Implicit meaning in visual print advertisements: a cross-cultural examination of the contextual communication effect

Although there is an abundance of literature on cross-cultural comparisons of advertising appeals, very little is known about how consumers from different cultures process visual images in print advertisements. This article addresses the issue by examining how contextual communication styles influence the audience's ability to interpret meaning from pictorial advertisements. The results of a quasi-experimental study conducted using subjects from the Philippines and the United States support the proposition that consumers from high-context communication systems are more apt than those from low-context communication systems to derive implicit meaning from visual images in print ads. We discuss the implications of our findings for global advertising strategies.