A Contrastive Study On Cultural Values Embodied In English And Chinese Cosmetic Advertisements

The present thesis intends to contrast English and Chinese cosmetic advertisements with the aim of studying cultural values that underlie them. It explores similarities and differences in cultural values they carry and discusses potential problems people may encounter in the process of cultural transmission through advertisements.This thesis is composed of three chapters in addition to introduction and conclusion. The first chapter conceptualizes some key ideas such as value, cultural value and advertisement, investigates the relationship between advertisements and cultural values, and reviews the relevant studies at home and abroad. In the second chapter, Hofstede-Bond's value dimensions, Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's value orientations, Edward Hall's high- and low- context orientations and Confucian work dynamism are presented as the theoretical foundation for the study and methods of data collection and analysis are also offered. The third chapter mainly focuses on the contrastive analysis of English and Chinese cosmetic advertisements the author collected, tries to find out similarities and differences in cultural values they embody and explores the possible causes of differences between the two.The present thesis is a comprehensive study on similarities and differences in cultural values reflected in English and Chinese cosmetic advertisements. It is hoped that the analysis can give some help to Chinese and foreign advertising planners and make them aware of the differences in cultural values embedded in cross-cultural advertisements.