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A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EDUCATIONAL VALUES REF LECTED IN
CHILDREN’S TV COMMERCIALS BETWEEN
THE US. AND CHINA

By

Ruhui Ni

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulﬁllment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Educational Psychology and Educational Technology

2009

ABSTRACT

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EDUCATIONAL VALUES REFLECTED IN
CHILDREN’S TV COMMERCIALS BETWEEN
THE US. AND CHINA

By

Ruhui Ni

The disparities in students’ academic achievement and differences in various aspects
of educational systems and practices across countries have been found in international
comparison studies during the past few decades and have drawn increasingly attention. In
order to further understand both the observable differences in various aspects of education,
and how these differences might be contributing to the achievement gap between the US.
and China, this study examined the differences of the larger societal contexts where
schools and educational practices are deeply embedded in by investigating the similarities
and differences in educational values— cultural values associated with child rearing and
education— between the US. and China.

Hofstede’s cultural dimension is adopted as the main theoretical framework.
Children’s TV commercials were employed as a speciﬁc provider of educational values.
Comparisons were drawn based on the analyses of the messaging embedded in children’s

TV commercials in each country.

It is found that the value of formal schooling and children’s academic achievement
receives much higher emphasis in China than in the US. For the general cultural values
concerning children and education, the values of individualism, independence, uniqueness,
enjoyment, modernity, adventure and magic are emphasized more in the US. than in China,
whereas the values of group consensus, afﬁliation, family, patriotism, popularity,
veneration of elderly, tradition, tamed, appearance, and social status are emphasized more
in China than in the US. Children and young people receive high attention both in Chinese
and American society.

The ﬁnding of this study has its implication by suggesting a more comprehensive
perspective to understand and interpret the existent students’ academic achievement gap
across countries. In addition, the conclusion of this study provide important cautions that
should concerned by education reformers and policy makers who advocate borrowing

ideas and practices from countries of different cultures.

Copyright by
RUHUI NT
2009

AC KOWLEDGEMENTS

It took me six years to complete the doctoral program at Michigan State University. I
have been very fortunate to have all those professors and friends beside me to help me
along the process, and also make these six years unforgettable.

I am deeply indebted to my academic advisor, Dr. Yong Zhao, who has served as a
role model with his enthusiasm for educational research, his dedication to academic
career, and his broad range of interests in related academic areas. I have been lucky to be
introduced to some interesting fields and have been eyes-opened by him through taking
his courses, reading books he recommended, as well as through informal talking with him.
I am grateful for his guidance, support, and all kinds of inﬂuence on me.

I would like to thank Dr. David Wong for his constant support and encouragement. I
appreciate his sincere advice throughout my graduate studies. I would also like to thank
Dr. William Schmidt for his help and advice with my dissertation, as well as his guidance
on statistic analysis in general through his courses. I want to thank Dr. Jack Schwille who
has helped me with my dissertation and have encouraged me in different ways during my
graduate studies.

I am very grateful for Mr. Ken Dirkin who has helped me with data collection of the
US. part. Without his help, finishing this study would have been impossible. My good
friend and former colleague in Beijing, Fei Li has helped me with data collection of the
China part. I want to thank her as well for her contribution to this study. I must

acknowledge another important person who has helped me with the dissertation too, Mr.

Xuyang Yao. I want to thank him for the support he has provided me.

I want to thank Xi Chen for all the happy gatherings and for her great influence on
me. From her, I learned how to take positive attitudes towards life. I want to thank Jing
Lei for her constant support, encouragement and valuable friendship. I also want to thank
my friends with whom I have been studying and working together for years: Chun Lai,
Bo Yan, Wei Qiu, Gaoming Zhang, Naiyi Xie, Yi Ma and others. They have had
influences on my life one way or another. I appreciate their support along the way. I am
also very appreciative to Dave Dai, Lisa Payne for providing various resources and
helping me solve all kinds of problems.

I would very like to thank my parents, Mingjian Ni and Anan J in who have given me
the maximum freedom to explore my life and to follow my passion. I am deeply grateful
for their endless love and support. Finally, I want to specially thank Xiaodong Zhu, who
entered my life late, but has accompanied me all the way through the hardest time of

dissertation. I can never thank him enough for what he has brought into my life.

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................. ix
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................. x
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 1
Why Investigate Educational Values ......................................................... 1
Better Understanding Differences in Academic Achievement ..................... 1
Example ofthe US. and China... ...3
InformingEducationalReforms... ..8
Why Compare the U. S. and China .......................................................... 10
How Does This Study Investigate Values? ................................................................ 1.1
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORATICAL FRAMEWORK ......................... 13
Deﬁnition of Value ........................................................................... 13
Cultural Values ................................................................................ 15
Measuring Cultural Values .................................................................. 17
Self-reportSurvey Method... 17
An Alternative Method to Measure Cultural Values... ....20
Advertising as a “Mirror” ofCultural Values... ...............22
Advertising Appeals and Cultural Values... . ......23
Content Analysis on Multiple Aspects of Adverttsmg . ......25
Hofstede’ 5 Framework of Cultural Dimension ............................................ 27
Children’s TV Commercials and Cultural Values in the Context of Education ...... 30
Cultural Dimensions, Cultural Values, and Advertising Appeals ...................... 32
The Values ofAcademic Achievement... ....34
The Dimension of Individualism (IDV) ................................................. 40

The Dimension ofPower Distance (PDI)... ...43
The Dimension ofUncertainty Avoidance (UAI)... .....46

Research Question and Hypotheses ......................................................... 48
CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY ................................................................................. 5 1
Sampling Method .............................................................................. 51

TV Channels Selected in China... ....51
TV Channels Selected in the US... .....53
Data Collection ................................................................................ 53
Data Collected in China....... ...53

vii

Data Collected in the U.S... .....54
Unit of Analysis ............................................................................... 55
Coding .......................................................................................... 56
Coding Scheme... ....56
Coding Method... ....58
Coding Procedure... ...58
Data Analysis .................................................................................. 59

CHAPTER 4
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ................................................................. 60
Product Category Distribution ............................................................... 60
Percentage Breakdown ofProduct Category... ....61
Comparing Product Category Distribution betweeh T wo Countries ......... 63
Dominant Values .............................................................................. 64
Appeal Use Distribution... .. .. .. ...6..4
Five Most Frequently Used Appeals in American Commercials... 66
Five Most Frequently Used Appeals in Chinese Commercials ................. 68

The Value of Schooling and Academic Achievement ................................... 70
Education Appeal70
PortrayedActivities.........................................................................7I
AdoptedSettings...............................................................................72
Education Product74
Across Product Categories...............................................................74

Differences and Similarities in Cultural Values .......................................... 76
The Dimension of Individualism (IDV) ................................................. 76
The Dimension ofPower Distance (PDI)79
The Dimension ofUncertainty Avoidance (UAI)... .....82
Relating the Values to Education and Non-Education Products... ...83

Summary of Major Findings ................................................................. 89

CHAPTER 5

IMPLICATIONS .................................................................................... 90
Implications for Understanding Differences Found in International
Comparisons... 90
Implicationfor Educational Reform... .... .9.....4
Suggestionsfor Future Research... ..9.......6

APPENDIX .......................................................................................... 98

BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................. 101

viii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Emphasis on the value of education, the corresponding hypotheses, and the
hypothesized directions for each country ............................................. 49

Table 2 Cultural dimension, the cultural values/advertising appeals, the corresponding

hypotheses, and the hypothesized directions for each country ..................... 49
Table 3 Data Collected in China .................................................................. 54
Table 4 Data Collected in the US ................................................................. 55
Table 5 Percentage Breakdown of Product Category .......................................... 61
Table 6 Product Category Distribution ........................................................... 63
Table 7 Five Dominant Values in US Commercials .............................................. 66
Table 8 Five Dominant Values in Chinese Commercials ....................................... 68
Table 9 Education Appeal Used in Commercials ............................................... 70
Table 10 Portrayed Scholastic and Non-scholastic Activities in Commercials ............. 72
Table 11 Appearance of Scholastic and Non-scholastic Settings in Commercials ......... 73
Table 12 Education Product in the US. and Chinese Samples ................................ 74
Table 13 Appeals (IDV) Used in Commercials ................................................. 77
Table 14 Appeals (PDI) Used in Commercials .................................................. 79
Table 15 Appeals (UAI) Used in Commercials ................................................. 83
Table 16 Appeals Used across Education Products and Non-Education Products ......... 86

ix

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Appeal Use Distribution of US Sample ................................................ 64
Figure 2 Appeal Use Distribution of China Sample ............................................. 65
Figure 3 US Appeal Distribution by Product Type ............................................. 85
Figure 4 China Appeal Distribution by Product Type .......................................... 85

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
This study is about educational values— a core component of educational culture.
The main goal of this study is to discover the similarities and differences in educational
values between the US. and China. The differing policies and practices of each country’s
educational system have yielded different outcomes, generated quite a discrepancy, and
raised a lot of questions. This study examines television commercials as a speciﬁc
provider of educational values, and draws comparisons between the messaging embedded

in children’s television commercials in each country.

Why Investigate Educational Values

Better Understanding Differences in Academic Achievement

In the last few decades, a variety of large-scale, cross-national studies on students’
academic achievement have drawn global attention (Baker & LeTendre, 2005; Schmidt,
McKnight, Cogan, Jakmerth, & Houang, 1999; Schmidt, McKnight, & Raizen, 1997;
Stevenson & Stigler, 1992). Studies including TTMMS and PISA have informed people
about the educational differences between countries. Widely noticed, most of these
international comparison studies showed that American students underperforrned in
various tests in comparison with their counterparts from other countries (e. g. Schmidt et
al., 1999; Stevenson, 1993). These ﬁndings have aroused signiﬁcant concern from
researchers, policy makers and educators, as well as the US. public at large.

While the international comparisons revealed the disparities in academic
achievement between the US. and other countries, educators and researchers have made

great efforts to discern possible reasons and search for explanations for the achievement

differences. Many aspects of education have been scrutinized, and differences have been
found, including differences in textbooks and curriculum (Schmidt et al., 1999; Schmidt
et al., 1997; J. Stigler & Perry, 1990; Suter, 2000), variability in teachers and teaching
(Baker & LeTendre, 2005; K. Cheng & Wong, 1996; Schmidt et al., 1996; Schmidt et al.,
1999; Schmidt et al., 1997; Stevenson & Stigler, 1992; J. W. Stigler & Hiebert, 1999; J.
W. Stigler, Lee, & Stevenson, 1987; Jian Wang & Lin, 2005), inﬂuences of parental and
family beliefs(Hess & Azuma, 1991; Holloway et al., 1990; Stevenson & Stigler, 1992; D.
B. Wang, 2004; Jian Wang & Lin, 2005), school organization (Peak, 1991; Stedman,
1994; Stevenson & Stigler, 1992), and student’s self-concept and motivation (Bempechat
& Drago-Severson, 1999; Bempechat & Elliott, 2002). These investigations, aimed at
explaining the achievement differences and informing policymakers and educators about
how to improve our educational system, have focused on revealing how various aspects
of educational practices differ between the US. and other countries, with particular
emphasis on top-performing nations.

Despite the strong focus on identifying the differences themselves, there has been
comparatively little effort to address the larger question of speciﬁcally why these
differences in various aspects of educational practices exist. For instance, TIMSS
(Schmidt et al., 1999; Schmidt et al., 1997) reported that some top-performing countries
and regions such as Singapore, Japan, Korea and Hong Kong routinely implement a
centralized curriculum system, whereas U.S. schools adopt a decentralized system with
splintered visions that are reﬂected in highly variable curricula, textbooks, and
instructional strategies. While it remains an empirical question whether and how the

differences in curriculum systems contribute to achievement gaps, there is a more

signiﬁcant question yet to be asked, let alone answered: Why do the curriculum systems
differ between the US. and these East Asian countries?

Similarly, this same question could be raised for any of the identiﬁed areas of
difference: Why do teachers from other countries embrace different teaching philosophy,
teach with different methods, and work in different ways with their colleagues compared
with those in the US? Why are American schools’ organizational structures different
than that from other countries? Why do American parents hold different expectations for
their children’s academic outcome and make various degrees of involvement in
children’s school work in contrast with parents from other countries? These questions and
others like them have led researchers to realize that identifying the areas of difference
themselves does not sufﬁciently address the question.

Identifying both the areas of difference and the reasons that could possibly
contribute to those differences is the more meaningful path of inquiry. The answers to the
questions of why could be crucial to better understand the differences in academic
achievement and various aspects of education found in international comparison studies.
Example of the US. and China

Schools do not exist in vacuum, but are deeply rooted in a larger societal context in
every country. How the end and means of education are perceived and shared by societal
members, and how the structure and functioning of educational system work in a society
are largely determined by a society’s social, economical, political, and cultural
orientation. As McAdams (1993) pointed out, the most basic cultural inﬂuence on the
school is the attitude that the general society displays toward the rearing and education of

children (1993, p. 288). In other words, the attitudes, beliefs and values concerning child

rearing and education shared by the society play an important role in understanding the
role and status of education in a society.

For example, China and the US. vary greatly in their respective cultures concerning
their notions about childhood and how to conduct education. Berliner and Biddle (1995)
suggest that American’s hold some unique attitudes toward children’s education and the
American educational system. For instance, Americans are generally known to think that
children should have a wide variety of experiences and it is worthwhile for young people
to gain work experience and to learn how to handle their own money. They also pointed
out that Americans are profoundly committed to breadth of education and American
teenagers may have more nonacademic interests and a wider knowledge base than do
students from countries that stress narrow academic concerns. Moreover, Americans like
their children to be creative, to be spontaneous, to be socially responsive and friendly,
and to challenge unreasonable authority. It is discussed by Berliner and Biddle too that
American society, in which schools are designed to promote these qualities in children is
not likely to equally emphasize some other qualities that might be conducive to generate
high level academic achievement. Thus, the academic achievement is not the only, or the
most important pursuit in children’s education.

In contrast, Chinese people think that academic achievement should be the most
important aspect of a child’s education (Stevenson & Stigler, 1992). For the sake of
higher performance, children’s nonacademic interests could be easily neglected. Chinese
children are less likely to spend time on gaining work experiences, for example, as they
are considered not likely to beneﬁt students in getting higher scores on examinations.

Moreover, being creative or spontaneous does not sound bad, but it has been mostly

compromised in favor of the more dominant value that opposes overt challenges of
teachers, the elderly and other authority ﬁgures in China’s society. In short, the US. and
China differ on the attitudes that shape child rearing and education. These cultural
differences are expressed not only through people’s attitudes and beliefs, but are made
manifest in various aspects of education system.

Many have recognized collectivism vs. individualism as one of the most important
cultural differences between the US. and China (e. g. Hofstede, 1984). Collectivism has
long been a dominant cultural value in East Asian countries, including China, Japan,
Korea and Singapore. Its inﬂuence has permeated every ﬁeld in their societies, and
education is no exception. Chinese culture, with a typical emphasis on collectivism,
places collective goals ahead of personal goals, emphasizes harmony between the
individual and the group, and encourages individual sacriﬁce for the sake of group
beneﬁt. Moreover, presenting a sharp contrast to the US, Chinese society is very
hierarchical, built upon strict, many-layered hierarchies by which every societal member
is expected to abide. As a result, centralization is the standard for most social institutions
including education. The educational system in China and its practices at various levels
are highly centralized and uniﬁed, which in turn supports a centralized curriculum system
as well as standardized textbooks, assessment, school structure, and even teaching
practice.

By contrast the culture of freedom, individualism, and independence are much more
emphasized in the US, which results in a distinctive model of local control as the
hallmark of its educational system. As Schmidt et a1 (1999) describes, “US tradition in

public education has long reﬂected shared responsibility for educational goals and

policies — responsibilities shared by local school district, states, and to a lesser extent,
federal agencies” (1999, p. 187). Schmidt et a1 (1999) noted:

One practical result of this tradition of shared responsibility and decentralized

education policy is distributed educational decision-making. Educational decision—

making is decentralized and that this is a characteristic, structural, and systemic
feature of US education, which had the consequences that directly affect the quality

of education. (p. 191)

The emphasis on local control is reﬂective of American educational practice as well
as national beliefs and values (Schmidt et al., 1999, p. 191). In the US, each school
district has its own preference on textbook selection and curriculum, each school district
has their own criteria of and makes their own decision on teacher recruiting, each school
can set up their own “bell schedule” without consulting any higher authority, and so on.
This model vastly differs from that of the highly centralized Chinese model and is one of
the major differences between the two countries with regard to educational philosophy.

Likewise, differences in the approach to collaboration among teachers can also be
interpreted through the lens of cultural differences. Teachers in East Asian countries such
as Japan and China are formally organized to work together, study the curriculum and
prepare lesson plans together (Paine, 1997; Paine & Ma, 1993; Jian Wang & Paine, 2003).
They routinely organize public lesson which invite teachers to observe their colleagues’
teaching, critique each other’s classroom practice, and analyze student learning
collaboratively. In this sense, teaching in China is not perceived as an independent
profession, but as a collaborative discipline that is continually engaged in collaborative

research and scholarship in their discipline. In the US, teaching is viewed as an

independent profession with which privacy and autonomy are expected. It is very hard, if

not impossible, to organize formal collective activities for teachers, and observation and
critique other teacher’s work is rare and often avoided.

Furthermore, the difference in the role of parents, parental belief and parental
involvement is another aspect that may contribute to differences in educational outcomes
across nations. Many researchers have noted that Chinese parents place a high value on
education, hold a higher expectation for children’s achievement, and involve themselves
in their children’s school work to a larger extent than American parents. Furthermore,
Chinese parents View children’s achievement primarily in terms of their academic
achievement. By contrast, American parents place less emphasis on the signiﬁcance of
children’s academic skills but highly value children’s social skills and self-esteem.
American parents also express higher degrees of satisfaction with their children’s
academic achievement and tend to establish lower standards for academic outcomes than
Chinese parents (Chao, 1995, 1996; Chen, Lee, & Stevenson, 1996; Crystal et al., 1994;
Hess, Chih-Mei, & McDevitt, 1987; Huntsinger, Jose, Liaw, & Ching, 1997; D. B. Wang,
2004)

Parental values and beliefs are actually a reﬂection of values endorsed collectively
by societies in which they live. Traditionally, education has long been highly valued and
treated with importance in Chinese society. For more than one thousand years, academic
success through Imperial Examination System has been the only path to upward mobility
at the ladder of social class. Moreover, while the standardized and uniﬁed academic
examination has been the assessment and selection criterion exclusively in education, the
success in education has been transformed to the success in academic examination.

Therefore, Chinese parents tend to place a high value on education, make higher

investments in their children’s education, and conduct more direct interventions in their
children’s schooling and learning. American society, by contrast, advocates the value of
pursuit and realization of individual capacities and talents, and thus tends to emphasize
more diverse opportunities for individual success. The result is an American educational
focus that places strong emphasis on the diversity and the breadth of children’s
experiences. Academic achievement is still considered important, but it has never been a
unique index or exclusive prediction of an American child’s future. Thus, American
parents tend to place a lower value on children’s academic achievement than other
aspects of the child’s development.

In summary, the variations of cultural inﬂuence on education across different
societies impact notions about childhood, attitudes toward child rearing, beliefs about
education, and perceptions about how to structure and conduct education. Consequently,
these unique societal perceptions result in the observable differences in the structure and
function of educational institutions, educational practices and outcomes. Therefore
continued examination of the difference in cultural values regarding child rearing and
education might provide a more comprehensive perspective to understand both the
observable differences in various aspects of education and how these differences might
be contributing to the achievement gap between the two countries.

Informing Educational Reforms

The purpose of cross-national comparisons is not merely to learn who is a stronger
or weaker performer, but to explore why the gap exists, and to explain what the
underlying reasons for the gap might be. Educators and policy makers want to be

informed about effective instructional practices both within their own countries and in

others. The goal is always to promote the highest possible achievements for student
learning, and taking cultural values into consideration is beneﬁcial to this central issue of
comparative studies in education.

The US. and China are two countries that are trying to learn from each other. While
the Chinese government attempts to reduce the negative inﬂuence of its centralized
education system, and foster innovative competency and creativity in Chinese students,
the US. government is trying to issue more centralized standards to control the quality of
schooling through government intervention in state education policy. It appears that two
governments are reforming their respective educational systems in nearly opposite
directions to achieve their goals, and each is borrowing experience and models from the
other as they do so.

Educational reform and improvement is actualized through policy intervention in
schooling practice. It is important to remain cognizant of the highly sociocultural nature
of education and the degree to which educational values are a reﬂection of the culture,
because policy interventions borrowed from abroad may carry various levels of
compatibility with the cultural underpinnings of a given society (K. Cheng, 1998). The
process of borrowing educational practices from another society implies to some extent
an acceptance of cultural values embedded in the particular practices, and this is
something that may have to be mediated within the new setting. Cheng (1998) notes that
the adoption of educational policies and practices from abroad could result in a shift in
the receiving society’s value system. The receiving society may not be prepared or unable
to undertake such a fundamental change despite the desired improvement in education

outcomes, such as students’ achievement.

Therefore, serious questions must be raised to educators and policymakers about the
extent to which a society can be expected to adjust its values to achieve its educational
goals. It is important to gain an understanding of the similarities and differences in
cultural values, particularly the values concerning education and child rearing between
the US. and other countries of interest. Currently, this is an area that has not been
sufﬁciently explored, and there is little empirical research related to the issue of cultural

values within education and their role in shaping conceptions of academic achievement.

Why Compare the US. and China

The current study is aimed at comparing cultural values associated with child rearing
and education between the US. and China. As aforementioned, The US. and China vary
to a great extent in their cultural values (Hofstede, 2001). Pairing US. and China as
research counterparts accounts for the majority of comparative studies, which are not
only limited in educational research area, but prevail in other research ﬁelds as well.
Cheng and Schweitzer’s (1996) observation in their examination on advertising in the
US. and China indicates that China serves as an important counterpart of US, whether
considering the economic situation, ideological reality or social cultures. While the
United State is regarded as typical Western culture, China is considered as a
representative of Eastern culture, which makes the comparison between US. and China
an examination of great importance that can inﬂuence not only the two nations
themselves, but others as well.

Moreover, China is one of the countries that have outperformed the US. in many

measures of academic achievement. A considerable number of cross-national comparison

10

studies on student’s academic achievement have focused on the difference between US.
and China, and China tends to prevail in nearly all areas (Stevenson, 1993; Stevenson &
Stigler, 1992; Jianjun Wang, 1996; Jian Wang & Lin, 2005). Wang (1996) listed a series
of studies centered on the US. vs. China comparison conducted from 1989 to 1996.

Although some of large-scale comparison studies recruit Japan, Korea, Singapore or

other Asian countries as counterparts of US, it is acknowledged that these countries are
strongly inﬂuenced by Confucianism, for which China is regarded as its headstream and

the most representative country of its manifestation.

How Does This Study Investigate Values?

To compare the cultural values between the US. and China, this study adopted
Hofstede’s (2001) theory of cultural dimensions as its theoretical ﬁamework. Moreover,
this study employed content analysis of children’s TV commercials to measure and
compare cultural values in the context of education between the US. and China. Both the
theoretical framework and the content analysis method will be discussed in detail in the
following chapters. Based on the data collected in children’s TV commercials from both
countries, the study seeks the answer of the following research question:

What are the similarities and differences between the US. and China in cultural
values as reﬂected by children’s TV commercials which provide one manifestation of the
cultural context surrounding education?

This investigation will not only beneﬁt further understanding of the achievement

gaps and educational differences between the US. and China, but will also be signiﬁcant

11

to policymakers and educational practitioners in the US. who have attempted to learn

a l.

and borrow ideas, practices and policies from China to improve American education.

12

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORATICA'FRAMEWORK

This chapter discusses the. theoretical framework that guides this comparative study
examining the similarities arid differences in cultural values manifested in educational
contexts between the US. and China. This review of the literature will addressthe-
constructs of value and cultural values, the ways in which cultural. values have been
investigated in the literature and how these values have been measured. and compared
internationally. In addition, the selected methodology of the study is discussed with
particular emphasis on Hofstede’s work on cultural dimensions and how they differ from

one country to the next.

Deﬁnition of Value

Value has been an important concept receiving sustained attention and
investigation in various research ﬁelds. The centrality of the value concept in social
science is proclaimed by Rokeach (1973), a prominent scholar whose work has been
focused on human values:

The value concept, more than any other, should occupy a central position across

all the social sciences—sociology, anthropology, psychology, psychiatry, political

science, education, economics, and history. More than any other concept, it is an

intervening variable that shows promise of being able to unify the apparently

diverse interests of all the sciences concerned with human behavior. (1973, p. 3)
A similar stand has been taken by sociologists and anthropologists as well (e. g.
Kluckhohn, 1951; Williams, 1968). To begin this theoretical literature review, value and
cultural values, the key constructs used in this study needs to be deﬁned and explicated.

The most widely cited and recognized deﬁnition of value is from Rokeach (1973):

“A value is an enduring belief that a speciﬁc mode of conduct or end-state of existence is

personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state

l3

of existence” (1973, p. 5). To say a person has a value is to say that he has an enduring
belief with the above quality. Kluckhohn (1951; 1967) deﬁned a value as: “a conception,
explicit or implicit, distinctive of an individual or characteristic of a group, of the
desirable which inﬂuences the selection from available modes, means and ends of
actions”. Hofstede (2001, p. 5) gives an simpliﬁed version of Kluckhohn’s, which is also
in line with Rokeach’s: a value is “a broad tendency to prefer certain states of affairs over
others” (p. 5).

Basically, a value is construed as a concept of beliefs about certain desirable or
preferable states or behaviors. Moreover, Rokeach (1973) differentiated the concepts of
value and attitude by pointing out that a value transcends objects and situations, whereas
an attitude is focused on some speciﬁed object or situation. In addition, a person has
values organized into hierarchical structures and substructures, and this creates what is
known as a value system. In this sense, a value system is: “an enduring organization of
beliefs concerning preferable modes of conduct or end-states of existence along a
continuum of relative importance” (Rokeach, 1973, p. 5). In other words, a value system
is an ordered set of values which form a system of value priority. Often a person is
confronted with a situation which activates two or more values that may be in conﬂict
with one another. For example, a person may have to choose between behaving
obediently or behaving in an opposite way. In these instances a person’s value system
“represent[s] a learned organization of rules for making choices and for resolving
conﬂicts—between two or more modes of behavior or between two or more end-state

existence” (Rokeach, 1968, p. 161).

Moreover, (as Kluckhohn suggested that values exert inﬂuence on people’s
choices, Rokeach also emphasized that values serve as the criteria people use to guide the
selection, justiﬁcation and the evaluation of behaviors, self and others, and events.
Therefore, values are considered “determinants of virtually all kinds of human behaviors
that could be called social behavior of social actions, attitudes and ideology, evaluations,
moral judgments and justiﬁcations of self and others, comparisons of self with others,
presentations of self to others, and attempts to inﬂuence others” (Rokeach, 1973, p. 24).

As Schwartz and his colleagues noted, although there are a large number of
deﬁnitions of human values from the literature, ﬁve features are common to most of the
deﬁnitions: From all sources, there is agreement that values are:

1. Concepts of beliefs,

2. Focused on desirable end states or behaviors,

3. Intended to transcend speciﬁc actions and situations,

4. Standards to guide selection or evaluation of behavior, people and events, and

5. Ordered by importance relative to one another (Schwartz & Bilsky, 1987;

Smith & Schwartz, 1997).

Cultural Values
With a deﬁnition of values in place, the focus then shifts to how one deﬁnes
cultural values. Values can be held by individuals as well as collectively (Hofstede, 2001,
p. 5). Rokeach and Kluckhohn both suggested, in their deﬁnitions of value, that the

establishment of values and the creation of a values system is not a wholly individual act,

15

but that holding and sharing a set of values and establishing a common value system is
also common among groups of people.

People share certain values within their cultural groups, and they differ from other
cultural groups by holding different sets or structures of values, or adopting different
value systems. Smith and Schwartz (1997) explicated the difference between individual-
level and cultural-level value analysis by noting that for individuals, values represent the
motivational goals that serve as guiding principles in their lives, and the value priorities
of individuals represent central goals that relate to all aspects of behavior. When values
are used to characterize cultures, what is sought are the socially shared, abstract ideas
about what is good, right, and desirable in a society or other bound cultural group.

Therefore, we consider cultural values as a set of values and its associated value
system that shared largely by a group of people which can be distinguished from people
in another group by their different cultures. The concept of cultural values does not
necessarily imply that all members from one culture share the same values to the same
degree, but it does imply that members will be more likely to share the common values,
and express those values collectively.

Furthermore, the value priorities prevalent in a society are a key element, and are
perhaps the most central expression of its culture (Smith & Schwartz, 1997). A well-
known anthropological consensus deﬁnition of culture holds

Culture consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and

transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of

human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of

culture consist of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and
especially their attached values. (Kluckhohn, 1951)

This deﬁnition afﬁrms that culture includes values, and systems of values are a core
element of culture. The relationship between values and culture has enabled the
examination on values as a way of understanding cultures (Smith & Schwartz, 1997). The
differences in cultural values could therefore serve as a primary indicator to reveal the

cultural differences across groups of people, nations, societies and cultures.

Measuring Cultural Values
Self-report Survey Method

Self-report surveys are the most common method employed to gather information
about individual and cultural values. Structured questionnaires are used by researchers to
ask people directly about their endorsement of particular values, and the survey questions
are often presented as single words, short phrases, or paragraphs describing a general
goal orientation. Almost all contemporary cross-cultural studies of values use survey
methodology which asks participants to either rate the importance of a standard set of
values as guiding principles in their lives (6. g. Schwartz, 1992, 1999), or to rank the
relative importance or preference for these values (e.g. Rokeach, 1973, 1979).

Smith and Schwartz (1997) noted that the members of each cultural group share
many value-relevant social experiences and they come to accept similar cultural values.
As a result, the average value priorities of societal members reﬂect the “central thrust of
their shared enculturation”. These average value priorities therefore are used to suggest
the underlying common cultural values. Based on this assumption, participants in cultural
values studies are asked to assess and report their own values according to their own

beliefs; and then researchers aggregate each participant’s independent judgments and use

the mean to represent the values of the culture that the participants come from, i.e. the
average of individual value priorities becomes the measurement of the prevailing culture
values. Thus cross-cultural comparisons are conducted based on the aggregated self-
reported individual responses on each value or on some sets of values (e.g. Hofstede,
1984, 1994, 2001; Peng, Nisbett, & Wong, 1997; Schwartz, 1992, 1999; Schwartz &
Bilsky, 1987).

The use of aggregated data runs the risk of losing nuance within the collected data.
This is one of several potential disadvantages of using a self-report survey to measure and
compare cultural values. As Hitlin and Piliavin (2004) pointed out, measuring values, like
measuring many social psychological concepts, is imperfect. Peng et al (1997) indicated
that some factors which could affect the validity of survey method, such as the content of
value surveys and the representativeness of survey samples, are easy to recognize. Some
others are less obvious due to the individual cognitive process generated by the survey
methodology. Because the self-report responses about attitude or value are subjective
products of an individual’s mental constructive process, the results of these mental
processes are subject to various individual heuristics, biases, and errors.

The inﬂuence of response bias arising from the subjectivity of self-report survey
method is a known issue with the approach. For example, when using value rating to
examine people’s values, there is a tendency for some participants to rate all values more
or less important regardless of content, which could impair the validity of the
measurement to a large degree. Furthermore, in a self-report survey, the evaluation of
one’s own beliefs of values is likely to be inﬂuenced in part by social comparisons, which

can make their responses more relative than empirical. Additionally, people often

express deprivation-based preferences during a self-report survey. In other words, people
often state stronger preferences for something they lack than they do for things they have.
Because the perception of deprivation is also relative, it might also produce misleading
expression of values preference (Peng'et al., 1997).

De Mooij (1994) has also noted the problem of inconsistency between values and
behavior, observing that when people are asked to state a preference among alternative
values, their answers should not be taken too literally because in practice, people will not
always act according to their answers. This problem plagues attitude researchers as well
(Hitlin & Piliavin, 2004; Schuman, 1995).

In addition, using self-report surveys to compare values cross-culturally could give
rise to, and even aggravate, the response bias. Respondents from different cultures may
vary in the way they typically respond to rating scale formats in a survey. For example,
people from one culture may tend to use more extreme responses, while members of
another culture may use more moderate response. This response bias makes researcher
confront a tough problem of determining whether the observed variance in result is from
the artifact induced by the measurement or could be understood as true differences in
cultural values (Smith & Schwartz, 1997).

Finally, researchers may confront the problem of meaning equivalence, whereby
interpretations of the values presented in a survey may or may not have the same
meaning in different cultures. When participants are asked to rate or rank a set of abstract
broad values as guiding principles in their lives, their interpretations of these values could

be very different among members of different cultures. Thus, the discussion of value

preference or relative importance at both abstract and general levels could be misleading
(Peng et al., 1997; Smith & Schwartz, 1997).

In summary, self-report surveys are convenient, but pose multiple disadvantages,
and these disadvantages are difﬁcult to offset. The criticism of self-report survey does not
suggest that rating or ranking method cannot have cross—cultural validity. In fact, self-
report survey is still the most adopted method to measure and compare cultural values.
However, the implicit limitations of the approach must be considered, and additional
methods of inquiry should be used whenever possible.

An Alternative Method to Measure Cultural Values

Given the implicit limitations of self-report surveys, the identiﬁcation of alternative
methods for measuring cultural values is important to gathering useful and accurate data
about this phenomenon. To move beyond self-report, the researcher is required to seek
avenues of observation that do not require direct, conscious input from the subjects of the
study. Hofstede (2001) elucidated two types of strategies for measuring observable
phenomena from which underlying values can be inferred. Hofestede deﬁned observable
phenomena as the behaviors or outcomes of behavior can be categorized as either
provoked or natural, and are overt and therefore subject to direct observation. In this
model, content analysis of speeches, documents and other types of cultural artifacts and
products created by subjects of interest can be used as products of naturally occurring
behaviors that evolve organically and without researcher intervention. This approach
makes cultural artifacts and cultural products the focus of the inquiry rather than the

individuals themselves.

20

Researchers have also noted the problem of accessibility, which means individual
persons and cultural spokespersons may not have conscious access to abstract deﬁnitions
of values and value systems (Hechter, 1993; Zavalloni, 1980). Thus, inferring values
indirectly from culture products is an alternative adopted by cross-cultural researchers
(Smith & Schwartz, 1997; Williams, 1968, p. 285). Though it is theoretically sound to
infer values from cultural products like movies or literature, and practically feasible, few
cross-cultural value studies have adopted this method to measure and compare cultural
values. Most researchers ask people about their values directly, following the survey
tradition initiated by Rokeach (Smith & Schwartz, 1997).

One of the intentions of the current study is to experiment with the alternative
measurement of cultural values in order to avoid the possible vulnerabilities in survey
method, and to test the validity of the new method. The content analysis method,
therefore, is adopted in the present study to examine and compare values cross-culturally.
The cultural artifact chosen for content analysis in this study is television advertisement.
Unlike in survey methodology, the subjects of content analysis are not people, but
advertisements which could appear on newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, the intemet or
any kind of mass media. Speciﬁcally, television advertisements have been selected as
target subjects for this study in light of the popularity and great inﬂuence of TV as a mass
media. Since the advertising analysis deals with advertisements instead of human beings,
the disadvantages of subjectivity embedded in the self-report survey method could be
counterbalanced. As television advertising is the selected focus for this study, it is
appropriate to discuss why and how content analysis of advertising could serve as a valid

method to measure and compare cultural values, and how it has been used in the past.

21

Advertising as a “Mirror " of Cultural Values

Advertising, as a type of mass media, is a product of social culture. Researchers
argue that, in the post-industrial age, in addition to family, religious institutions,
universities, judicial courts and other institutions, mass media has become another
inﬂuential institution that both reﬂects and facilitates the transmission of cultural values
(H. Cheng, 1994; Pollay, 1983; Srikandath, 1991). Within mass media, advertising has
emerged as the major institution that is considered as both the portrayal and transmission
of cultural values.

Many have argued and agreed that advertising has a reﬂective quality. McCracken
(1987, p. 122) noted the nature of advertising is the “conduit through which meanings are
constantly transferred from the culturally constituted world to the consumer good”.
McLuhan (1964) stated that“... the ads of our time are the richest and faithful daily
reﬂections that any society ever made of its entire range of activities”. Advertising serves
as a dual societal role which is both a collective expression of the society’s culture and an
active agent to inﬂuence, shape, and transmit culture.

In consideration of the purpose of the present study, advertising’s capability of
revealing cultural values is more emphasized than its other role of transmitting cultural
values. A metaphor of advertising’s reﬂective quality says that the advertisement is a
“mirror” that reﬂects the culture in which it is embedded. All manifestations of culture, at
different levels, are “mirrored” in advertising. Advertising collectively reﬂects how
people think, what they believe, how they relate to each other, how they live, what they

desire, what they value, and what state of life they pursue. Therefore, to examine

IQ
IQ

advertising in a society could provide a sound tool to examine the culture values endorsed
by this society.
Advertising Appeals and Cultural Values

Content analysis of advertising could focus upon a number of different advertising
features, such as appeals, themes, portrayed activities, information content, settings,
models, spokespersons, voice-overs, advertising styles, creative strategies, and so on.
Among them, advertising appeal is especially noteworthy because it is believed that the
advertising “mirror” functions primarily through associating advertising appeals with
values people hold. Advertising aims at persuading consumers to purchase the advertised
product. As described in an advertising textbook (Wells et al, 1995), “Persuasion in
advertising rests on the psychological appeal to the consumer. An appeal is something
that makes the product particularly attractive or interesting to the consumer”. This
deﬁnition of appeal is somewhat imprecise, but it reveals the dynamic nature of
advertising appeal in terms of its representation format.

An appeal in an advertisement is the persuasive messages conveyed by any possible
format of media, or through any likely combination of different media formats exploited
in the advertisement, such as written text, verbal language, static images, video images,
and animations. To tell if there is a certain appeal in an advertisement, all messages
expressed by the advertisement should be reviewed, regardless of which way they have
been expressed. For example, to advertise certain food product A on TV, the captions in
the commercial could emphasize the long history of the brand as “has been providing A
product for 80 years”; the voice-over could highlight the distinctiveness of the product by

saying that A is “the only”, or “the best”, etc; the video images could show a happy

23

family enjoying eating the product A; the housewife could explicitly express how she
likes product A because it is quick and easy to cook for the whole family. Clearly, the
message that the product is reliable, rare, family-favorable, and handy has been expressed
through various ways within one commercial. Hence, the tradition appeal, the
distinctiveness appeal, the family appeal and the convenience appeal have all been
adopted in this TV commercial.

Appeals, embedded into the advertisements in every possible way, are supposed to
evoke target consumer’s desire to purchase by implying that the potential consumers’
“preferred state” or “desired state” can be fulﬁlled or enhanced by using the product. As
Hofstede (2001) deﬁned values as broad tendencies to prefer certain states of affairs over
others, the “preferred state” or “desired state” actually implies what people truly value in
their lives. The appeals used in an advertisement usually reveal or demonstrate, either
explicitly or implicitly, people’s “desired state” or “preferred state”. Thus, the appeal
represents the underlying value through the revelation. In fact, “appeals” and “values” are
often used interchangeably in advertising literature, because “appeals are used to appeal
to the values a consumer holds, and as such, values are the underlying source of appeals”
(Dahl, 2005).

In addition, appeals do not necessarily represent product attributes, nor do they have
to be realistically connected to the product. As in the above example, convenience appeal
adopted in the commercial is directly connected to a product attribute: Product A is easy
and handy to cook. In contrast with convenience appeal, the adopted family appeal is not
directly linked to any product attributes. However, family happiness is a state preferred,

i.e. the value held by potential consumers. Thus family appeal is adopted because it could

also make the product A attractive to consumers. Moreover, advertisers may adopt
multiple appeals in one advertisement to attract consumers. As shown in the same
example, a strategy for advertising product A might simultaneously employ a tradition
appeal, distinctiveness appeal, family appeal, and convenience appeal. Some other
appeals, such as economy appeal - showing that the product A is economical compared
with other products alike - and popularity appeal - showing that product A has been
chosen by many people - could also be integrated into the commercial in order to
inﬂuence consumers to the maximum extent.

In brief, advertisers choose appeals to represent those values which are believed to
be shared by the target societal members— consumers, who have established a tight and
mutually reﬂective association between advertising appeals and cultural values.
Therefore, analyzing appeals adopted in advertisement can serve the purpose of
examining the cultural values that drive the appeals.

Content Analysis on Multiple Aspects of Advertising

While appeals are directly associated with cultural values, there are other aspects of
advertising that also lend themselves to examining values as well. For example, to
examine Americans’ attitudes to pre-teens and teens’ various roles, Peterson (1998)
analyzed portrayed activities in 5,041 TV commercials designed to appeal to children
aged 6-12 and teenagers. Through identifying the major role occupied by the children
appearing in the commercials, and noting whether the children appearing in each
commercial were depicted favorably or unfavorably, Peterson study discovered that pre-
teens and teens are more frequently depicted in roles other than scholarly activities, such

as athletic activities, eating or drinking, and visiting with friends. Moreover, children are

25

often not favorably portrayed in TV commercials with a scholarly role. Positive
portrayals were signiﬁcantly more frequent in other-than—scholarly roles, such as athletic
activities, eating or drinking, and exercising. This result shows that Americans hold a less
positive attitude toward children’s scholarly activities than they do toward other activities.
In other words, this study reveals how Americans value their student’s academic
achievement compared with other aspects of a student’s life.

Content analysis has also been used to compare values cross-culturally. Ji and
McNeal (2001)’s examination of American and Chinese children’s TV commercials was
conducted through not only analysis of advertising appeals, but also various aspects of
commercials including portrayed activity, information content, models,
spokesperson/character, style of display, and voice-over. To reveal the difference of
cultural values with respect to the masculinity versus femininity dimension, J i and
McNeal examined the difference of the gender of models, spokespersons, and voice-
overs in children’s TV commercials between US. and China. The result shows that a
higher percentage of Chinese children’s commercials chose men as models,
spokespersons, and voice-overs. This supported their hypothesis that China may have a
higher level of masculine orientation when compared with the US. In both of the above-
referenced studies, values are not observed directly from the advertisement appeal, but
were derived from an inference on the part of the researcher, based on observation.

In summary, advertising has been viewed and studied as a mirror that reﬂects the
culture in which it is embedded. Advertising appeals are strongly associated with culture
values. Moreover, content analysis of advertising on its various features has been shown

to provide a sound tool for inferring cultural values. Therefore, we consider content

26

analysis of advertising as a valid method to measure cultural values and to compare

values cross-culturally.

Hofstede’s Framework of Cultural Dimension

To compare cultural values prevalent in different societies and cultural groups, a
framework must be assumed to organize the profusion of cultural values into a
manageable number of dimensions on which to compare societies. Researchers of
cultural values function under the agreed assumption that the dimensions of cultural
values are a reﬂection of basic issues or problems that societies must confront in order to
regulate human activity. The problems are recognized by societal members and especially
by decision-makers. Moreover, society uses their values to plan responses to problems,
and motivate one another to cope with them (Smith & Schwartz, 1997). In this sense,
Schwartz (1999) further pointed out that, cultural values are the “vocabulary of socially
approved goals that they use to motivate action and to express and justify the solution”.

In this connection, Hofstede suggested four basic social problems that underlie
cultural value dimensions as a) social inequality; b) the relationship between individual
and group; c) concepts of masculinity and femininity; and d) dealing with uncertainty.
Accordingly, four cultural dimensions are deﬁned as: a) power distance; b) individualism
versus collectivism; c) masculinity versus femininity; and d) uncertainty avoidance
(Hofstede, 1991). In addition, Bond (Chinese Culture Connection, 1987) extended
Hofstede’s research and outlined a new dimension of Confucian Work Dynamism.
Hofstede adopted it as an added value dimension of cultural variation and interpreted it as

opposing a dynamic orientation towards the future to a more static orientation towards

27

the past and present. It was then named “long-term orientation” as the ﬁfth dimension
incorporated in his model.

Hofstede’s model of ﬁve dimensions of cultural difference set forth the framework
on which the speciﬁc cultural values comparisons will be based. According to Hofstede,
Power Distance (PDI) that is the extent to which the less powerful members of
organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed
unequally. This represents inequality (more versus less), but deﬁned from below, not
from above. It suggests that a society's level of inequality is endorsed by the followers as
much as by the leaders. Power and inequality, of course, are extremely fundamental facts
of any society, and anybody with some international experience will be aware that “all
societies are unequal, but some are more unequal than others” (Hofstede, 2001).

Individualism (IDV), as opposed to collectivism, describes the degree to which
individuals are integrated into groups (Hofstede, 2001). On the individualist side, we ﬁnd
societies in which the ties between individuals are loose, and everyone is expected to
look after him/herself and his/her immediate family. On the collectivist side, we ﬁnd
societies in which people from birth on are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups,
often extended families (with uncles, aunts and grandparents), which continue protecting
them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. The issue of the relationship between
individuals and group addressed by this dimension is an extremely fundamental one,
regarding all societies in the world (Smith & Schwartz, 1997).

Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) deals with a society’s tolerance for uncertainty and
ambiguity; it ultimately refers to man’s search for truth (Hofstede, 2001). It indicates the

extent to which a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or

28

comfortable in unstructured situations. Unstructured situations are novel, unknown,
surprising, and different from usual. Uncertainty-avoiding cultures try to minimize the
possibility of such situations by strict laws and rules, safety and security measures, and
on the philosophical and religious level by a belief in absolute truth: “there can only be
one Truth and we have it”. The opposite type, uncertainty-accepting cultures, are more
tolerant of opinions different from what they are used to; they try to have as few rules as
possible, and on the philosophical and religious level they are relativist and allow many
currents to ﬂow side by side (Hofstede, 2001).

The masculinity (MAS) dimension is deﬁned as the degree to which a society is
characterized by masculinity (assertiveness, competitiveness) versus femininity (modest,
caring). The issue of the duality of the sexes is whether biological differences between
the sexes should have implications for their roles in social activity (Hofstede, 1984, 1998).

Long-Term Orientation (LTO) versus short-term orientation dimension was found
in a study among students in 23 countries around the world, using a questionnaire
designed by Chinese scholars. Values associated with Long Term Orientation are thrift
and perseverance; values associated with Short Term Orientation are respect for tradition,
and protecting one’s “face”.

The rest of this chapter will discuss how cultural values are manifested in
educational contexts, and how they are reﬂected in children’s TV commercials. The
analytical hypotheses will be developed in light of the discussion and the review of

previous studies.

29

Children’s TV Commercials and Cultural Values in the Context of Education

A fundamental premise of this study is that communication content is the
consequence of antecedent conditions or contextual factors, including cultural, social and
economic inﬂuences that have led to or shaped its construction. Therefore, advertising is
a reﬂection of the cultural, social and economic condition in the society in which the
advertisements are developed and broadcasted (J i & McNeal, 2001). Advertising appeals
and cultural values are closely related, which enables examination of advertising a valid
and effective method to investigate cultural values. This assumption refers to
advertisements appearing not only on TV, but on all kinds of mass media like newspaper,
magazine, radio, and the intemet. Likewise, the assumption is applicable to a subcategory
of TV commercials— children’s TV commercials as well.

Children’s TV commercials are different from general TV commercials in their
advertised products and target viewers. Ji and McNeal (2001) suggested two criteria to
deﬁne a children-targeted commercial, and these two criteria were adopted for this study
as well. In this study, I will use the term “children’s TV commercial” to represent these
three kinds of commercials unless there is need to distinguish them from each other.

First, children ’3 TV commercial is identiﬁed as the product advertised in the TV
commercial which is commonly consumed by infants, children, or teenagers. The types
of products advertised in children’s TV commercials range from food, entertainment, toy,
game, to health care product, and education product, etc. The viewers of this kind of
commercial could be both children and their parents. However, it is noticeable that
parents, in many cases, are the only viewers of the commercials for certain products, such

as diapers and infant formulas. In addition, though children are always the ultimate

30

consumers of these products, it is the parents that make the decision of purchasing. In
this case, the target consumers are mostly parents.

As with any type of commercial, various advertising appeals are incorporated into
children’s commercials as inducements to stir target consumers’ desire to purchase. The
primary purpose of commercials is to demonstrate to parents that their “preferred state”
or “desired state” will be fulﬁlled by using the product. Evidently, when children’s
consumption is concerned, parents “preferred state” or “desired state” immediately points
to the overall well—being of their children and varied aspects of children’s welfare
including health, happiness, education, and development, and so on. The appeals adopted
in children’s commercials are the reﬂections of the preferences for every aspects of
children’s well-being endorsed by parents. Therefore, children’s commercials reveal how
parents prefer or desire for their children, and what they value the most in child rearing
and children’s education.

Second, children ’s TV commercial is identiﬁed when the commercial itself is
especially developed for children or teenagers as the primary audience. This kind of
commercial consists of public service announcements (PSA), which are usually classiﬁed
as advertisements for promoting social morality, social norms and civil duties. The
intention of and the values endorsed in this kind of commercial are even more explicit
due to the inherent educational purpose of the media. Thus, the behaviors praised or
discouraged, the beliefs and attitudes promoted or disapproved in PSA commercials are
overt manifestations of what and how a society prefer its children and youth to pursue or

to shy away from.

31

Hence, the cultural values depicted in children’s TV commercials speciﬁcally
pertain to a subset area of social culture and social practice. In other words, the cultural
values reﬂected in children’s TV commercials are the revelation of values prevailing in a
given society concerning its notion about childhood, child rearing and children’s
education. Thus, we consider the related values portrayed in children’s TV commercials

as educational values.

Cultural Dimensions, Cultural Values, and Advertising Appeals

The process of developing the analytical framework is directly related to Hofstede’s
cultural dimensions, with emphasis on pertinent cultural values in the context of
education in the US. and China. The purpose of the framework is to establish the
connection between these values and advertising appeals in children’s TV commercials
from both countries. Thus, there are three domains which need to be connected:

1. The values suggested by cultural dimensions according to cultural dimension
framework;

2. The values regarding child rearing and education are considered prevailing in the
context of education;

3. The appeals have been identiﬁed and examined in advertising research literature.
Only the values, which satisfy simultaneously the above three domains will be included
into the analytical framework in the present study.

Many advertising studies have used Hofstede’s cultural dimension as a framework
to identify appeals of interest (e. g. Albers-Miller, 1994; Albers-Miller & Gelb, 1996; Ji &

McNeal, 2001; Zandpour et al., 1994). However, not all dimensions are found related to

appeals in advertising. The dimensions of individualism, power distance and uncertainty
avoidance used in these studies have more power of suggestive and more readily linked
to speciﬁc appeals in advertising. Moreover, appeals in advertising have the limitation of
reﬂecting all speciﬁc values associated to cultural dimensions.

Albers-Miller and Gelb (1996) conducted a study aimed at relating 42 appeals used
in advertising to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. From their study, masculinity was found
not signiﬁcantly related to any appeals that are usually adopted in children’s commercials.
Moreover, long—term orientation was not included in their study (Albers-Miller, 1994;
Albers-Miller & Gelb, 1996). Although there are some values suggested by the long-term
orientation dimension that are theoretically relevant to the culture of education, such as
the pursuit of social status and respect for tradition, these values are suggested and can be
explained by dimensions of power distance and individualism. Therefore, to reduce the
complexity of analytical framework, two dimensions of masculinity and long-term
orientation are not adopted in the present study.

Regarding the values suggested by cultural dimensions, it is important to note that
not every cultural value could be solely derived from, or explained by, only one cultural
dimension. For example, the index scores for individualism and power distance
dimensions are often related (Hofstede, 2001). Therefore, associated values and related
societal norms are often correlated and suggested by both dimensions. The predictive
function of cultural dimensions is not an unconditional mapping tool. It would be
oversimplifying the complexity of the methodology to suggest that cultural dimensions
and their related cultural values always directly and clearly correspond, and so reliance

upon the framework must be paired with researcher discretion.

33

Secondly, the suggested values have to ﬁt the context of education. The values
suggested by cultural dimensions are usually aimed at general social culture, which might
not be suitable for application in one speciﬁc aspect of that culture. Then the deﬁnition
and connotation of values are under unavoidable alternation during the development of
the analytical framework, and often dimensions overlap. As a result it is important to
recognize that even though discussion of the framework is divided into subcategories
according to cultural dimensions, oftentimes the speciﬁc values are derived based on the
connotations from more than one dimension. Thus how certain cultural values manifest in
education is a result of researcher judgment, which consequently renders the operational
deﬁnition and connotation of these cultural values more contextualized, and sometimes
divergent from cultural values in a general context.

Thirdly, there have been matured frameworks of appeals in advertising, which,
obviously, carrying the objective of investigating the possibility of standardization and
localization of advertising across cultures, could not be a perfect ﬁt for the purpose of
educational research. Thus, the necessary elimination and rephrasing will be conducted to
existing appeals framework from advertising literature as well.

The Value of Academic Achievement

For the purposes of this study, “education” assumes a speciﬁc meaning of formal
schooling, its every related practice, and particularly the most used assessment for the
outcome of the schooling: students’ academic achievement. Students’ academic
achievement is the value most central to this study and will therefore be discussed
independently. The reasons this value is discussed separately are because how a given

society values education might be the most crucial value. The value placed on education

34

exerts a powerful inﬂuence on how the educational system forms and evolves, how the
educational practices are conducted, and how the evaluation applied to the outcome of
educational institutions in this society. Therefore the investigation on this value is critical.
Moreover, there has been a great deal of research which suggested that the attitude, belief
and value on education, especially students’ academic achievement, is quite different
between the US. and China, and so this is also an important point of comparison.

According to Hofstede (2001), there have been no suggestions for this value which
could be derived directly from the connotation of any cultural dimensions. Thus this
value is not likely to be elicited easily from the discussion of any single cultural
dimension, and thus requires its own examination. This absence of a dimension focusing
on the value of education might imply that there is no single dimension which is fully
“responsible” for suggesting this value, but every dimension has something to say about
the value of education, since education is one of the fundamental social practices which
are inﬂuenced by various societal antecedents and the consequences of education also
deliver far-reaching impact on the entire society.

It should also be noted that an “education” value has not been a frequently examined
appeal in the existing literature of advertising research. In Pollay’s (1983) seminal coding
scheme, the closest one is “wisdom”, which emphasizes the products’ characters of
“knowledge, education, awareness, intelligence, curiosity, satisfaction, comprehension,
sagacity, expertise, judgment, experience” (Pollay, 1983). In Cheng’s coding scheme,
revised based on Pollay’s model, the “wisdom” appeal “shows the respect for knowledge,
education, intelligence, expertise, or experience”. Moreover, in Albers-Miller and Gelb’s

(1996) work relating cultural dimensions and advertising appeals, “wisdom” was

35

eliminated from the list of examined appeals. There are only two studies (Ji & McNeal,
2001; Y. B. Zhang & Harwood, 2004) that have investigated an “education” appeal,
which have also adopted the most applicable operational deﬁnition: the appeal emphasis
“is on claiming to make a child smarter and obtain higher academic achievement.”

Therefore, the cultural value of education, deserving special attention, but without
direct mapping from cultural dimension model, and not having been noticed sufﬁciently
from advertising research, will be discussed in detail and separately from other cultural
values.

Many researchers have noted that academic achievement is considered the most
important aspect in Chinese children’s life (e. g. Stevenson & Stigler, 1992). Chinese
culture has strongly emphasized education for centuries, partly because of the inﬂuence
of Confucianism. Traditionally, education is highly valued because one’s achievement in
scholarly pursuit became the only indicator of one’s overall success in China. Moreover,
academic success is the only path leads to social upward mobility and brings honor to the
individual, the family and the related clan. Meanwhile, a standardized and centralized
examination system has been dominant in history and prevailing in today’s Chinese
society. Therefore, the outcome of examination has grown to be the unique criterion on
which to evaluate academic success. Consequently, the pursuit of test scores becomes an
exclusive focus in Chinese children’s life.

In addition, China’s one-child policy holds a great deal of inﬂuence on this aspect.
Recently, China’s one-child policy has fueled a trend that cannot be ignored, as parents
seek to give their little “emperors” or “empresses” ever possible advantage. When the

only child has the exclusive love and attention from both parents and grandparents, this

36

only child’s responsibility and pressure for success in academics have also been
aggravated. Educational literature also suggests that the patterns of parental involvement
are quite different between American families and Chinese families (Stevenson & Stigler,
1992). It' is observed that around the time for children to enter schools, American parents
begin to abdicate many of their responsibilities to their children’s teachers, whereas
Asian parents get more involved in their children’s academic life as they enter school.

In contrast, academic achievement doesn’t hold as important a position as in the
US, as shown by Peterson’s (1998) study. Peterson found that young people in the US.
are depicted in athletics activities more often than in scholarly activities. This is not to
say that American parents are unconcerned with their children’s academic achievement,
but they rather do not view the academic achievement as the only indicator of happiness
and success in children’s life. Furthermore, it is emphasized very much in the US. that
no matter what children are engaging in, fun and enjoyment is the most important
measure of success.

As mentioned, the appeal of “education” is identiﬁed when the advertisement claims
that using the product would make a child smarter and obtain higher academic
achievement. Zhang and Harwood (2004) observed that typical Chinese parents sacriﬁce
greatly for their children’s education, for example, by spending a few months’ salary on
an electronic game. One example from their study demonstrates that an advertisement for
a toy took advantage of a parent’s willingness to invest on their children’s education by
claiming that the product beneﬁts student performance in school. The scene showed a
proud father cheering for his son during a math competition. The capacity of the games to

enhance education was articulated in a simple assertion that your child would get better

37

academic performance if you bought the game console. On the contrary, this kind of
scene would appear rarely, if at all, in American commercials. Therefore, a difference in
how frequently this education appeal is adopted in children’s TV commercial from each
country is expected.

Advertising appeals are not the only reﬂection of cultural values. The product
categories, featured activities and settings may also indicate cultural values in an implicit
way. Research has suggested that particular value themes are associated with product
categories (H. Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996; Y. B. Zhang & Harwood, 2004). Hence, we
assume that the distribution of an advertised product category has something to do with
this issue. It is reasonable to say that educational products are widely popular in China
and that there may be more advertisements for educational products in a society that
emphasizes the importance of education and the signiﬁcance of academic achievement
than those in a society with less emphasis. Thus, the distribution of the products of
education is expected to be different between US. and China.

Researchers have also noted the portrayed activities in commercials and the
relationship to the value of education (J i & McNeal, 2001; Peterson, 1998). Scholastic
activities in commercials refer to children and teenagers as they prepare, participate, or
talk about learning or school-related activities regardless where they occur. Non-
scholastic activities refer to depictions of children as they prepare, participate, or talk
about exercise, games, sports, and so forth, regardless where the activities occur. In both
I i and McNeal and Peterson’s studies, the differences in depicted scholastic or non-

scholastic activities indicated how differently the society values education.

38

It has also been noticed that even in commercials which neither advertise
educational products nor use educational appeal, scholastic settings might still appear in
background. For example, a commercial advertising a type of snack food does not use
educational appeal. The major scene is two children talking about this snack food at
home, with some textbooks, a schoolbag and other school-related objects appearing in the
commercial. Advertisers might have done it unconsciously, but it exactly reﬂects how
much people expect their children to focus on academic pursuit. Scholastic setting
implies the scene portrayed in a commercial is either directly related to school such as
classroom, playground, library, and so on, or there is any school-related artifact, such as
textbook, schoolbag appearing even though the environment is not in school, but such
places as home, park, neighborhood, and so on. Thus it is assumed that the more
frequently a scholastic setting appears in commercials, the more of the children’s life is
academic-oriented.

In summary, based on the assumption that education, particularly children’s
academic achievement is much higher valued in China’s society than it is in American
society, it is postulated that (see Table l):

A higher percentage of Chinese children’s TV commercials falls in education
category than that of American’s; Chinese children’s TV commercial use more education
appeal than do their American counterparts; on average, a higher percentage of Chinese
children’s TV commercials have scholastic activities portrayed than do those of the US;
and on average, a higher percentage of Chinese children’s TV commercials have

scholastic settings appeared than do those of the US.

39

The Dimension of Individualism (IDV)

One of the most striking differences lies in the dimension of Individualism (IDV), as
opposed to collectivism, which describes the relationship between the individual and the
collectivity that prevails in a given society (Hofstede, 2001). US, with the score of 90,
has Individualism as is its highest dimension among ﬁve, and also ranks the highest in
Individualism dimension among all participant 50 countries and 3 regions in Hofstede’s
(2001) study.

The high individualism index score and ranking for the US. indicates that American
society holds a more individualistic attitude. Individualistic cultures emphasize the goals
of individuals rather than group concerns and needs. People in individualistic cultures
stress initiative and achievement and depend more on factual information for decision
making as opposed to seeking group harmony and consensus. Consequently,
independence is a stressed societal norm. People are more self-reliant and expected to
take care of themselves or their immediate family only (Hofstede, 2001).

Moreover, people’s identities are based in individuals, instead of in the social system.
“I” consciousness is highlighted, thus being different and unlike others is encouraged and
pursued. There is also a belief in individual decision making. People living in an
individualistic culture are entitled to his or her own opinion. The extent to which the
value of uniqueness endorsed is therefore larger in an individualistic culture than in a
collectivistic culture. In addition, an important connotation of individualism is the
extensive appeal of enjoyment and pleasure in life. Compared with collectivist societies,
individualistic societies place higher emphasis on individual variety and pleasure

(Hofstede, 1984).

40

Accordingly, living in an individualistic society, a child learns very early to think of
himself as “1” instead of as a part of “we”. It is expected that one has to stand on his own
feet and not get protection from his group (Hofstede, 1994). Children are infused with
values of independence, being distinctive, and encouraged to pursue and enjoy happiness
in life from the very beginning of their socialization and enculturation.

In contrast, China, with the IDV index score of 20, ranks much lower in IDV
dimension compared to US, and lower than any other East Asian country with an
average of 25 (Hofstede, 2001). A common shared societal norm in collectivist culture is
to place collective goals ahead of personal goals when there is a conﬂict between the two
(Triandis, Bontempo, Villareal, Asai, & Lucca, 1988). Chinese culture, with a typical
collectivism orientation, emphasizes harmony between the individual and the group, and
encourages individual sacriﬁce for the sake of group beneﬁt. People pay more attention
to in-group goals, such as family harmony, integrity, and the well-being of the in-group.
Thus the group decision making and consensus is highly valued.

Moreover, in a country with a low score in the IDV dimension, Chinese people have
an emotional dependence on organization and institutions, and the perception of
belonging is emphasized (Hofstede, 2001). Although one’s private life is invaded by
organizations and clans, those organizations provide protections, loyalty and security
(Hofstede, 2001). The society fosters strong relationships where everyone takes
responsibility for fellow members of their group, and a child learns to respect the group
to which it belongs. When children grow up, they remain members of their group, and

they expect the group to protect them when they are in trouble.

4l

The prevailing societal norm in a collectivist culture is that people are born into
extended families or clans, which protect them in exchange of loyalty. Thus afﬁliation
and patriotism are stressed in a collectivistic culture. In this kind of society, an
individual’s identity is based in the social system rather than in the individual. “We”
consciousness is highlighted. The voice of collectivity is dominant, rather than the
individual’s. Hence distinctiveness is not encouraged.

People who live in a society with low IDV are more likely to consider the
relationship between the self and the group, which leads to more consideration and caring
about how one looks before others. This value is reﬂected in parents’ expectations for
their children as well. It is found in Chinese commercials and other popular culture
examples that Chinese people emphasize the appearance, such as one’s height, ﬁtness and
image very much (Albers—Miller & Gelb, 1996). Therefore, it is postulated in this study
that the appeals of Appearance are used more frequently in children’s TV commercials in
China than in those of America.

Previous literature has demonstrated that this individualism vs. collectivism
dimension has important implications for the content of advertisement. Many studies
have recognized collectivism vs. individualism as one of the most important cultural
differences between US. and China (H. Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996; Hofstede, 1984; Ji &
McNeal, 2001; Lin, 2001; Y. Zhang & Gelb, 1996). For example, Zhang and Gelb
conclude that Chinese consumers respond more favorably to a collectivist than to an
individualistic appeal (Y. Zhang & Gelb, 1996); Cheng indicates that group consensus is

an effective commercial appeal for Chinese audiences (H. Cheng, 1994).

42

Thus, it is expected that the appeals of individualism, independence, uniqueness, and
enjoyment are used more frequently in children’s TV commercials in the US. than in
China; and the appeals of group consensus, family, afﬁliation, popularity, and patriotism
are used more frequently in children’s TV commercials in China than in those of the US.
The Dimension of Power Distance (PD!)

Power distance is deﬁned as the extent to which less powerful members of
organizations and institutions, like the family, school, working place, accept and expect
that power is distributed unequally (Hofstede, 2001). It refers to the degree of inequity
among people that the population of a country considers normal, from relatively equal
(small power distance) to extremely unequal (large power distance) (Hofstede, 1984,
1994)

According to Hofstede (2001 ), China has a signiﬁcantly higher Power Distance
index score of 80 compared to American’s of 40, to the other East Asian countries’
average of 64, and the world average of 55 (Hofstede, 2001). This is indicative of a high
level of inequality of power and wealth within the society. This condition is not
necessarily forced upon the population, but rather accepted by the society as their cultural
heritage. The United States has a quite low score. This is indicative of a greater equality
between societal levels, including government, organizations, and even within families. If
we are from a culture that has low power distance, we might endorse the attitude that
inequalities among people should be minimized; students should treat teachers as equals,
etc. People in a culture with less power distance have little tolerance for authority and are
more likely to make their decisions on the basis of facts and reasoning (Hofstede, 1991;

Tai, 2004).

43

The societal norm in a country with a high score on the PDI dimension suggests that
people with power are considered to be right and good, and they are expected to have
privileges. The respect of authority and social status are typically more dominant in high
power distance countries than low power distance ones. In extremely high power distance
countries, the respect for authority ﬁgures such as teachers, superior managers and
parents is generally so high that their decisions are not questionable and have to be
obeyed, regardless of whether or not these decisions make any sense to the recipient. By
contrast, in low power distance countries, decision from the top can and should be
questioned, and are typically based on reasoning and factual information (Dahl, 2005;
Hofstede, 1984).

China has a long history as an authoritarian society (Hofstede, 1994) that
emphasizes Confucius’ ﬁve cardinal relations between sovereign and minister, father and
son, husband and wife, old and young, and friends (Ji & McNeal, 2001). Compared with
American society, Chinese people have a stronger respect for authority (Bond, 1991), and
are prone to accept authority without question. Although the value of veneration of
elderly people has undergone a change due to the introduction and invading of western
culture since China’s openness to the world three decades ago, the veneration of elderly
people still remains a typical feature of Chinese culture (H. Cheng, 1994), and a common
theme in Chinese advertisements (Lin, 2001).

Therefore, it is more natural for young people in China to accept authority from
opinion leaders, including older people, family elders, parents, and teachers. Moreover,
being socialized in an authoritarian culture, Chinese children are expected to be obedient

and restrained, as a consequence of not being used to challenge questionable authorities.

Thus, Chinese young people would express the characteristic of being restrained more
often than those from the US.

While the veneration of elders is an important characteristic in Chinese culture,
Chinese people also have pride in their traditions. Chu and In (1993) examined the status
of 18 traditional Chinese cultural values, and it is found that an overwhelming majority of
respondents were proud of China’s long heritage. As the cultural value of a long heritage
has been passed down generation after generation in China, it is well recognized that
transferring and inheriting the valuable and estimable tradition is a responsibility of every
Chinese citizen. In contrast with China, Americans place emphasis on modernity and
deiﬁcation of the younger generation (Y. B. Zhang & Harwood, 2004). The US. is a
relative “young” country, and inheriting tradition is much less emphasized in its cultural
values. Contrarily, without long and somewhat “heavy” tradition attached, U.S. culture
encourages a disobeying of the tradition and highly values innovation and creativity.

Furthermore, the value of social status and appearance are associated with the
dimension of PDI as well. In advertising literature, the social status appeal refers to that
the use of the product is claimed to be able to elevate the position or rank of the user in
the eyes of others (H. Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996; Pollay, 1983). The value of social
status is often reﬂected by a person’s material possessions, which are reﬂective of
economic achievement, and economic upward mobility is an important goal for which
people are expected to strive in a Confucian society (Wong & Aaron, 1998). This
compares with the expression of economic achievement in Western culture, where the
display of material wealth is an individual tendency rather than a social expectation (Lin,

2001). Similarly, in countries with large power distance, the exercise of power gives

45

satisfaction, and powerful people try to maintain and increase power differences
(Hofstede, 1980). It is likely that the expensive symbols of status acquired through
conspicuous consumption are used to show power, wealth, and elitism (Albers-Miller &
Gelb, 1996).

As a result, it is expected that the appeals of youth, which emphasizes the deiﬁcation
of the younger generation (H. Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996), and modernity, which
emphasizes the notion of being new, contemporary, up-to-date, and ahead of time in a
commercial (H. Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996), are used more frequently in children’s TV
commercials in the US. than in those of China’s, and appeals that focus on veneration of
the elderly, tamed, tradition, appearance, social status are used more frequently in
children’s TV commercials in China.

The Dimension of Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI)

In the dimension of Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI), the US. and China do not score
much differently (Hofstede, 2001). Uncertainty avoidance represents the degree to which
the society is unwilling to accept and cope with uncertainty, and the degree to which
people prefer structured over unstructured situations (Hofstede, 1994). The dimension is
related to anxiety and need for security (Hofstede, 1991). Based on the index scores (the
US. scores at 46, and China at 30), both the US. and China are indentiﬁed as moderately
low in uncertainty avoidance, which means people in both society are willing to accept
and deal with uncertainty. The score of the US. is little higher than that of China.
However, whether the values associated with this dimension in the context of education

as reﬂected in children’s TV commercials differ between two countries are unknown.

46

One characteristic of a high uncertainty avoidance culture is that it has little
tolerance for ambiguity. People from a society that has a strong uncertainty avoidance
measure will have a strong need for regulations and place a high value on rules. In a high
degree of uncertainty avoidance society, ideas that are unusual or deviant are likely to be
suppressed. If people from a society that has a low uncertainty avoidance measure, they
will prefer not to have rules and regulations, they will be happy to accept unusual and
innovative ideas and behavior.

The societal norm associated with uncertainty avoidance includes intolerance for
uncertainty (Hofstede, 1980). This norm suggests a positive relationship between UAI
and the value of safety, which emphasizes the reliable and secure nature of a product (H.
Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996; Pollay, 1983); and of the value of durability, which
suggested the characteristics of long-lasting, permanent, stable, enduring, strong,
powerful, hearty, and tough.

A low ranking in the uncertainty avoidance dimension is indicative of a society that
has fewer rules and does not attempt to control all outcomes and results. Such societies
also have a greater level of tolerance for a variety of ideas, thoughts, and beliefs.
Countries with low UAI scores accept uncertainty and as a result people are more willing
to take risks. This societal norm suggests a negative relationship between UAI and the
values of adventure, which suggests boldness, daring, bravery, courage, seeking
adventure, or thrill (H. Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996; Pollay, 1983); and magic, which
emphasizes the miraculous effect and nature of a product. Moreover, a higher tolerance

for youth is expected in low UAI countries because youth is considered suspect in high

47

UAI countries. Therefore, the youth appeal is expected to be related negatively to UAI
(Albers-Miller & Gelb, 1996).

With respect to the necessary characteristics of being innovative and creative, the
dimension of uncertainty avoidance should be taken into consideration as well. A society
with strong uncertainty avoidance can be called rigid, whereas one with weak uncertainty
avoidance is ﬂexible. Chinese people are generally considered to be unlikely to take on
high risk and averse to ambiguity; whereas Americans favor taking risks, trying new
ways and using novel approaches (Dahl, 2005). These characteristics are very likely to
manifest in the context of child rearing and education. In the case of advertising to
children, it is reasonable to assume that compared with American children, Chinese
children are expected to be restrained, conservative, and prone to avoid adventurous or
unknown circumstances.

Then it is hypothesized that the appeals of adventure, magic and youth are used
more frequently in children’s TV commercials in the US. than in those of China, and the
appeals of safety and durability are used more frequently in children’s TV commercials

in China.

Research Question and Hypotheses
This study seeks the answer the question: What are the similarities and differences
of cultural values manifested in the context of education between the US. and China?
To answer this, a series of hypotheses have been developed. To better present the
hypotheses, the cultural dimensions, the cultural values in the context of education, the

corresponding hypotheses, and the hypothesized directions for each country are

48

illustrated in the Table 1 and Table 2. The symbols of positive and negative under each
country indicate this country’s possible preference on the related hypothesis. For example,
for the appeal of Individualism, the positive under the US. and the negative under China
indicated a higher percentage of American children’s TV commercials adopt
Individualistic appeal than does that of the China’s.

Table 1

Emphasis on the value of education, the corresponding hjpotheses, and the hypothesized directions for
each country

 

Examined Features in Inclinations

 

 

Commercials Hypotheses US. China

 

The percentage of commercials falls in the

Education Product education category - +

 

The percentage of Education appeal used in

Education Appeal children’s TV commercials - +

 

The percentage of Scholastic Activities depicted in

Scholastic Activity children’s TV commercials - +

 

The percentage of Scholastic Settings depicted in

Scholastic Setting children’s TV commercials - +

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 2

Cultural dimension, the cultural values/advertising appeals, the corresponding hypotheses, and the
hypothesized directions for each country

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Qtilt_u_rll Cultural Values/ Hypotheses Inclinations
Dimensions Advertising Appeals US. China
Individualistic + -
IDV Independence + -
Uniqueness _ + -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

49

Table 2 cont’d

 

Enjoyment

 

Group Consensus

 

Affiliation

 

Family

 

Patriotism

 

Popularity

 

PDI

Veneration of Elderly

 

Tradition

 

Tamed

 

Appearance

 

Social Status

 

Youth

 

Modernity

 

UAI

 

Safety

 

Durable

 

Adventure

 

 

Magic

 

The percentage of ***
appeal used in

children’s TV

commercials

 

50

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the sampling method, data collection, unit of analysis, coding,
and data analysis.

Sampling Method

The TV commercials that were the focus of this study appeared on major TV
networks channels from both China and the US, and were collected to generate the
samples for content analysis. Since the purpose of this study is to compare educational
values between these two countries, only children’ TV commercials were included in the
sample pool. Two kinds of TV channels, both comprehensive TV channels and children’s
TV channels were selected. Comprehensive TV channels cover a variety of content
programs and commercials aiming at audiences with a full range of ages. Children’s TV
channels are specialized in children’s programs, aiming at children and teenagers as
target audiences.

TV Channels Selected in China

Three television channels in China were selected for collecting children’s
commercials. Two channels were chosen from China Central Television Network
(CCTV), the national television network in China. The third one is HunanSTV based in
Hunan province. All of the three channels broadcast nationally.

CCTV is run by the central government, and regarded as the most effective and
inﬂuential media vehicle to represent mainstream values in China (J. Zhang & Shavitt,
2003). In addition, CCTV is a national television network which enjoys broad popularity
across different age and geographical groups. Most advertising research involving China

has selected channels from CCTV network as their primary source for collecting

51

commercial samples (e.g. H. Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996; Ji & McNeaI, 2001; Lin, 2001;
J. Zhang & Shavitt, 2003; Y. B. Zhang & Harwood, 2004).

Two channels selected from CCTV network are CCTV—1 and CCTV-Children.
CCTV-1’s primary content covers news, sports, TV serials, entertainment programs, as
well as children’s programs. A popular afternoon children program on CCTV-1 on
average attracts over 10 million people aged 4-14 (Chan & Chan, 2004 , CVSC-TNS
Research, 2002). The commercials airing on CCTV-l cover all kinds of products,
including products commonly consumed by infants, children and teenagers. The selection
of CCTV-l was made in light of its representativeness and popularity. The children’s
commercials appearing on CCTV-1 were collected and constituted part of the sample.

CCTV- Children, launched in 2003, is the ﬁrst TV channel specialized in children’s
TV programs in China. It broadcasts 18 hours a day from 6 am. t012 p.m. Broadcasting
nationally, CCTV- Children has a larger audience than any other provincial children’s
TV channel. The target of CCTV-Children consists of four segments, children ages 0-6,
elementary school children ages 6-12, secondary school children ages 12-18, and parents
(Chan & Chan, 2004, Yu, 2004). Specializing in children’s programs, CCTV- Children is
the TV channel where children’s commercials collectively appear most.

HunanSTV, run by Hunan TV network, was launched as a comprehensive satellite
TV channel in 1997. Since then, HunanSTV has enjoyed a high nationwide audience
rating. Recently, HunanSTV has obtained a new record of No. 1 rating in China,
outperforming major channels from CCTV network (HunanTV, 2009). The TV serials
aired on HunanSTV have drawn a large audience all over the country, which renders it as

a representative of mainstream culture in China. Renowned for its success in advertising

market, the total amount of commercials aired on HunanSTV are greater than CCTV
channels and other provincial TV channels. Because of its popularity and success in
advertising, HunanSTV was also selected to collect commercials in this study.

TV Channels Selected in the US.

Three television channels, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and CBS were selected to
collect children’s TV commercials in US. Nickelodeon is the ﬁrst children’s TV channel
in the world, and has been broadcasting for 27 years. Cartoon Network is the world’s ﬁrst
24-hour cartoon TV channel. Both Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network are major TV
channels that target children and teenagers aged from 2 tol7. The majority of
commercials aired on them are children’s commercials.

CBS is a comprehensive TV channel. Since it is one of four major US. TV networks
(including ABC, NBC, and FOX), the content programs and commercials appearing on it
could be taken to represent the'prevalent attitudes and values of American society.
Moreover, CBS is one of the channels that have been conventionally chosen for all major
research on US. TV commercials (H. Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996). Thus the children’s

commercials aired on CBS were collected. to constitute part of the American sample.

Data Collection
Data Collected in China
All the data from Chinese television was collected between July 8 and July 19, 2008.
Two-day TV programs on CCTV-1 and CCTV-Children, one weekday and one weekend,
were recorded. One weekday TV programs on HunanSTV were recorded. The recording

lasted 15 hours for each day from 7 am. to 10 pm. All commercials were extracted from

53

the TV programs and classiﬁed into children’s commercials or other commercials. Table

3 provides basic information of data collected from these three channels on ﬁve days.

Table 3

Data Collected in China

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

M Children‘s Other Total no. of Percentage of children’s
collecting commercials commercials commercials commercials
weekday 14 141 155 9.03%
weekend 17 I60 177 9.60%

CCTV-l
18 (No. of total individual children’s commercials aired on CCTV-l on two days,
excluding duplicated ones)
weekday 34 13 47 72.3%

CCTV- weekend 40 13 53 75.5%

Children 49 (No. of total individual children’s commercials aired on CCTV-Children on two days,
excluding duplicated ones)

Hunan weekday 49 125 174 28.2%

STV 49 (No. of total individual children’s commercials aired on HunanSTV)

 

Combining commercials of 5-day TV programs from three channels together, after

excluding duplicated ones, the number of total individual children’s commercials

collected in China is 98.

Data Collected in the U. S.

All of the data for the review of U. S. commercials also took place during summer

2008. Two-day TV programs on CBS and Cartoon Network, one weekday and one

weekend, were recorded. One weekday TV programs on Nickelodeon were recorded. The

recording lasted 15 hours for each day from 7 am. to 10 pm. All commercials were

54

 

extracted from the TV programs and classiﬁed into children’s commercials or other

commercials. Table 4 provides basic information of data collected from these three

channels on ﬁve days.

Table 4

Data Collected in the US.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D_a_y_of Children’s QM Total No. of Percentage of children’s
collecting commercials commercials commercials commercials

CBS 08/28 Thurs I6 362 378 4.2%
08/30 Sat 35 253 288 12.2%
49 (No. of total individual children’s commercials aired on CBS on these two days,
excluding duplicated ones)

Cartoon 08/29 Fri 116 23 139 83.5%

Network 09/27 Sat 1 18 28 146 80.8%
131 (No. of total individual children’s commercials aired on Cartoon Network on these
two days, excluding duplicated ones)

Nickel- 08/27 Wed 136 70 206 66.0%

odeon 136 (No. of total individual children’s commercials aired on Nickelodeon)

 

Combining commercials of 5-day TV programs from three channels together, after

excluding duplicated ones, the number of total individual children’s commercials

collected in the US. is 194.

Unit of Analysis

The unit of analysis is each complete children’s TV commercial. Any duplicate

commercials for the same products were excluded from the sample to eliminate

55

 

redundancies (H. Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996; Ji & McNeal, 2001; Lin, 2001; J. Zhang &
Shavitt, 2003). However, an exceptional case was noticed in an exploratory study: there
is possibility that two or more different commercials advertise one product (Ni, 2008
submitted). In this case, although the products featured in these commercials are the same,
the content of these commercials are quite distinct from each other. Consequently, the
appeals used in these commercials vary from one to another in most cases. Therefore, if
two or more commercials which advertise the same product are different from each other

in major advertising content, they were counted as individual commercials.

Coding

Coding Scheme

Most research examining cultural values in TV commercials using content analysis
relies upon Pollay’s (1983) seminal appeals coding framework (e. g. Albers-Miller &
Gelb, 1996; H. Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996; Ji & McNeal, 2001; Y. B. Zhang & Harwood,
2004). Based on an extensive review of previous studies on values, Pollay developed a
list of 42 values (appeals) manifest in advertising. Despite its veriﬁed reliability and
repeated adoption by many researchers, Pollay’s framework has been criticized for it’s
reliance upon western culture as its foundation (H. Cheng, 1994; Y. B. Zhang &
Harwood, 2004). As such, critics have argued that the model might not be suitable for
cross-cultural study when eastern culture countries are involved. Based on Pollay’s
coding framework, Cheng (1994) consulted studies on eastern cultural values and reﬁned

Pollay’s framework in his study on Chinese magazine advertisement from 1982 to 1992.

56

Furthermore, an updated version of Cheng’s coding framework was derived from a
test of about 50 TV commercials from China and 60 TV commercials from the US. (H.
Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996). In a result, Cheng’s coding framework consists 32 cultural
values, suitable for cross-cultural comparison between the East and the West and
particularly effective for studying cultural values in TV commercials. Based on both
Pollay (1987) and Moller’s (1983) work, Cheng (1996) prepared the operational
deﬁnition for each of the cultural values in his framework.

The coding scheme in the present study is designed largely based on Cheng’s
reﬁned coding instrument. Since the current study deals only with children’s TV
commercials and seeks the values focused on education, some appeals in existing coding
instruments are infrequent. For example, the appeal of sex, with which the commercial
uses glamorous and sensual models or has a background of lovers holding hands,
embracing, or kissing to promote a product, is not likely to be adopted by children’s
commercials. Moreover, although some appeals are used in children’s commercials, such
as neatness, has not been related to any cultural dimensions (Albers-Miller & Gelb, 1996),
or is irrelevant to educational values prevailing in a given society. Both of these appeals,
therefore, have been excluded in order to develop an applicable coding instrument with a
limited number of appeals.

As a result, 21 appeals are included in this study. The operational deﬁnition for each
appeal, also incorporating other researchers’ work (Ji & McNeal, 2001; Mueller, 1987) is
prepared. According to the analytical framework, these 21 appeals, portrayed activities,
settings and the distribution of product category in the samples are examined (see

Appendix).

57

Coding Method

All featured activities in commercials were coded as either scholastic activities
where children and teenagers prepare, participate, or talk about study or school-related
activities regardless where the activities occur, in school or out of school; or non-
scholastic activities where children prepare, participate, or talk about exercise, games,
sports, and so forth regardless where the activities occur (Peterson, 1998). The scholastic
activity is coded as 1, and non-scholastic activity is coded as 0.

Second, the settings portrayed in commercials were also coded as either scholastic
setting or non-scholastic setting. Scholastic setting implies the scene portrayed in a
commercial is either directly related to school such as classroom, playground, library, and
so on, or there is any school-related artifact, such as textbook, schoolbag appearing even
though the environment is not in school, but such places as home, park, neighborhood,
and so on. All other environments, neither in school, nor are there any appearance of
school-related artifacts, were coded as non-scholastic setting. The scholastic setting is
coded as 1 and non scholastic setting is coded as 0.

Third, all 21 appeals were examined in each individual commercial. All appeals are
coded on a two point scale as yes (code as 1), and no (code as 0). If a commercial uses
any of appeals, it is coded as 1 under the relevant appeals; otherwise, it is coded as 0.
Coding Procedure

Four coders were involved in coding. Two of them, including the researcher, are
graduate students who are native Mandarin speakers and also ﬂuent in English. The other

two coders are native English speakers, and one of them is a graduate student. Before

58

coding, a tutorial was given to the other three coders by the researcher to reach agreed
understanding of each operational deﬁnition of appeal in the coding scheme.

The two Chinese bilingual coders have lived in the US. for about 5 to 6 years. It
should be noted that their relatively short stay in the US. might give rise to the possibility
of lack of an inadequate understanding of American culture. Moreover, their Chinese
cultural background might also cause some biases in interpretation of the American TV
commercials. Therefore, all 4 coders coded only 10% of randomly selected commercials
from the US. sample. This amounted to 20 commercials, and this sample was used to
check the inter-coder reliability. An inter-coder reliability analysis using the Intraclass
Correlation Coefﬁcient (ICC) was performed and was found to be ICC= 0.835 (p <0.001),
95% CI (0.718, 0.916), demonstrating a high level of agreement among all four coders.

From there, the two bilingual coders coded 25% of the randomly selected
commercials from both the US. and China samples, which are 50 and 25 commercials
respectively. The inter-rater reliability was calculated as well and the ICC was found to
be 0.910 (p <0.001), 95% CI (0.732, 0.964), which again, shows the high level of the
agreement between two bilingual coders. The researcher coded all the samples from both

the US. and China.

Data Analysis
Chi Square test was adopted to analyze the data of product category distribution,
frequency of portrayed activities, settings, and adopted appeals in commercials in order to

provide the result for answering corresponding research questions.

59

CHAPTER 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
This chapter discusses the main results from data analysis that address the major
research question: What are the similarities and differences of cultural valuesin the

context of education reﬂected by children’s TV commercials between the US. and China?

Product Category Distribution
All 292 commercials, 98 Chinese and 194 US, were classiﬁed into 6 product
categories. The categorization is based on the suggestions of previous studies (Katz &
Lee, 1992; Lin, 2001) as well as considering the distinctiveness of children’s TV
commercials. These categories are
1. F ood/drink. The advertised products in this category are food and drink usually
consumed by children. The commercials for fast food and regular restaurants are
also included in this category.
2. Clothing. The commercials in this category also include those for the product of
footwear, backpack and accessories.
3. Entertainment. The advertised products in this category consist of video product,
e. g. Disney’s released DVD; toy, game and amusement park, e. g. Cedar Point.
The promotion commercials for entertainment programs broadcasting on each
channel are considered as entertainment products as well.
4. Education.
5. Personal Care, including healthcare, medicine and cleaning products.

6. Public Service Announcement (PSA).

60

Percentage Breakdown of Product Category

The product category breakdown in descending order for US. samples is shown in
Table 5 as follows: entertainment (49%), food/drink (26.3), personal care (9.3%),
clothing (6.2), PSA (5.2%) and education (4.1%). For the Chinese samples, the
percentage breakdown is as follows: food/drink (40.8%), clothing (22.4%), personal care
(16.3%), education (12.2%), PSA (7.1%) and entertainment (1%).

Table 5

Percentage Breakdown of Product Category

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Product Category Percentage (US) Percentage (Ching)
Food/Drink 26.3 40.8

Clothing 6.2 22.4

Entertainment 49 1

Education 4.1 12.2

Personal Care 9.3 16.3

PSA 5.2 7.1

 

 

 

 

 

Of all the products advertised in American commercials during the research period,
the largest group was entertainment product, which accounts for almost half of the
samples. The ﬁnding of a high percentage of entertainment products is consistent with
previous studies including Browne (1998), who found that 55.4% of American children’s
commercials were for toy products, which was the largest group among 6 categories
adopted in his study. J i and McNeal (2001) also found in their samples that the largest
group of products advertised in the US. children’s TV commercials was toys (55.5%).

The factors that determine the number of commercials broadcasted on TV could be

manifold, one was noted by researchers is that the difference in the percentage of the

61

product category is a reﬂection of the different priorities of need gratiﬁcation (Ji &
McNeal, 2001). The above compatible ﬁndings suggest that satisfying children’s need for
entertainment perhaps has been given top priority in the US. Although food, clothing and
health are three basic needs of living, providing children with good food, clothing and
healthcare is considered as a given in the US, the most afﬂuent country in the world.
Thus the focus tends to be on satisfying children’s higher order need for play and
entertainment.

The smallest product category among the American samples is education, which
only accounts for 4.1% of all commercials. The dominance of entertainment products and
the scarceness of education products present a sharp contrast. It might suggest that in
comparison with the strong emphasis of the need for entertainment, the importance of
education perhaps has been downplayed.

The breakdown of product categories in Chinese samples tells a different story. The
top three categories of advertised products are food/drink, clothing, and personal care;
next follows the education. This ranking of product categories also reﬂects how Chinese
people consider the priorities regarding meeting needs of children. Although China’s
economy has undergone rapid development and the living standard has been dramatically
increased in the past three decades, China as a developing country has not reached the
status of great abundance. Thus providing children good food, clothing and healthcare are
still issues receiving most attention.

It is noticeable that education products follow right after the ﬁrst three categories. It
might suggest that as long as the children’s fundamental needs of living are addressed,

education is regarded as the second most important need. Furthermore, entertainment

62

products are the lowest category in Chinese samples. Out of 98 commercials, there was
only 1 commercial that advertised a toy product. The impression one can get from the
scantiness of entertainment products in Chinese commercials is that entertainment in
children’s life is not a high priority. The need for children’s entertainment is downplayed
in favor of meeting children’s basic needs of living, and their education.
Comparing Product Category Distribution between T we Countries

Table 6 shows the result of the Chi Square test, examining differences between the
two countries with regard to product category. The data reveals that there are signiﬁcant
differences in the number of commercials in 4 product categories between the US. and
China. The US. has a larger number of commercials in the entertainment category than
does China. In comparison, China has a larger number of commercials in the product
categories of food/drink, clothing and education than does the US. The distribution of

product categories of personal care and PSA is similar between the US. and China.

Table 6

Product Category Distribution

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. 1N=1941 China (N=98) Total IN=2921
Product Category Chi-Square n % n % n %
Food/Drink * 6.406 51 26.3 40 40.8 91 31.2
Clothing *** 16.739 12 6.2 22 22.4 34 11.6
Entertainment **"‘ 67.832 95 49 l 1 96 32.9
Education ** 6.731 8 4.1 12 12.2 20 6.8
Personal Care 3.144 18 9.3 16 16.3 34 11.6
PSA 0.469 10 5.2 7 7.1 17 5.8
*p<=.05 **p<= .01 ***p<=.001

 

The comparative result reveals how children’s needs are perceived differently
between the US. and China. As discussed, the largest group of advertised products is
entertainment in US. samples, whereas entertainment is the smallest group in Chinese
samples. In contrast, education product prevails more in China than in the US,
suggesting that children’s education, particularly their academic success, receives more
attention in China than in the US. Moreover, meeting children’s need for food and
clothing is placed with a higher priority in China than in the US. The issue of children’s

personal care may receive the same attention in two countries.

Dominant Values

Appeal Use Distribution

The distributions of appeal uses are different in the Chinese and US commercials.
Appeal distribution in the US commercials is more concentrated. As shown in Figure l
and Figure 2, while the top ﬁve appeals all appeared in more than 70% of the
commercials, the bottom 12 appeals each appeared in less than 10% of the commercials.
In contrast, the use of appeals is more evenly distributed in Chinese commercials. All but
1 appeal, the appeal of youth, appeared in less than 50% of the commercials. However,
only 3 appeals appeared in less than 10% of the commercials.

Figure 1

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Appeal Use Distribution (US)

 

 

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65

Five Most Frequently Used Appeals in American Commercials

Among the 21 values examined in this study, the ﬁrst 5 values used most frequently
are identiﬁed as dominant values (H. Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996). As shown in Table 7,
in a descending order of their frequencies, the dominant values used in American
commercials are enjoyment, distinctiveness, youth, individualistic and adventure.

Table 7

Five Dominant Values in US Commercials

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

YEAST. _I_J._S. M Chi-Square
Frequency Percentage (%) Frequency Percentage (%)
Enjoyment 178 89.9 (2.16) 48 49 (5.05) *** 68.092
Distinctive 148 75.9 (3.07) 23 23.5 (4.28) *** 74.854
Youth 146 75.3 (3.10) 83 84.7 (3.64) 3.426
Individualistic 139 71.4 (3.24) 25 25.5 (4.40) *** 56.299
Adventure 141 70.9 (3.26) 12 12.2 (3.31) *** 95.343

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Standard Error in parenthesis

It is not surprising to see that the most frequently used value is enjoyment in the US.
commercials. This result is supported by Hofstede’s (1984) observation that the US. is a
typical society of individualism, where the pursuit of individual’s enjoyment and pleasure
of life are highly valued. The result suggests a prevalent belief toward children in the US.
that having fun and being happy is most important in children’s life. In the majority of
the American samples, children are portrayed to pursue fun and happiness through
engaging all kinds of activities such as games, parties, feasts, sports and so on.

Furthermore, enjoyment appeal is used, and in a variety of contexts, not only in

commercials which advertise entertainment products. While 95 (49%) commercials from

66

the US. sample are identiﬁed as entertainment product, 178 (89.9%) commercials have
used enjoyment appeal. Among commercials which have adopted enjoyment appeal,
nearly half of them are not entertainment products. In other words, enjoyment appeal has
been applied to most of American commercials despite the product category. In fact,
most commercials in the US. sample, regardless of the product itself, placed strong
emphasis on enjoyment and ﬁrn.

Likewise, the presence of the appeals of distinctive (75.9%) and individualistic
(71.4%) among ﬁve dominant values is also anticipated. The prevalence of these two
values is suggested by high index score of the US. on individualism dimension.
Individuals in commercials are oftentimes depicted as standing out in a crowd.
Meanwhile, a great number of commercials have either emphasized the unrivalled,
incomparable, and unparalleled nature of a product, or have conveyed the message of
using the advertised product could make an individual different than others.

As one of the dominant values, the appeal of youth was used frequently (75.3%) in

US. samples. This aligns with Hofstede’s observation that the US. scores low in the
dimension of power distance, resulting in the glamorizing of the younger generation
Moreover, the appeal of adventure was often adopted in American commercials. The
relatively low US scores on uncertainty avoidance suggests that American society tends
to accept uncertainty; people are willing to take risks, to explore new things, and

adventurous experiences are favored.

67

Five Most Frequently Used Appeals in Chinese Commercials
As shown in Table 8, ﬁve values used most frequently in Chinese commercials are,
in a descending order of their frequencies, youth, enjoyment, group consensus,
afﬁliation and family.

Table 8

Five Dominant Values in Chinese Commercials

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Val—m; gm U._S_. Chi—Square
Percentage Percentage
Frequency Frequency

(%) (%)
Youth 83 84.7 (3.64) 1.46 75.3 (3.07) 3.426
Enjoyment 48 49.0 (5.05) 178 89.9 (2.16) *** 68.092
Group 40 40.8 (4.97) 2 1.0 (0) *** 83.689
Consensus
Afﬁliation 33 33.7 (4.78) 13 6.7 (1.80) *** 35.691
Family 26 26.5 (4.46) 24 12.4 (2.37) ** 9.199

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Standard Error in parenthesis

Youth and enjoyment as the most dominant appeals in Chinese commercials, and
this ﬁnding seems contradictory with Hofstede’s observation that China scores low in
individualism and high in power distance. The value of enjoyment is usually positively
associated with the dimension of individualism, and the value of youth is usually
negatively associated with the dimensions of power distance.

The possible reason of the frequently use of youth and appeals in Chinese samples is
twofold: children’s commercials are the only type of subject used in this study, and the
deﬁnition of youth appeal adopted in the coding scheme may contribute some additional

explanations. Youth appeal is identiﬁed when the emphasis of the younger generation is

68

shown through the depiction of younger models, and since all samples in this study are
children’s TV commercials advertising products consumed by children, children and
young people would appear in commercials as models to attract target consumers of
similar age group. With respect to the use of enjoyment appeal, although education
product is abundant and entertainment product is scarce in Chinese samples, childhood is
still the time that is expected to have fun compared with other age stages. Thus the
frequent use of enjoyment appeal in Chinese children’s commercials is not completely
unanticipated.

The presence of group consensus, afﬁliation, and family among dominant values in
Chinese commercials can be explained according to China’s low score in the dimension
of individualism in Hofstede’s framework. Chinese society is characterized by
collectivism. The focus is not on individual as distinct and unlike other, but on the
individual in relation to others. Oftentimes, the individual is depicted as an integral part
of the whole while the importance of keeping the harmony of the group is placed ahead
of the interest of individuals, and group consensus is much more important than
individual’s opinion. Moreover, people from a society with a collectivist orientation
depend emotionally on organization and institutions they belong to. Thus, the values of
afﬁliation and family are stressed.

The ranking of ﬁve dominant values in commercials reveals possible differences in
cultural values between the US. and China. In the US, the ﬁrst ﬁve reﬂect the cultural
orientation in high index of individualistic and low index of power distance and

uncertainty avoidance. For the Chinese, although youth and enjoyment are at the ﬁrst two

69

places, the rest three dominant values of group consensus, afﬁliation and family reveal a

strong cultural orientation of collectivism in China.

The Value of Schooling and Academic Achievement

According to analytical framework, the appeal of education is deﬁned as how a
society emphasizes the importance of schooling and children’s academic achievement.
The hypothesis regarding the difference in the value of schooling and academic
achievement between the US. and China is tested from the following four aspects:

1. The use of the appeal of education in commercials,

2. The frequency of advertised products falling into education category,

3. The portrayed scholastic and non-scholastic activities in commercials, and

4. The scholastic and non-scholastic settings adopted in commercials.
Education Appeal

First, the appeal of education in this study is identiﬁed when the commercials claim
that using advertised products will make children smarter, beneﬁt children’s performance

in school, or help them obtain higher academic achievement.

Table 9

Education Appeal Used in Commercials

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. (N=l94l China (N=98)
AM Chi-Square n % n %
Education *** 21.899 7 3.6 20 20.4
*** p<=.001

As shown in Table 9, a small number of children’s TV commercials in the sample

from the US. adopted the education appeal, whereas up to one-ﬁfth of children’s TV

70

commercials in the sample from China used the education appeal. The test of Chi-square
shows that education appeal is used more often in children’s TV commercials in China
than is it in those of the US. (X2=21.899, p<=.001). Thus the hypothesis of how
education appeal is used differently in commercials between two countries is supported.
Portrayed Activities

Second, portrayed activity is also an important aspect of examining the messages
conveyed by commercials (J i & McNeal, 2001; Peterson, 1994, 1998). Peterson (1998)
classiﬁed the portrayed activities children may engage in TV commercials that included
scholastic activities, athletic activities, family activities, working, visiting with friends,
eating or drinking, and others. To discover how the importance of education is perceived
in children’s life, the present study classiﬁed all portrayed activities into two categories:
scholastic and non-scholastic.

Scholastic activity is identiﬁed when children in commercials prepare, participate, or
talk about learning or school-related issue such as homework, academic achievement, and
the rest kinds of activities are all deﬁned as non-scholastic activity. In some cases, both
scholastic and non—scholastic activities are portrayed in one commercial. Both of them
were identiﬁed and coded during the coding procedure. Thus the percentages of the
number of commercials portrayed scholastic and non-scholastic activities do not total 100
percent.

As shown in Table 10, the test of Chi-square shows that a higher percentage of
children’s TV commercials in China have scholastic activities portrayed than do those in
the US, and a higher percentage of children’s TV commercials in the US. have non-

scholastic activity portrayed than do those in China.

71

Table 10

Portrayed Scholastic and Non-scholastic Activities in Commercials

 

U.S. (n=l94) China ln=98)

 

 

 

Activity Chi-Square n % n %
Scholastic activity * 6.174 1 l 5.7 14 ‘ 14.3
Non-scholastic activity *** 11.121 187 96.4 84 85.7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*p<=.05 ***p<=.001

The difference in how frequently scholastic and non-scholastic activity is portrayed
between two countries is also considered an indicator of how each country values
education differently. In a society where education is strongly emphasized, the children’s
daily life is expected to be oriented by the school-related activities. Thus, when children
assume models in commercials, they are more likely to be depicted as engaging in
scholastic activities. On the contrary, if the value of education is not much underscored in
a society, school-related activity does not likely abound in children’s daily life in this
society. Therefore, the portrayed activities in children’s commercials are not likely
occupied much by scholastic activities. These ﬁndings coincide with other data that
suggests that the education value is used more often in Chinese commercials than in the
US.
Adopted Settings

Setting is an additional aspect of commercial messaging that also implicitly shows
how education is perceived in the US. and China. Commercials adopt certain
environments where the scenarios take place. All the environments in commercials were
classiﬁed into two categories. A scholastic setting is identiﬁed when the scenario takes

place either in a setting in schools, or a setting out of school but with appearance of any

72

scholastic-related appliance. A non-scholastic setting is indentiﬁed when the environment
in commercials is neither a setting in school, nor with any appearance of any school-
related appliance.

As shown in the Table l 1, the Chi-Square test shows that a higher percentage of
commercials in China assume scholastic setting than do those in the US. and a higher
percentage of commercials in the US. assume non-scholastic setting than do those in
China.

Table l 1

Appearance ofScholastic and Non-scholastic Settings in Commercials

 

 

 

 

U.S. ln=l94j China (n=98)

§e_ttiirg Chi-Square n % n %
Scholastic setting ** 9.068 12 6.2 17 17.3
Non-scholastic setting *** 11.220 186 95.9 83 84.7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**p<=.01 ***p<=.001

The aspect of adOpted setting is examined because it has been noticed that even in
commercials which neither advertise education product, nor is scholastic activity is
portrayed, the scholastic setting may still appear. The presence of scholastic setting in
commercials, particularly its appearance in commercials for non-education products has
reﬂected the subtle levels at which the importance of education is stressed ubiquitously in
a society. When education is placed with much importance, children’s lives are more
likely to be centered with schooling. Thus the scholastic settings, as well as school-
related appliance such as a school bag, textbook, or children’s stationary will appear
more often in children’s daily life. Even when children are not engaged with scholastic

activities, the settings where the activities take place might only be a school environment.

73

Education Product

Lastly, the test of product category distribution revealed a supportive ﬁnding. It is
hypothesized that in a society where education is highly valued, educational products will
be advertised with greater frequency. As shown in Table 12, 4.1% commercials in the
US. sample advertised educational products, and the number in Chinese sample is 12,
with the percentage of 12.2%. It is shown by the Chi-square test that a higher percentage
of children’s TV commercials in China falls into the category of education than does that
of the commercials in the us. (X2=6.731, p<=.01).

Table 12

Education Product in the U. S. and Chinese Samples

 

 

 

 

U.S. (n=194) China (n=98) Total (n=292)
Product Category Chi-Square n % n % n %
Education ** 6.731 8 4.1 12 12.2 20 6.8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**p<=.01

The difference in the education product between the US. and China also reveals
how education has been valued differently between two countries. Although the number
of commercials for education products appearing on TV might not exactly reﬂect the
number of education products a country produces, the number of commercials for certain
kinds of products still reveals the perceived need for the products.
Across Product Categories

Looking at the appearance of scholastic setting in commercials, it is noticeable that
in the Chinese sample, scholastic settings do not appear only in those commercials that
fall in education product category, or that make use of education appeals. In fact, no

matter what kind of product is advertised, no matter what kind of appeal is used in

74

commercials, the environment, the background, the locus of the story is easily associated
with schools, classrooms, textbooks, classmates, etc. For example, in a commercial for a
particular brand of biscuit, the product advertised has nothing to do with education, and
the appeal used in this commercial is not education appeal either. However, the whole
story in the commercial happens in a typical K-12 classroom, and between two students
who sit next to each other. In another food commercial, two kids are sitting together at
home and enjoying the pleasure from the food. Still, some textbooks, and other school
items are prominently portrayed on the table. Certainly, the school setting is one of the
main environments in which children live, but from the higher rate of appearances of
school-related subjects, one can easily get a sense of how important schooling is to
children in China.

Similar observations are noted in the use of the education appeal. Educational
appeals are used in not only education products, but food/drink and PSAs in the Chinese
sample, whereas it is only used in education products in the American sample. On the
other hand, not only is entertainment and toy/ game products advertised in the US. more
than those in China, enjoyment appeal is used much more frequently in American
children’s commercials, no matter what product is being advertised. As Ji and McNeal
found (2001), although food product is the largest group in American samples in their
study, the emphasis of these products in their TV commercials is still on fun and
happiness.

From the above ﬁndings, it is evident that the value of education is more stressed in
China than in the US, and Chinese children’s life is mainly centered on school. In

contrast, school and academic achievement might not be the most focused upon aspect of

75

American children’s life. Play, entertainment and having fun are considered more
important. In other words, Chinese children are expected from their parents, teachers and
the society to pursue academic success, which is viewed as the most signiﬁcance on top
of everything in their life, whereas their counterparts in the US. are expected to have fun

and pursue the enjoyment of play ﬁrst.

Differences and Similarities in Cultural Values

There have been empirical studies that try to measure cross-country differences in
cultural values along several dimensions (e. g. Hofstede, 2001; Schwartz, 1992). However,
these studies are based on survey questions, and not focused on education. The present
study measured the differences in cultural values using children’s TV commercials. As
discussed in Chapter 2, the cultural values depicted in children’s TV commercials
speciﬁcally pertain to a subset area of social culture and social practice. In other words,
the cultural values reﬂected in children’s TV commercials are the revelation of values
prevailing in a given society concerning its notion about childhood, child rearing and
children’s education. Thus, these values are usually reﬂections of parents, teachers and
the society’s expectations about children, and are also likely to be manifested in
educational practices.
The Dimension of Individualism (ID V)

The identiﬁed appeals in commercials associated with the values suggested by the
dimension of individualism in this study are: individualistic, independence, uniqueness,

enjoyment, group consensus, afﬁliation, family, patriotism and popularity.

76

As displayed in Table 13, the test of Chi—Square shows that the appeals of
individualistic, independence, uniqueness and enjoyment are used more frequently in
children’s TV commercials in the US. than in those of China. The test of Chi-Square also
showed that the appeals of group consensus, afﬁliation, family, patriotism, and popularity
are used more frequently in children’s TV commercials in China than in those of the US.
These ﬁndings are consistent with Hofstede’s results on the cultural differences between
the US. and China.

Table 13

Appeals (ID V) Used in Commercials

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. =l94 China (N=98)
Appgaj Chi—Square n % n %
Individualistic *** 56.299 139 71.6 25 25.5
Independence *** 29.588 66 34.0 5 5.1
Uniqueness *** 74.854 148 76.3 23 23.5
Enjoyment *** 68.092 178 91.8 48 49.0
Group Consensus *** 83.689 2 1.0 40 40.8
Afﬁliation *** 35.691 13 6.7 33 33.7
Family ** 9.199 24 12.4 26 26.5
Patriotism * 7.000 7 3.6 11 11.2
Popularity *** 33.363 4 2.1 22 22.4
*p<=.05 **p<= .01 ***p<=.001

The ﬁndings of the current study show that the US. has a strong orientation in
individualistic culture, and advocates the values that associated with it. With respect to
the relationship between the individual and the collective, the goal and intention of

individuals usually receive more respect, recognition and emphasis than group concerns

77

and needs. Independence is a shared societal norm in American society. The value of
uniqueness, being different and unlike others is favored.

This strong orientation of individualism is manifested in educational practices. For
example, as noted in Tobin and his colleagues’ research on preschools in Japan, China
and the US, teachers in the US preschool have a strong belief of the rights and priority of
the individual and are committed to treating children as individuals. They stress the
importance of tailoring the curriculum and teaching to each child’s unique temperament,
needs, interests, and abilities (J. Tobin, Hsueh, & Karasawa, 2008; J. J. Tobin, Wu, &
Davidson, 1989). Such emphasis on providing diverse curriculum and teaching methods
to suit different individuals are not restricted to preschool only, but present at all levels of
education.

The results also show that the pursuit of individual pleasure and enjoyment in life is
placed higher emphasis in the US. than in China. This is consistent with the general
belief in the US that children have an inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness and that
schools and learning need to be fun. Because of this belief, students’ freedom of choice
is a key feature of the US school curriculum and pedagogy.

In contrast, the individual in Chinese commercials is usually depicted as an integral
part of the whole, instead of standing out in a crowd. Group consensus and conformity to
the will of the group are more emphasized. Meanwhile, individuals have dependence on
organizations and institutions. The perception of belonging to and being loyal to a certain
group is reﬂected by the abundant use of appeals of afﬁliation, family and patriotism. The
recognition of popularity, which also implies being the same as others is more

emphasized than uniqueness and distinctiveness in China. This group orientation is

78

reﬂected in the use of large group activities and teacher-directed pedagogy in the Chinese
schools.
The Dimension of Power Distance (PDI)

Values that are associated with the dimension of power distance are veneration of
elderly, tradition, tamed, appearances, social status, youth and modernity. The low index
score of the US. and the high index score of China in the dimension of power suggests
that the values of veneration of elderly, tradition, tamed, appearance and social status are
more emphasized in China whereas the values of youth and modernity are more
emphasized in the US. It was hypothesized that the corresponding appeals used in
commercials would yield the same result.

As displayed in Table 14, the test of Chi-Square shows that the appeals of
veneration of elderly, tradition, tamed, appearance, and social status are used more
frequently in children’s TV commercials in China than in those of the US. The appeal of
modernity is used more frequently in children’s TV commercials in the US. than in those
of China. There is no signiﬁcant difference regarding the use of youth appeal in
commercials between the US. and China. Except the appeal of youth, the hypotheses
concerning appeals associated with the dimension of power distance are all supported.
This result is largely in line with Hofstede’s observation that China scores considerably
higher than the US. in the power distance dimension.

Table 14

Appeals (PD!) Used in Commercials

 

us. (N=194) China (N=98)

 

Appeal Chi-Square n % n %

 

Veneration of Elderly *** 13.903 2 1.0 10 10.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

79

Table 14 cont’d

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tradition *** 20.765 4 2.1 16 16.3

Tamed *** 15.437 0 0 9 9.2

Appearance ** 9.517 7 3.6 13 13.3

Social Status *** 37.333 2 1.0 21 21.4

Youth 3.426 146 75.3 83 84.7

Modernity ** 9.803 63 32.5 15 15.3
** p<=.01 ***p<=.001

The veneration of the elderly and tradition runs deep in Chinese consciousness. A
proud attitude toward Chinese history and tradition is also deep-rooted in Chinese culture.
In fact, veneration of the elderly and being proud of China’s long historical heritage are
important parts of moral education for children and youth. From the very beginning of
socialization, children are infused with the norm of respect for older people, and this
respect expands to people with more power and authority. Consequently, the relationship
between parents, grandparents and children at home, and the relationship between
teachers and students in school are both characterized with younger people accepting of
authority with little questioning. Students are expected to show their respect to teachers
and behave obediently in classroom. As Hofstede noticed (1986; 2001), in a society
where large a power distance appears, one could expect students are dependent on
teachers, and treat teachers with respect in a classroom. Classroom instruction in this
context tends to be teacher-centered. Usually, teachers initiate all communications in the
classroom and they are considered as gurus who transfer personal wisdom to their
students. Teachers’ authority is not supposed to be challenged.

Furthermore, in a society with large power distance, the pursuit of social status is

encouraged. Accordingly, external appearance, as one of the symbols showing status,

80

receives much attention by societal members too. The appeal of social status is identiﬁed
when the commercials make the claim that the use of advertised product is able to elevate
the position or rank of the user in the eyes of others. This appeal is used more often in
children’s TV commercials in China than in those of the US.

Reﬂected in children’s commercials, particularly the commercials which advertise
educational products, this appeal oftentimes is conveyed through the statement made by
spokesperson or student characters saying that: this product has helped to rank No. l in
the exam. In China, the emphasis on the value of social status permeates in school as a
stress on the competition and ranking among students in terms of their test scores.
Students’ test scores and the ranking in class and grade are publicized and the ranking is
usually used as a method to motivate students. The use of group pressures as an extrinsic
motivational tool in the Chinese schools is in sharp contrast with the practice in the US
schools, where individual choice is emphasized as a method to foster intrinsic motivation.

On the contrary, the veneration of elderly, tradition and tamed are much less
emphasized in American society where power distance is quite small. Instead, disobeying
tradition and the freedom to challenge authorities is encouraged. Also noticed by
Hofstede (1986; 2001), one could expect teachers and students treat each other as equals
in classrooms, and classroom instruction tends to be more student—centered. Students
initiate communications as well as teachers.

The value of modernity, meaning the notion of being new, contemporary, and up-to-
date, is also stressed more in the US commercials. Given the rapid economic and social
changes that have occurred in the Chinese society over the last three decades, one might

expect that current generation of Chinese would embrace the value of modernity much

81

more than older generations do and encourage children to be innovative and adaptive to a
dynamic environment. The results from the children’s commercials, however, show that
that value of modernity is still emphasized less in China than in the US. It is interesting
though to note that the difference in the value of modernity between the two countries is
not as signiﬁcant as the differences in the values of veneration to elderly, tradition, tamed
and social status.

For the hypotheses concerning appeals associated with the dimension of power
distance, the only one that is not supported by the data of the current study is the appeal
of youth. One reason is that the appeal of youth is identiﬁed when the commercial
conveys the message of the gloriﬁcation of younger generation which is shown through
the depiction of younger models. In children’s commercials, the majority of the
children’s commercials inevitably adopt children or younger people as models to
advertise the products that are consumed primarily by them. Thus, both American
commercials and Chinese commercials have adopted this appeal to a great extent.
Another reason is related to the dimension of uncertainty avoidance, which will be
discussed in the following section.

The Dimension of Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI)

The dimension of uncertainty avoidance is associated with values of safety, durable,
adventure, magic and youth. As displayed in Table 15, the test of Chi-Square shows that
the appeals of adventure, magic, and youth are used more frequently in children’s TV
commercials in the US. than in those of China. There is not a signiﬁcant difference in the

use of appeals of safety, durable and youth between the US. and China.

82

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Table 15

Appeals (UAI) Used in Commercials

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

US. (N=l94) China (N=98)
Appeal Chi-Square n % n %
Safety 0.057 20 10.3 11 11.2
Durable 2.578 9 4.6 1 1.0
Adventure *** 95.343 141 72.7 12 12.2
Magic *** 31.478 102 52.6 18 18.4
Youth 3.426 146 75.3 83 84.7
***p<=.001

The US. and China do not score much differently in the dimension of uncertainty
avoidance. Both of them are considered as moderately low in this dimension. This is
perhaps why the use of safety, durable and youth appeals do not differ between the two
countries. However, there are signiﬁcant differences of the use of adventure and magic
appeals between two countries despite the US. scores a little higher in uncertainty
avoidance than does China. This ﬁnding, though it seems contradictory with the
prediction of national scores from Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, conﬁrms that
Americans are more willing to take risks and to have adventurous experiences. In
addition, the favor of magical experiences suggests that the ability of imagination and
being creative is more valued in American society. Compared to Americans, Chinese are
relatively more inclined to avoid adventurous or unknown circumstances (Dahl, 2005).
Relating the Values to Education and Non-Education Products

First, Figure 3 and Figure 4 show the appeal distribution by product type for both
countries. For both countries, there are three main differences in the use of appeals in

education and non-education products: 1) Both countries tend to adopt the appeal of

83

education more frequently in education products; 2) Both countries use the appeals of
adventure and magic mainly in non-education products; 3) Both countries use the appeal
of social status in education products more often than in non—education products.

Second, to see if the China-US differences in the use of appeals are affected by
product type, the separate Chi-Square tests are conducted for each appeal using data of
commercials for non-education products and education products, respectively. The results
are reported in the Table 15 along with the original test result using the whole sample.
The results for the whole sample carry through if only the data of non-education products
are used. For the commercials of education products, the sample sizes are too small to
make any meaningful statistic inference about the difference between the two countries.
(Note that when expected frequencies are less than 5, Yate’s correction is employed and
the results are indicated with a superscripted Y.)

In summary, the China-US differences in the use of appeals reﬂect mainly the
differences in the commercials for non—education products. For the use of scholastic
activity and setting, it is affected by the product type where the main difference is

contributed by educational products though.

84

US Appeal Distribution by Product Type

 

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Summary of Major Findings

The major ﬁndings from the data analysis are distilled from the following aspects:
the priority of need gratiﬁcation, the dominant values, the value of schooling and
academic achievement, and the differences in cultural values according to cultural
dimensions.

First, the value of formal schooling and children’s academic achievement receives
much higher emphasis in China than in the US. Chinese children’s life is probably
centered to a large degree on schooling and their academic achievement. The importance
of entertainment in children’s life might have been neglected to some extent within
Chinese culture in favor of the higher priorities. The children’s need for ﬁn and
entertainment is given top priority in the US, whereas the need for education might not
have been stressed as much.

Second, for the general cultural values concerning children and education, the values
of individualism, independence, uniqueness, enjoyment, modernity, adventure and magic
are emphasized more in the US. than in China, whereas the values of group consensus,
afﬁliation, family, patriotism, popularity, veneration of elderly, tradition, tamed,
appearance, and social status are emphasized more in China than in the US. Children and
young people receive high attention both in Chinese and American society. The ﬁndings
support that the US. holds a strong orientation toward an individualistic culture, and a
small power distance, whereas China holds a strong orientation toward collectivist culture
and features a large power distance. Although both the US. and China are identiﬁed as
societies which are moderately willing to accept and cope with uncertainty, the US.

favors the values of adventurous and magic more than China.

89

CHAPTER 5. IMPLICATIONS
The ﬁndings from this study have some signiﬁcant implications for understanding
the differences in various aspects of education found in cross-national comparisons.
Moreover, these ﬁndings also provide important cautions that should be concerned by
education reformers and policy makers who advocate borrowing educational ideas and
practices from countries of different cultures. This chapter explores the implications of

these ﬁndings and makes recommendations for future research and practice in this area.

Implications for Understanding Differences Found in International Comparisons

Most cross-national comparisons have focused on discovering the differences in
students’ academic achievement and explaining the differences within educational
context between the US. and other countries. These differences include various aspects
of education including the curriculum system, the approach of teachers toward working
together, and the importance of education perceived by parents and the general public.
While it is argued that these differences should be understood at a broader level of
societal environment, little research has been done to investigate the differences
embedded in social culture and cultural values. The ﬁndings from this study, taking the
comparison between the US. and China as an example, provide an exploratory answer to
this question.

As revealed by this study, China and the US. differ to a large extent on their cultural
orientation of individualism vs. collectivism and the degree of power distance manifested
in the context of education. Hofstede (2001) noted that the relationship between the
individual and the group, and the extent to which power is distributed equally or

according to a hierarchy are intimately linked with values system shared by major groups

90

of the population and societal norms. Therefore, they affect both people’s mental
programming and the structure and functioning of all institutions in a society. As a
consequence and expression of their distinctive cultures, the fundamental structure and
functioning of educational system in the US. and China differ to a large degree.

The strong collectivist orientation and a large power distance manifested in the
context of education are expressed by a centralized, uniﬁed and hierarchical educational
system in China. Rather than emphasizing individual development, the major purpose of
education in China is designed to prepare children to be adaptive to the skills and virtues
necessary to be an acceptable group member. In this context, education is an organized
means by which children learn to adapt themselves to the expectations of the larger
community. In this sense, the beneﬁt of collectivity is placed above individual interest.
School education, then, is designed to instill in children the norms and expectations of the
society. Education responds to this collective goal by forming and maintaining a
centralized system, in which every school shares a common curriculum as well as the
same textbooks, assessments and organizational structure.

In contrast, individualism and a small power distance are manifested in the context
of education in the US. For Americans, education is viewed as a means of empowering
children. The goal is to enable children to grow and respect themselves as individuals.
Schools and parents encourage children to develop according to their unique needs and
potentials. Consequently, education systems tend to honor individuality over conformity.
Based on the recognition of and respect for differences across individuals and schools, as
well as the purpose of education which emphasizing the development and realization of
individuals’ capacity and talents, the expression of this cultural orientation is typiﬁed by

a decentralized model of local control. As such, the curriculum, textbook, assessment,

9]

and organizational structure of schools are all marked with the features of a diversiﬁed,
decentralized, and non-uniﬁed system to give students with different aptitudes and
interests diverse choices. The education system seeks to maximize adaptation to
individual need as far as resources permit.

Differences in the way teachers work together in each country has drawn much
attention as well. In the US, working together has been neither an orienting goal of a
teacher’s work nor an organizational reality supported by the structure of school policy.
Many teachers choose to teach because of the autonomy that teaching provides (Paine &
Ma, 1993). Although U.S. teachers need to cooperate in building curriculum and effective
school climate, in the actual planning and teaching of courses teachers prefer to work on
their own, responsive to the uniqueness of their backgrounds and their students. In this
sense, the teaching profession is characterized by privatization. The above perception of
teaching profession and teachers’ collaboration is in line with the fundamental cultural
orientation of individualism. It is that emphasis on the values of individualism,
independence, distinctiveness and the like that has supported school structure and which
favors teachers working separately and independently.

Researchers have noted that the cultural assumptions and their expression in schools
underpin the practice of formally working together for teachers have related in a great
extent to the collectivism and the hierarchy in the organization in China (Paine & Ma,
1993). The Chinese approach to teaching is that teacher should work together in virtually
every phase of their work. A centralized curriculum system is partly actualized through a
universal national teaching outline which sets the common objectives for each subject at
each grade level. Sharing the same objectives and content teaching approved by the states,

teachers in China collectively study and discuss the teaching outline; prepare lesson plans

92

according to the outline; schedule speciﬁc plans for the content and approach to each
lesson; arrange for peer observations of teaching, and so on. Moreover, this approach is
formally supported by the structure of school organization through teaching research
group. Instead of having desks in classroom, teachers have a common place as the ofﬁce
of teaching research group to work together.

Paine and Ma (1993) pointed out that elements of Chinese cultural traditions, the
strong orientation of collectivism and emphasis on hierarchy underlie these practices in
ways that have made the teaching research group uniquely Chinese, persistent in the face
of reform, and powerful in its effect on teaching practice. The Chinese teachers’ working
together is shaped not only by the immediate organizational and structural practices, but
to a large extent by its long tradition of collectivism orientation.

The ﬁndings of this study also conﬁrm the difference in the perceptions of the value
of education to children between the US. and China. Schooling and student academic
achievement are viewed with greater importance in China. While the value of education
is endorsed collectively by the whole society, it has strong impact on parent’s attitudes
and beliefs to children’s education. Thus, it is observed that Chinese parents hold higher
expectation for children’s achievement, place a higher value on schooling, and involve
themselves in their children’s school work to a larger extent. On the contrary, the value of
education is not stressed as much in the US. American parents tend to place less
emphasis on the importance of their children’s academic skills. They also tend to have
higher degree of satisfaction and lower expectation for their children’s academic
outcomes than do Chinese parents.

Children are infused with the values of the society in which they live, and they are

expected to assimilate the cultural values from the very beginning of their socialization

93

and enculturation. The cultural values endorsed by a society are established in a child’s
consciousness during his or her early years and are further developed and reinforced at
school. It is noted that in US. schools, students’ individual initiatives are encouraged in
classroom; students are expected to speak up in class when they need or want to; they are
encouraged to challenge questionable authorities without worry of violating any social
norms; they are also supposed to be independent and stand on their own feet. The value
of being distinctive is also stressed in school. There is a basically positive attitude toward
difference and uniqueness. The values that are more emphasized in China suggest that
students’ individual initiatives could be discouraged in school. Meanwhile, being
different is not valued; instead, the group consensus, the feeling of belong to a group is
emphasized. Students are expected to show veneration of the elderly and tradition.

Accordingly, tamed and obedient students are usually favored by teachers in China.

Implication for Educational Reform

As discussed, the structure and functioning of an educational system is greatly
shaped by social culture and values prevalent in the society. It is acknowledged that the
observable differences in educational practice and thinking between the US. and China
exist for reasons that lie beneath the surface, and researchers agree that cultural values are
not easily changed by simple advocacy or even by formal educational policies (e. g. K.
Cheng, 1998). The differences in underlying educational values between the US. and
China are an extension of each country’s larger cultural milieu, and as such those
interested in borrowing educational practices across nations should be cognizant of the

difﬁculty and challenges implicit in doing so.

94

Many countries have tried to borrow ideas and practices from other countries as a
solution to their own educational problems. However, education policy makers and
reformers have come to recognize that educational ideas and practices borrowed from
aboard may carry with it implicit cultural values that could end up being obstacles in the
process of adoption. In this case, understanding the cultural background, particularly the
cultural values, in the context of education of the original country is crucial to this kind of
educational reform.

For example, there have been studies focusing on Chinese model for teaching,
particularly the importance of establishing a teaching research group by which teachers
formally work together (Paine, 1990, 1997; Paine & Ma, 1993). Teaching research
groups are not indigenous to China but was introduced from the Soviet Union in the early
19503 (Paine & Ma, 1993). However, this practice has been well adopted and thrives in
schools, in part because of its compatibility to the cultural orientation of collectivism in
China. It is also acknowledged that the cultural assumptions in China about the purpose
of education, knowledge, teaching, and teachers’ expertise help create an environment
which supports teachers working together. Educators who are interested in introducing
this idea and practice to American schools should not only pay attention to the
operational details of a teaching research group, but ought to be aware of the underlying
cultural assumptions which are different, or even opposite to the cultural context existing
in American schools. Ignorance to the cultural values embedded in particular practices
could bring unexpected consequences during the process, and might lead to failure

distortion.

95

Suggestions for Future Research

The present study has exploited the reflective potential of children’s TV
commercials to measure educational values. Cultural values are expressed in various
forms. Although TV commercial is a mirror of social culture, there is a limitation of its
capacity to reveal all of the cultural values that might be of interest and relevance to this
study. To better describe cultural values in the context of education, more aspects of a
society’s cultural environment of education should be considered as subjects of
investigation. For example, the commercials appearing on print media could also serve as
a effective tool to measure values (H. Cheng, 1994). Some values which are not adopted
as appeals in TV commercials could be reﬂected by the text used in advertising on print
media. In fact, the more social products we examine, the broader our understanding of
cultural values becomes.

Second, although the purpose of this study is to investigate cultural values reﬂected
through children’s TV commercials, the extent to which people’s attitude and believes
could be inﬂuenced by commercials remains unknown. Advertising reﬂects values, but
how these values have been taken and assimilated by audiences is still a question. The
power of mass media could take effect in different ways, and to different extents. Thus a
future study could look at children, parents and teachers’ perception of values conveyed
by commercials to see if there is any pattern in the interaction between values embedded
in commercials and the effect on audiences.

Finally it is important to note that commercials are an important component of mass
media. They can not only reﬂect cultural values, but also play a role of change agent
within social culture. How parents, children and the general public value education could

be channeled and changed by being exposed to commercials and the degree to which

96

values might be inﬂuenced by this media needs further investigation. This stream of
study also has a more pragmatic meaning. Advertisers are fully aware of the effect of
appeals and their relationship to cultural values. This mechanism can be deliberately
utilized to design, produce and disseminate commercial in order to promote desired social
norms and cultural values, and thus can serve as a tool to help shape future values as they

relate to education.

97

Appendix
Operational Deﬁnition for Activities, Settings and Appeals

The operational deﬁnitions of activities, setting and appeals are adapted from
previous research including Cheng and Schwertizer’s study, J i and McNeal’s study,
Mueller’s study, and Pollay’s study. (Cheng & Schweitzer, 1996; Ji & McNeal, 2001;
Mueller, 1987; Pollay, 1983)

Activig

Scholastic:
Children prepare, participate, or talk about learning or school-related activities

Non-scholastic activities:
Children prepare, participate, or talk about exercise, games, or sports

Setting
Scholastic environment:

Either a setting in school or a setting out of school but with appearance of any
academic-related articles

Non-scholastic environment:
Neither a setting in school, nor with appearance of any academic-related articles

Appeal
The Value of Education:

This value shows respect for knowledge, education, intelligence, expertise, or
experience. The emphasis is on claiming to make a child smarter and obtain higher
academic achievement.

Individualistic:
The emphasis is on the individual as distinct and unlike others. Individuals are
depicted as standing out in a crowd. Nonconformity is a key term.

Independence:

The emphasis is on the individual having the ability to be self-sufﬁcient, self-
reliance, autonomy, unattached, to-do it yourself, to do your own thing. Dependency is
downplayed.

Distinctive/Uniqueness:

Rare, unique, unusual, scarce, infrequent, exclusive. The unrivalled, incomparable,
and unparalleled nature of a product is emphasized, e. g., “We’re the only one that offers
you the product.”

Enjoyment:

To have fun, laugh, be happy, celebrate, to enjoy games, parties, feasts and
festivities, to participate. This appeal suggests that a product will make its user wild with

98

joy. Typical examples include the capital fun that children who enjoy food, or game/toy
demonstrate in some commercials.
Group Consensus:

The emphasis is on the individual in relation to others, typically the reference group.
The individual is depicted as an integral part of the whole. References may be made to
signiﬁcant others. Pressure is on consensus and conformity to the will of the group.

Afﬁliation:

To be accepted, liked by peers, colleagues and community at large, to associate or
gather with, to be social, to join, unite or otherwise bond in ﬁiendship, fellowship,
companionship, cooperation, reciprocity, to conform to social customs, have manners,
social graces and decorum, tact and ﬁnesse.

Family:

The emphasis here is on the family life and family members. The commercial
stresses family scenes, getting married, companionship of siblings, kinship, being at
home, and suggests that a certain product is good for the whole family.

Patriotism:

The love and loyalty to one's own nation inherent in the nature or in the use of a
product are suggested here. Relating to community, state, national publics, public
spiritedness, group unity, national identity, society, patriotism, civic and community
organizations or other social organizations.

Popularity: _

The focus here is on the universal recognition and acceptance of a certain product by
consumers, e.g. "Best seller"; "Well known..." Commonplace, customary, well known,
conventional, regular, usual, ordinary, normal standard, typical, universal, general,
everyday, etc are emphasized.

Veneration of Elderly:

Wisdom of the elderly is stressed. The commercial displays a respect for older
people by using a model of old age or asking for the opinions, recommendations, and
advice of the elders. Being adult, grown-up, middle aged, senior, elderly, having
associated insight, wisdom, mellowness, adjustment, references to ageing, death,
retirement, or age related disabilities or compensations.

Tradition:

Classic, historical, antique, legendary, time-honored, longstanding, venerable,
nostalgic. The veneration of that which is traditional is stressed. The emphasis of the past,
customs, and conventions are respected. The qualities of being historical, time-honored,
and legendary are venerated, e. g. "With eighty years of manufacturing experience".

Tamed:

Docile, civilized, restrained, obedient, compliant, faithful, reliable, responsible,
domesticated, sacriﬁcing, self-denying

99

Appearance:

This appeal suggests that the use of the product will enhance the loveliness,
attractiveness, elegance, or handsomeness of an individual. Having a socially desirable
appearance, being beautiful, pretty, handsome, being fashionable, well groomed, tailored,
graceful, glamorous.

Social Status:

Envy, social status or competitiveness, conceit, boasting, prestige, power,
dominance, exhibitionism, pride in ownership, wealth (including the sudden wealth of
prizes), trend setting, to seek compliments. The use of the product is claimed to be able to
elevate the position or rank of the user in the eyes of others. The feeling of prestige,
trendsetting, and pride in the use of the product is conveyed. This appeal conveys the idea
that being afﬂuent, prosperous, and rich should be encouraged and suggests that a certain
product or service will make the user well off.

Youth:

Being young or rejuvenated, children, kids, immature, underdeveloped, junior,
adolescent. The worship of the younger generation is shown through the depiction of
younger models. The rejuvenating beneﬁts of the product are stressed; stress is on
contemporariness and youthful beneﬁts of the products.

Modernity:

Contemporary, modern, new, improved, progressive, advanced introducing,
announcing, etc. The notion of being new, contemporary, up-to-date, and ahead of time is
emphasized in a commercial.

Safety:

Security (from external threat), carefulness, caution, stability, absence of hazards,
potential injury or other risks, guarantees, warranties, manufacturers' reassurances. The
reliable and secure nature of a product is emphasized.

Durable:

Long-lasting, permanent, stable, enduring, strong, powerful, hearty, tough. The
emphasis here is on the excellence and durability of a product, which is usually claimed
to be a winner of medals or certiﬁcates awarded by a government department for its high
grade or is demonstrated by the product's excellent performance.

Adventure:
This appeal suggests boldness, daring, bravery, courage, seeking adventure, or thrill.
Sky-diving is a typical example.

Magic:

Miracles, magic, mysticism, mystery, witchcraft, wizardry, superstitions, occult
sciences, mythic characters, to mesmerizes, astonish, bewitch, ﬁll with wonder. The
emphasis here is on the miraculous effect and nature of a product.

lOO

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