the target

5. 5
audience, and also external factors outside of the consumer market that could influence
consumers, such as political and social constructs. (Begu, Ciprian)
An example of this can be seen in examining a recent McDonalds commercial that
aired in France .The commercial featured a teenage boy sitting at the table, while his
father waited online to place their order. The boy was looking at a photo of his class,
while talking on the telephone to a classmate, regarding how he missed them. Once his
father came back to the table, the boy ended the call, and his father proceeded to tell
him how it is a shame how his class is comprised of all boys, because he could have a
“real shot with the ladies.” The commercial closes out with the phrase, “Come as you
are,” written on the screen. The psychographics of the boy talking on the phone with a
male classmate creates the connotation that he is homosexual, and the logo that is
employed, “Come as you are,” suggests that McDonalds is telling consumers that they
are welcome to everyone, and are not exclusive to anyone based on sexual orientation.
However, there isn’t any McDonald’s advertisement similar to this in the United States.
Thus, while McDonalds is using its advertisement to attract customers in both
countries, its method of execution is far different in France, as it builds upon the social
constructs of society that are pushing toward a more accepting community toward
people of homosexual orientation. This illustrates how advertisements, while reaching
the same target audience in another country, may need to be adapted to appeal to each
respective culture.
Furthermore, in a study examining the differences and similarities in TV ads in
France and the US, it was found that the US emphasized personal preferences and
consumer problems, while French ads attempted to entertain using humor and drama.

6. 6
(Wang, Xuehua, and Zhilin Yang) The fact that American advertisements focus on the
“self,” demarcates how American culture values the individual more than the collective,
while French television advertisements, while they may be directed toward a specific
target audience, seems to create a general appeal to the masses as a whole, not just the
select individuals who will be contributing to the brand’s capital gain. This can be seen
in the differences between Air France’s 2016 commercial, as compared to American
Airlines’ “Going Home” commercial. Air France dramatizes traveling by flight, playing
up the luxury that Air France airline offers its customers, portraying its Boeing airbus as
having sequined-lined walls, seats so comfy they rock you to sleep like a swinging
bassinet, and strawberry tarts hand-delivered to your seat. This glamorization of
traveling via Air France provides a psychological escape for the viewer, taking them to
this luxurious place in the skies. Thus, it is appealing to all viewers, since people
generally like to fantasize about imbibing in a more luxurious, rich lifestyle.
Dissimilarly, the American Airlines “Going Home” commercial plays upon the
emotional downsides to travelling, showing travelers daydreaming about hugging their
children in the airport, and wishing to return home to their family after a long time
away. It then shifts to selling the viewer to the American Airlines brand by exerting
empathy in their slogan, “We know why you fly.” Thus, American Airlines makes itself
seem as though they are the preferential airline, since they have an understanding of
their customers’ desires and needs to be with their families.
Furthermore, the study also demonstrated that in terms of emotional appeals,
French culture appeals more to sex than the United States, and advertising in the United
States tends to contain more informational cues. (Wang, Xuehua, and Zhilin Yang) This

7. 7
is prevalent in commercials that are promoting health. For instance, a commercial in
France that is promoting AIDS awareness in France casted humor upon the situation by
employing the use of phallic cartoon illustrations to make viewers aware of the perils of
unprotected sexual relations. However, there wasn’t any information given on AIDS or
sexual health. In comparison, a commercial that recently aired in the United States
promoting sexual health, not only showcased real people purchasing products that
could help them to practice safer sexual engagement, but displayed facts about the
product and its reliability. Likewise, a 2001 study comparing children’s food
commercials in the United States and other nations showed that other nations are more
focused on demonstrating the product in use, teaching children how to prepare healthy
meals for themselves, while American is focused on the presentation of the product.
(Begu, Ciprian)
The choice of advertisements to use certain cues, such as employing humor or being
more informational, contributes to the differences in psychographics that exist among
cultures. (Begu, Ciprian) Psychographics account for the categorization of people into
groups for the purpose of targeting them more effectively. (Parikka, Tuija) Therefore,
what the viewers will derive from the ads or the messages that they will read into them
may differ based on how they are delivered, and what visual cues are used to help
viewers form these messages. Intuitively, our minds are structured to understand
binary oppositions, such as good and bad. In the world of advertising, binaries might be
constructed when showcasing products that have a culturally universal appeal.
(Parikka, Tuija) Cultural comparisons have yielded that there are approximately 42
cultural appeals that are universally accepted on the global market. Such appeals

8. 8
include health, youth, status, and adventure. For example, in a study that compared
consumer reactions to certain cultural appeals, it was found that a “cheap” ad appeals to
the economical sense of the consumer, regardless of what their financial status is in any
culture. Similarly, the term, “dear” appeals to the sense of being highly regarded, and
even luxurious and expensive in nature. (Begu, Ciprian) This asserts that there is a
homogeneity that exists among all consumers, regardless of culture.
This being so, the advertisements that are for products such as these may not need
to be adapted to fit the target culture. An example of this is a print ad for Bayer Aspirin.
In both the United States and France, the pages are almost identical, showcasing the
product and delineating its benefits. This exemplifies how adaptation of advertisements
isn’t always necessary when translating a message from one culture to another.
However, there is an element of cultural imperialism that can be seen in keeping the
general standard of hegemony in advertising in different cultures. To demonstrate,
while Bayer Aspirin may have crated an advertisement that succinctly substantiates the
benefits of using their product, which is the goal that is to be purported by an
advertisement, by not modifying any part of the advertisement, including stylistics,
such as color or syntax used to describe the product, it is demonstrating that the
American method of advertising standardizes the way of which messages should be
communicated, giving the American advertising market a dominant hand in the global
spectrum. Consequently, there is a “power distance” that is created between American
and other cultures. (Begu, Ciprian) This “power distance” refers to the blind willingness
of other cultures to expect that there is a standard of how they should structure and

9. 9
orient their value systems. This result is the root of hegemony that exists among
translating messages among cultures in a global context.
A similar study conducted in 1992, compared the content of French and American
print-advertisements to see if the standardization of hegemony is prevalent among
translating messages in advertisements, or if there is a greater margin of adaptation
that is employed. They found that there was a mixture of both elements. This denotes
how separating hegemon and adapting messages to specifically identify with each
particular culture that is receiving the message is difficult, as the two are very
intertwined. (Begu, Ciprian) This underpins why it is important for brands to be aware
of the values that a culture adheres to, because without tending to the facets of
advertisements which may need to be changed in order to signify the same message, the
message will not be received in the manner it should be.
In summation, differences in culture account for adaptations that may need to be
made in order for an advertisement to be positively received in another culture. More
so, the fact that there are universal needs of consumers that need to be addressed by
brands, but can be done in different ways demarcates that standardization and
adaptation should not be seen as mutually exclusive decisions, but rather as “the polar
ends of a continuum of transitional stages.” (Begu, Ciprian) Thus, the standardization of
hegemony and adaptation are elements of translation communication that can both be
exercised to create a message for the target audience.

10. 10
Works Cited
Begu, Ciprian S. Are U.S. and French Cultural Differences Reflected in Advertising Appeals?
Diss. East Tennessee State U, 2008. N.p.: Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2008.
Http://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3253&context=etd. Electronic Theses and
Dissertations, 2008. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.
<http://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3253&context=etd>.
Kimmelman, Michael. "In France Ads Aim at Heart, Not Wallet." The New York Times. The
New York Times, 18 Feb. 2009. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/arts/design/19abroad.html?_r=4>.
Knight, Kristina. "The Differences between American, European Ads and Why They Matter."
BizReport- Advertising. BizReport, 03 Sept. 2014. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.bizreport.com/2014/09/the-differences-between-american-european-ads-
and-why-they-m.html>.
Parikka, Tuija. Personal communication. Jan. 2016-Apr. 2016.
Wang, Xuehua, and Zhilin Yang. "Standardization or Adaptation in International Advertising
Strategies: The Roles of Brand Personality and Country-Of Origin Image." Asian Journal
of Business Research AJBR 1.2 (2011): n. pag. MagScholar.com. MagScholar, 2011.
Web. 22 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.magscholar.com/joomla/images/docs/ajbr/ajbrv1n2/Standardization%20or%
20Adaptation%20in%20International%20Advertising.pdf>.