How French Advertising Professionals Develop Creative Strategy

Content analyses of French advertisements have shown French advertising to be markedly different from American advertising. A qualitative study of French advertising through in-depth interviews with creative directors, analysis of agency documents, and photographic documentation of French advertising revealed four emic descriptors—la séduction, le spectacle, l'amour, l'humour—that characterize French advertising. Suggestions are made for American manufacturers who want to advertise to the French market and implications are drawn for future research in describing the advertising of a particular culture.