How Much are Health Websites Influenced by Culture? Content Analysis of Online Diet Programs in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Korea

Abstract

This study investigates the content of diet websites in the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), and Korea from a cross-cultural perspective using two cultural typologies: Hofstede's individualism-collectivism and Hall's low-high context. The results show a balance of the universal features and culture specific characteristics in the websites. Interestingly, the UK was in the middle between the US and Korea in several features even though the UK and the US typically had been generally included in the same cultural group in advertising studies. It was also determined that neither Hofstede's typology nor Hall's high-low context is enough to explain the cultural representations found on the websites. The need for new typologies for explaining or categorizing the cultural characteristics in advertising is suggested.

KEYWORDS:

• advertising
• content analysis
• cross-cultural
• diet
• health communication
• individualism-collectivism
• low-high context
• online
• promotion
• websites