Chinese Consumer Perceptions of Offensive Advertising: assessing Advertising Matter, Manner, and Media and the Role of Cultural Identity

With China’s social transition and rapid economic growth, the country is now the second-largest advertising market worldwide. Yet, previous research and recent campaigns suggest that Chinese consumers are easily offended by advertising. We investigate the level of offence caused by different products (advertising matter), advertising executions (advertising manner), and different media (advertising media) among contemporary Chinese consumers, based on two surveys (n = 600; n = 1,506) in mainland China. Results indicate that advertising executions bear a much larger risk of offence than the products advertised, particularly if they offend Chinese cultural identity. A comparison with conceptually similar studies conducted two decades ago in Hong Kong suggest that the risk of offending Chinese consumers is not only highly prevalent, but may have even increased. Negative brand-related reactions also appear to be more pronounced. We also identified four distinct clusters with differing perceptions of offensive advertising.