Cultural Differences and Similarities in Television Commercials in the Arab World and the United States

Abstract

Understanding the nature and influences of cultural differences is central to international marketing. This article investigates cultural differences in television advertising between the United States and a select group of countries in the Arab world on the cultural dimensions of contextualization, individualism/collectivism, time orientation, and human perception of nature. The results indicate that while there are many differences between the United States and the Arab world, there are also similarities. The results indicate that there are also differences between the Arab countries, and the Arab countries should not be viewed as the same in certain situations.

Keywords:

• Arab
• advertising
• cultural values
• Middle East