Cultural Value Adaptation in Advertising is Effective, But Not Dependable: A Meta-Analysis of 25 Years of Experimental Research

Advertisers sometimes use value appeals that are adapted to their specific cultural audience. After a meta-analysis in 2009 showing cultural value adaptation to be effective, new studies have been published and the advertising landscape has rapidly changed. The current meta-analysis involving about 120 comparisons of adapted versus unadapted value appeals on persuasion and ad liking presents three results. First, cultural value adaptation effects in advertising exist (persuasion: mean r = .049; ad liking: mean r = .055). Second, these adaptation effects have diminished over time (correlations between year of publication and persuasion effects: r = −.152; between year of publication and ad liking: r = −.185). Third, the adaptation effects do not allow for dependable advice for practitioners. We discuss these results in the context of globalization and the standardization-adaptation debate.