Comparative analysis of consumer behavior. Effects of cultural differences between Western and Eastern countries on visual perception and memory.

Abstract

The dissertation is focused on how culture can influence consumer behavior across the countries. It analyses the cultural differences between Western and Eastern countries, with a particular attention to the impacts on visual advertising strategies. The first chapter introduces the concept of culture, its main elements, the cultural classifications of countries and its relationship with consumer behavior. It also analyses the cultural origins of Western and Eastern countries and their main principles and values. The second chapter is more focused on the relation between culture and advertising strategy. It explains the main elements of visual advertising and it studies how images can be interpreted and remembered differently depending on the two concepts of culture and familiarity. The third chapter analyses how the same image and background information can be perceived by different cultures by describing an empirical study, composed of two experiments provided to Western and Eastern people.