A Comparative Study On Chinese And American Pro-environmental Public Service Advertisements From A Cross-cultural Perspective

With environmental pollution and ecological destruction becoming more serious, many people are beginning to participate in environmental protection in various ways. Pro-environmental public service advertisement (hereafter Pro-environmental PSA) is an effective vehicle to inform public of environmental issues and to stimulate their actions to protect environment. So it has received great attention from the public. Many researchers at home and abroad have done the study on PSA from different perspectives, but most of the studies are restricted to linguistic analysis and sociological analysis. Less research has been conducted on the content of pro-environmental PSA from the cross-cultural perspective. In this thesis, the author employs a cross-cultural approach to compare the cultural differences between Chinese pro-environmental PSAs and American ones based on the theories of Hofstede's value dimensions and Hall's culture context model. Hofstede's value dimensions and Hall's culture context model are the most prominent dimensions in explaining cross-cultural differences, so they are wonderfully useful framework for analyzing the cultural differences embedded in Chinese pro-environmental PSAs and American ones.By analyzing the examples of Chinese pro-environmental PSA and American ones collected from magazines and the internet, we arrive at the following conclusions: (1) Hofstede's value dimensions and Hall's high/low cultural context are partially manifested in Chinese and American pro-environmental PSAs. The dimensions of collectivism/ individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and high/low context culture can explain the cultural differences embedded in Chinese pro-environmental PSAs and American ones, while the dimension of Masculinity/Femininity isn't included in this thesis as it isn't manifested in the cultural differences between Chinese pro-environmental PSAs and American ones. (2) There exist some problems in Chinese pro-environmental PSAs. For example, some are lack of originality, while others are just like propagating tool to educate people with cold, stiff, and abstract words. On the basis of the findings in chapter 3, the author puts forward some suggestions for the improvement of Chinese pro-environmental PSA design, such as: adaptation to Chinese cultural value system, combining elements of Chinese traditional culture and incorporating innovative elements into Chinese pro-environmental PSAs.Theoretically speaking, it is hoped that the findings of this thesis can enrich the study of pro-environmental PSA from the angle of cultural values. By comparing the cultural values embodied in Chinese and American pro-environmental PSAs, this thesis, practically speaking, may helps the general public to gain some valuable insights and provides some constructive references for advertisers so as to promote the communication of environmental protection between China and America.