One country, two systems: Cultural Values Reflected in Chinese and Hong Kong Television Commercials

A content analysis of 1387 commercials broadcast in China and Hong Kong in 1993 and 1998 was conducted using Cheng and Schweitzer's framework of cultural values. The five cultural values that dominated Chinese television advertising were ‘modernity’, ‘family’, ‘tradition’, ‘technology’ and ‘collectivism’. The five dominant cultural values in Hong Kong television advertising were ‘quality’, ‘effectiveness’, ‘economy’, ‘enjoyment’ and ‘modernity’. Hong Kong commercials used more western values, whereas Chinese commercials used more eastern ones. Chinese commercials used more symbolic values, while Hong Kong commercials used more utilitarian ones. The pattern of cultural values reflected in Chinese commercials was more volatile than that of Hong Kong commercials. The use of a two-way ANOVA model indicated that product category had a greater impact on cultural values than the time dimension.