Educational Administration: Theory and Practice

2024, 30(4), 845-853

ISSN: 2148-2403
[Link] Review Article

Cultural Attributes In Advertising: An Indian Perspective

Subash Limbu1, Dr Kalyan Mukherjee2*
1Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, Gauhati University
2 * Research Guide, Department of Commerce, Gauhati University

Citation : Subash Limbu [Link] (2024 ). Cultural Attributes In Advertising: An Indian Perspective ...Educational Administration: Theory
and Practice, 30(4), 845-853
Doi: 10.53555/kuey.v30i4.1576

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Culture plays an important role in the everyday life of an individual by
influencing different aspects of life. Most importantly, it influences people’s
consumption decisions thereby impacting the marketing strategies of the
brands. The marketing communication strategy is one of many strategies that
aims at influencing consumer behaviour. It often uses cultural elements to
resonate with the target audiences. The brand frequently uses cultural elements
in its advertising practices to establish an emotional connection with the
audience. Such integration enhances the brand's acceptability in the market.
Indian consumers exhibit strong sensitivity towards their culture leading to
widespread use of cultural elements in advertisements. The present study is an
attempt to understand the level of integration of various cultural elements in
Indian advertising practices. It is observed that language as an element of
culture is featured consistently across advertisements irrespective of product
categories and group bands. However, a similar result is not observed for the
other cultural elements such as cultural values, customs & rituals and cultural
symbols. The study further proposes the scope of future research.

Keywords: Indian Advertising, Culture, Cultural Elements, Language,

Values, Symbols, Customs & Rituals.

Introduction

Marketing communication plays an important role in a competitive environment. It aims at effectively

delivering intended marketing messages to the target audience. Advertising is one of the important tools widely
used by marketers. In addition, the availability of different media with reach to consumers has contributed to
making advertising a strong device in marketing communications. Consumers’ easy access to media like
Television, Print or the Internet has compelled media houses to deliver content that is in line with the culture
of the audiences. This has created a situation whereby marketers are forced to localise their advertising strategy.
They have adopted the languages and integrated other elements of the culture of the target groups of
audiences/readers. This strategy has helped advertisers deliver marketing messages resonating with the
cultural elements of the target audience.
India is a culturally diverse country with a bourgeoning middle-class population, estimated at 30% of the
Indian population in 2020-21 and to be 46% in 2030 (PRICE, 2022). The middle-class population earns Rs 5
– 30 lakh annual household income at 2020-21 prices. This reflects the rising buying capacity of a huge
population attracting the attention of marketers. Marketers are wooing consumers by incorporating cultural
elements in their advertising efforts, to align their cultural beliefs and ethos into the products and services and
thereby bringing production and consumption sitting on the same branch of a plant. Indian consumers are
highly sensitive towards their culture. Therefore, marketers have to be careful while exhibiting the cultural
aspects in advertisements. For example, The advertisement campaign ‘Badlav Humse Hain’ of AU Bank faced
backlash in India. They were forced to withdraw the advertisements from all the platforms for hurting certain
sections of society (Sharma, 2022). A similar fate was met by the advertising campaign of Dabur promoting
their brand Fem featuring a lesbian couple celebrating the Karva Chauth festival (ANI, 2021). Though India is
changing, this change cannot be taken for granted. When a particular line is crossed and the sentiments of the
people get hurt, the campaign faces opposition from different corners. FabIndia, Tanishq, Surf Excel, Amul,
Manyavar, Zomato, Mankind Pharma, Kent RO, Jawed Habib, Ceat Tyres, and other brands have tested social
backlash at different points of time due to reflecting themes in advertising campaigns that are not part of the
traditional Indian culture (“From FabIndia to Tanishq”, 2021). Even if the message is very novel and relevant,

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846 Subash Limbu et al. / Kuey, 30(4), 1576

a certain section of society may not accept it. However, such backlash is very low if we compare it with enormous
numbers of advertisements incorporating cultural elements, printed or aired in different media in India.

Review of Literature

Consumption is a natural process for every living being. However, our consumption preferences or choices
differ throughout the globe. Culture dictates the consumption pattern by prescribing manners of satisfying our
desires (Onkvisit and Shaw, 2007). It influences the lives in many different ways. It is visible in how individuals
dress, the music they listen to, their ways of thinking, communication and so on. The existence of such cultural
influence on human life reflects the causal rationale behind the incorporation of culture in advertising
practices. Consumers usually respond to advertisements positively when it is aligned with their cultural values
and norms (Zhang & Neelankavil, 1997). Lee (2019) also concluded culture does play an influential role in
advertising practices. The use of culture in advertisements helps in bridging the communication gap more
effectively between the brand and the consumer.
Pollay & Gallagher (1990) have identified that various cultural values are incorporated into advertisements.
They observed that Pleasure followed by Wisdom, Family and Security were the most dominant cultural values
depicted in US advertisements. Moreover, advertisements also show the changing cultural values in the society.
This fact was established by Tsao (1994). Tsao found that the use of cultural characteristics in the
advertisements was very different between the periods 1981-1985 and 1986-1990. He attributed this
phenomenon to the adoption of the Western lifestyle by Taiwanese people after 1985.
All these studies indicate that Marketers are aware of the importance given by the target consumers to their
culture. Continuous use of cultural attributes in advertisements also supports this proposition. Thus, culture
and advertising practices as a theme of research have always been attracting the attention of different
researchers throughout the globe. The popular value framework adopted in many of such studies either is
Rokeach’s inventory of values (1973) containing 36 values categorised into 18 Terminal Values and 18
Instrument Values; or Kahle’s list of values also known as LOV (1983) containing 9 values; or Hofstede’s (1980)
six Cultural Dimension; or Schwartz’s nine cultural values (2006). Amongst the above value framework, more
than a thousand research papers have been published based on the Hofstede cultural dimension (Zhou & Kwon,
2020).
Okazaki & Muller (2007) carried out a study concerning cross-cultural advertising research published in
selected reputed indexed journals from 1995 to 2006. ‘Cultural values’ followed by ‘Standardisation vs
Localisation debate’, ‘Consumer response to advertising’, ‘Advertising content’, and so on were the most
researched topics. They also observed that more than 48% of studies were carried out in Western Europe and
North America, 22% in Japan, China, and Korea together, and only 12% of studies were carried out in South
and South East Asia which includes India as well. This study also reveals that the research on advertising
focusing on cultural aspects in India is less done in comparison to regions or countries stated above. A similar
study was conducted by Lee (2019). Lee studied 246 research publications on culture that were published in
seven journals related to marketing, consumer psychology, and advertising between 2008 and 2017. These
journals were Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, International Journal of Advertising,
Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Consumer Research, and Journal of
Marketing. She observes that 30.49% of these articles were concerned with cross-national comparisons and
69.51% within the nation's cultural variations. She also observed that only 5.7% of studies have sampled Indians
in their studies. Lee’s (2019) study identifies a lack of interest among researchers at the global level in exploring
Indian culture in advertising research. However, there are a few noteworthy studies that have covered Indian
culture in advertising.
Srikandath (1991) conducted a content analysis of 200 Indian advertisements. The study revealed the
prevalence of High-tech as the dominant cultural value, followed by Health, Fun, Quality, beauty and others in
Indian advertisements. This study also reflects the practice of using dominant cultural values with secondary
values. For instance, he observed that in Indian advertisements, with the dominant value ‘Quality’, the
secondary value ‘Economy’ is mostly used. Another study also attempted to understand the different cultural
values depicted in Indian advertising. The study was conducted by Sharma & Bumb (2020). They conducted
content analysis on 200 print advertisements. They propose a model for cultural values in India by classifying
32 distinct cultural values into four latent variables, namely, Individual Traits, Fun & Frolic Traits, Religious
Traits, and Interpersonal Traits. Banerjee (2008) also endeavoured to identify the cultural values used in
Indian advertising. He proposed a verbal model portraying the cultural and value dimensions of Indian
consumers. The cultural dimensions include Languages, Symbols & Signs, Rituals & Customs, and Traditions.
The value dimensions comprised of Individual & Family, Society through Conformity, Success and Growth, Age
and Youthfulness, Happiness & Adaptability, and Religion and Spirituality. In a similar line, Swaminathan
(2015) revealed that Indian advertising depicts values like Power dimension, Individualism as well as
Collectivism, Clear gender roles, Hierarchy in the society (Respect for elders), and Fear of failure. The use of
cultural values in Indian advertisements may be justified as consumers tend to select brands that represent
family values, group values, status, self-identity, and personal values (Khare, 2011).
 Subash Limbu et al / Kuey, 30(4), 1576 847

Various cross-cultural advertising studies were also conducted keeping Indian culture as one of the focussed
cultures. Pashupati & Lee (2003) compared Indian and Korean website advertisements. They identified that
advertisement practices in these two countries are very different. They attribute these differences to the types
of products and services being promoted and not to the cultural context. Khairullah & Khairullah (2003)
investigated the cultural values shown in advertisements across product categories in India and the United
States. They observed that the dominant cultural values depicted in these two countries' advertisements were
different. They observed that Convenience is the most dominant cultural value reflected in US advertisements
followed by Effectiveness, Leisure, Technology, Adventure, Courtesy and so on. In Indian advertisements, the
most dominant cultural values seen were Adventure, followed by Natural, Convenience, Technology, Leisure,
Courtesy, Effectiveness, Quality, and So on. In another cross-cultural study, Khairullah & Khairullah (2009)
concluded that culture influences advertising practices. They observed that Indian models were mostly
depicted in non-working situations, semi-professional, and mid-level business persons than the US models.

Content Analysis to Fill up the Research Gap

The above reviews of literature indicate the existence of significant research work on Indian culture and
advertising. However, except for Banerjee’s (2008) work, all the studies have concentrated on either cultural
values or advertising appeals. Moreover, the said study confines itself to proposing a verbal model without
considering empirical research to support it. This limited focus reveals a research gap in the existing body of
literature. Thus, the present study attempts to bridge this gap by understanding the use of different elements
of Indian culture in advertisements through content analysis and thereby tries to create a new stock of
knowledge.

Objectives of the Study

The present research enquiry has been undertaken with the following objectives:
 To undertake an analysis of the integration of cultural elements in Indian advertising practices across the
product categories
 To study the integration of cultural elements in Indian advertising practices across the group brands

Content Analysis of Advertising Practices

Content analysis is a technique for making inferences by objectively and systematically identifying defined
characteristics of messages (Stone, et al. 1966). Different researchers have used content analysis in significant
numbers for analysing advertisements (Whitelock & Chung, 1989; Mueller, 1991; Harris & Attour, 2000;
Pashupati & Lee, 2003; Okazaki & Muller, 2007; Seitz & Johar, 1993; Dowling & Kabnoff, 1996; Hetsroni &
Tukachinsky, 2005; Fahad & Karande, 2000; Vater, et. Al., 2014; Byrd-Bredbenner & Grasso, 2000; Khairullah
& Khairullah, 2003; Khairullah & Khairullah, 2009; Zharekhina & Kubacki, 2015). Most of the studies analysed
print advertisements in a cross-cultural context. Very few studies based on content analysis were observed in
only Indian advertisement practices (Srikandath, 1991; Khare, 2011; Swaminathan, 2015; Sharma & Bumb,
2020). Most of the studies concerning advertising practices in the context of culture were comparative that is
cross-cultural studies focussing on standard cultural dimensions and cultural values. Moreover, the study
focusing on advertisements and the reflection of cultural elements has attracted the least attention from
researchers.

Elements-based Cultural Framework

The culture has been understood from different perspectives. One of the approaches is to understand what are
its elements. Tylor (1871) defined these elements as knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other
abilities and habits of an individual in society. Lowie (1937) defined it as beliefs, customs, artistic norms, dietary
habits, and crafts. In this perspective, Barnett and Kinkaid (1983) observe that a culture consists of two factors.
These are known as extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Extrinsic factors include observable artefacts, whereas
intrinsic factors comprise beliefs, attitudes, perceptions, and societal values. Thus, culture is what people learn
from society. It is manifested through shared language, beliefs and values (Collier et al., 2001).
Every element of culture has a distinct meaning to an individual as well as to a group. These elements are very
significant to them as well. As evident above, researchers have identified diverse elements of culture. Therefore,
to concise the present research work, a four-element based cultural framework is proposed. The proposed four
elements of culture are Language, Cultural Values, Customs & Rituals, and Cultural Symbols. This framework
is a modified version of the verbal model suggested by Banerjee (2008). It is simple and relevant considering
the Indian advertisements. These four elements are briefly discussed below:

Language
Language is one of the fundamental elements of culture. It conveys cultural meaning and transmits the
collective wisdom of a community across different generations (Altarriba & Basnight-Brown, 2022). It acts as
a medium of communication through which knowledge is shared, emotions or thoughts are expressed and
provides a unique social identity (Davies & Dubinsky, 2018) to people. It also plays a crucial role in shaping
and preserving societal norms, values, and traditions (Parajuli, 2021). Thus, the use of language as a cultural
848 Subash Limbu et al. / Kuey, 30(4), 1576

element in advertising is not only limited to mere communication of a message but also involves leveraging the
emotions connected with it. The hypotheses based on the language element of culture are as follows:
 Ho1.1: There is no significant difference between the Product Categories in the extent to which the language
element of culture is reflected in the advertisements.
 Ho1.2: There is no significant difference between the Group Brands in the extent to which the language
element of culture is reflected in the advertisements.

Cultural Values
Cultural values are reflected in the actions of people in their daily lives. It is an essential characteristic of a
culture. Indian values such as righteous living, ethical behaviour, respect for elders, etc. are ceremoniously
displayed in the daily life of an Indian. Similarly, collectivism is one of the fundamental cultural values of
Indians. It emphasises strong family bonding and togetherness within communities (Ouellette, 2023). Even
with so much diversity, the values especially, the ‘tolerance and unity’ have continuously kept Indians together
since time immemorial. All these values provide a strong foundation for a social structure, interpersonal
relationships and individual behaviour. Hence, leveraging these cultural values becomes appealing to
advertisers. Moreover, advertisements that align with cultural values establish a deeper connection with
consumers thereby influencing their preferences and perceptions. Acknowledging and incorporating cultural
values in advertisements increases brand resonance and builds a sense of cultural affinity among the target
audience. Based on the above discussion, the following hypotheses are formulated to explore the integration
of cultural values in advertisements:
 Ho2.1: There is no significant difference between the Product Categories in the extent to which the cultural
values are reflected in the advertisements.
 Ho2.2: There is no significant difference between the Group Brands in the extent to which the cultural values
are reflected in the advertisements.

Customs and Rituals

Customs and rituals are integral components of Indian culture. It depicts the rich diversity and heritage of the
nation. These cultural elements play a crucial role in shaping social interactions, family dynamics, and religious
practices in society. The customs and rituals in India vary across regions, communities, and religions. This
diversity showcases the country's multicultural identity. Festivals such as Diwali, Holi, and Eid, are each
marked by specific customs. Rituals including weddings, funerals, and religious ceremonies symbolise culture
and strengthen social bonds. Integration of customs and rituals into advertising helps establish a meaningful
connection between the advertised brand and the target audience. Moreover, the incorporation of these cultural
elements in advertisements shows the cultural sensitivity of the brand thereby, enhancing brand authenticity
and building a sense of relatability among consumers. To explore the manifestation of customs and rituals in
advertising, the following hypotheses are proposed:
 Ho3.1: There is no significant difference between the Product Categories in the extent to which the customs
and rituals are reflected in the advertisements.
 Ho3.2: There is no significant difference between the Group Brands in the extent to which the customs and
rituals are reflected in the advertisements.

Cultural symbols
Cultural symbols include ancient religious motifs, national emblems, traditional dances, attire, cuisines,
heritage buildings, colours, etc. These symbols play a significant role in communicating a nation's diverse
culture. For instance, the Lotus holds a profound significance in Hinduism and Buddhism. It symbolizes purity
and enlightenment. Similarly, vibrant patterns like Mehendi, Diya, and traditional designs hold cultural
significance and are manifested during celebrations and rituals. Collectively, these symbols help visually
portray the cultural heritage and serve as a unifying force in a society. It goes beyond linguistic, regional, and
religious differences. In advertising, these symbols are strategically used to build a potential connection
between a brand and its audience. To examine the use of these cultural symbols in advertisements, the following
hypotheses are proposed:
 Ho4.1: There is no significant difference between the Product Categories in the extent to which the cultural
symbols are reflected in the advertisements.
 Ho4.2: There is no significant difference between the Group Brands in the extent to which the cultural
symbols are reflected in the advertisements.
Today’s market is cluttered with various media categories for brand promotion. There are many print media,
audio-only media, audio-visual media, influencer marketing and many more. Thus, marketers have a long list
of media to pick and use. Therefore, to be concise, the present study is limited to the study of advertisements
that are in audio-visual format. The prominent mediums for audio-visual advertising are TV, movie theatres,
online platforms, social media, and digital signage. Among these, online platforms and social media are the
contemporary platforms for advertisements and are highly used for brand promotion. Despite the growth in
internet-enabled platforms, traditional media still attracts significant investment from advertisers (Moorman,
Ryan, & Tavassoli, 2022). However, internet-enabled platforms including social media, have revolutionised the
 Subash Limbu et al / Kuey, 30(4), 1576 849

advertising industry by providing direct access to large audiences. For instance, as of February 2023, India has
467 million active YouTube users, 314.6 million on Facebook, 229.6 million on Instagram, 172.5 million on
Snapchat, 117.6 million on Facebook Messenger, 99 million on LinkedIn, and 27.25 million on Twitter (Kemp,
2023). The substantial user base on these platforms is appealing to marketers. YouTube remains the preferred
social media platform for advertising in the Indian context (Kemp, 2023). Notably, television advertisements
are often shared on social media platforms. Therefore, to identify advertisers and their brands for the present
study, the researcher uses the data provided by Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC India).

Methodology
The total number of advertising brand groups is not defined anywhere and the number is infinite. Out of the
infinite brand groups researcher has selected purposively the groups that are listed by BARC India. BARC India
releases weekly data on the top 10 advertiser groups and brands based on advertisement volume aired on
Indian television. Table no. 1 displays the top 10 TV advertiser groups, ranked based on advertisement volume
in seconds.

Table no. 1: Advertiser Groups with highest advertisement volumes in Indian Television
Rank Advertiser Group Ad Vol (‘000 Secs)
1 Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) 4655.44
2 Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd 4088.99
3 Godrej Consumers Products Ltd 1582.00
4 Brook Bond India Ltd 1035.74
5 Cadburys India Ltd 828.38
6 Coca-Cola India Ltd 610.99
7 Procter & Gamble (P&G) 591.4
8 Britannia Industries Ltd 571.79
9 Procter & Gamble Home Products 566.75
10 Amazon Online India Private Limited. 490.43
Source: Week 37 Data of 2023 by BARC India

Table 1 presents the top ten group brands with the highest advertisement volumes. Among these, Brook Bond
India Ltd is a subsidiary of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), and both Procter & Gamble and Procter & Gamble
Home Products belong to the same brand group. The 10th position in the list exclusively promotes a single
brand at different times and is excluded from this study. Consequently, the present research focuses on seven
specific group brands: Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Procter & Gamble, Cadburys India Ltd (now Mondelez India
Foods Private Limited since 2010), Godrej Consumers Products Ltd, Coca-Cola India Ltd, Britannia Industries
Ltd, and Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd.

Manner of Selecting the Sample Units from the Infinite Population

A total of 129 different advertisements are analysed representing the aforementioned seven group brands. Only
one advertisement per brand is considered. The advertisements are exclusively sourced from official channels
on YouTube. Furthermore, the advertisements are categorised into seven product segments: Fabric Care,
Personal Care, Groceries, Snacks-Chocolates-Biscuits, Home Care (including Cleaning, Room Freshener, and
Mosquito/Insect Repellents), Beverages, and Health Care (comprising medicines, nutritious drinks, or healthy
food). The selected advertisements are the most recent and have been uploaded to the various YouTube
channels including the channels of the respective group brands.

Engagement of Judges in Identifying the Extent of Integration of Cultural Elements in

Advertisements
To ascertain the presence of cultural elements in the identified advertisements, the present researchers have
employed two independent judges with sufficient knowledge of Indian culture and who are competent
technically to ascertain the extent of integration of cultural elements that is language, cultural values, customs
& rituals, and cultural symbols in advertisements. They assess the advertisements independently. The judges
rated the utilisation of specific cultural elements in the advertisements on a scale ranging from 1 to 5. 1 denoted
not used at all; 2, very mildly used; 3, mildly used; 4, moderately used; and 5, heavily used. To resolve potential
disagreements among the judges, a third judge was employed to reconcile any disparities in their observations.
If the reconciliation process fails, a provision was in place to exclude the respective advertisements from the
study. The selection of two primary judges and a third judge adheres to a standard practice observed in various
studies employing content analysis of advertisements, as seen in the works of Pollay and Gallagher (1990),
Srikandath (1991), Tsao (1994), Zharekhina and Kubacki (2015), and Srivastava, Maheswarappa, and
Sivakumaran (2017).
850 Subash Limbu et al. / Kuey, 30(4), 1576

Limitations of the Study

The present study is limited to the integration of four elements of culture, i.e. language, cultural values, customs
& rituals, and cultural symbols. The study does not consider any other types of advertisement except audio-
visual advertisements. Moreover, it only focuses on the 129 advertisements of seven group brands and seven
product categories. Another limitation of the study is that the observation of the integration of defined cultural
elements is made by two independent judges only. Therefore, the inferences drawn out from this study can not
be generalised to the population at large and hence further research works on the census population is desirable
for ascertaining the true impact of the study.

Analysis
In 129 advertisements, personal care brands comprised 33.3%, followed by snacks-chocolates-biscuits brands
at 21.7%, home care at 10.9%, health care at 10.1%, beverages at 9.3%, groceries at 8.5%, and fabric care at
6.2%. Notably, 41.1% of the advertisements belonged to Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), 13.2% to Britannia
Industries, 10.1% to Cadbury India, 9.3% to Coca-Cola India, 9.3% to Procter & Gamble (P&G), 9.3% to Reckitt
Benckiser, and 7.8% to Godrej Consumers.
A closer look at the data reveals that 82.9% and 55% of the advertisements heavily incorporate language and
cultural values. On the contrary, a significant majority, comprising 91.5% and 55.8% of the advertisements, do
not incorporate customs & rituals and cultural symbols. The utilization of cultural elements in advertisements
varies considerably, as evidenced by the data in Table No. 2.
Furthermore, the study observed that the median and mode for the degree of use of language and cultural
values in advertisements were consistently rated at 5 (heavily used). In contrast, for customs & rituals and
cultural symbols, the ratings were consistently at 1 (not used at all). This highlights the variability in the choice
of these cultural elements in advertising strategies.

Table no. 2: Frequency of use of cultural elements in advertisements

The degree to which Customs
Cultural Cultural
cultural elements are Language &
Values Symbols
used in advertisements Rituals
Not used at all 13 12 118 72
Very mildly used 1 16 1 8
Mildly used 3 10 1 1
Moderately used 5 20 5 4
Heavily Used 107 71 4 44
Total 129 129 129 129
Source: Self computation

To examine the defined hypotheses, the Kruskal-Wallis H test was employed. The obtained results are as
follows:
 Hypothesis Ho1.1: At a significance level of 0.05, the observed P value was 0.154, surpassing the significance
level. Consequently, we fail to reject the null hypothesis, indicating no significant difference among Product
Categories regarding the reflection of the language element of culture in advertisements.
 Hypothesis Ho1.2: At a significance level of 0.05, the observed P value was 0.96, exceeding the significance
level. Consequently, we fail to reject the null hypothesis, suggesting no significant difference among Group
Brands in the extent to which the language element of culture is presented in advertisements.
 Hypothesis Ho2.1: At a significance level of 0.05, the observed P value was 0.00, falling below the significance
level. Thus, we reject the null hypothesis, signifying a significant difference among Product Categories in the
reflection of cultural values in advertisements. Post hoc testing using the Games-Howell Test revealed specific
pairs of groups demonstrating significant differences:

o Fabric Care and Snacks-Chocolates-Biscuits (P=0.021)

o Fabric Care and Beverages (P=0.023)
o Personal Care and Snacks-Chocolates-Biscuits (P=0.009)
o Personal Care and Beverages (P=0.029)
o Groceries and Beverages (P=0.037)
o Snacks-Chocolates-Biscuits and Health Care (P=0.00)
o Beverages and Health Care (P=0.003)

 Hypothesis Ho2.2: At a significance level of 0.05, the observed P value was 0.00, below the significance level.
Hence, we reject the null hypothesis, indicating a significant difference among Group Brands in the extent to
which cultural values are reflected in advertisements. Subsequent post hoc testing with the Games-Howell
Test identified specific pairs of groups with significant differences:
o HUL and Coco-Cola India Ltd (P=0.006)
 Subash Limbu et al / Kuey, 30(4), 1576 851

o HUL and Britannia Industries Ltd (P=0.000)

o Cadbury’s India Ltd and Britannia Industries Ltd (0.00)
o Godrej Consumers Products Ltd and Coca-Cola India Ltd (P=0.004)
o Godrej Consumers Products Ltd and Britannia Industries Ltd (P=0.00)
 Hypothesis Ho3.1: At a significance level of 0.05, the observed P value was 0.333, surpassing the
significance level. Consequently, we fail to reject the null hypothesis, suggesting no difference among
Product Categories in the reflection of customs and rituals in advertisements.
 Hypothesis Ho3.2: At a significance level of 0.05, the observed P value was 0.036, below the significance
level. Although the Games-Howell Test did not confirm specific pairwise differences, the Bonferroni
Correction method revealed significant differences in the following pairs:
o Reckitt Benckiser and HUL (P=0.017)
o Reckitt Benckiser and Cadburys India Ltd (P=0.024)
o Reckitt Benckiser and Godrej Consumers Ltd (P=0.048)
 Hypothesis Ho4.1: At a significance level of 0.05, the observed P value was 0.005, below the significance
level. Thus, we reject the null hypothesis, indicating a significant difference among Product Categories in
the extent to which cultural symbols are reflected in advertisements. Post hoc testing using the Games-
Howell Test identified a significant difference between Groceries and Snacks-Chocolates-Biscuits
(P=0.004).
 Hypothesis Ho4.2: At a significance level of 0.05, the observed P value was 0.077, surpassing the
significance level. Consequently, we fail to reject the null hypothesis, suggesting no significant difference
among Group Brands in the extent to which cultural symbols are reflected in advertisements.

Discussion

The present research focused on understanding the integration of cultural elements in Indian advertising
practices across product categories and group brands. The language element of culture is consistently used in
all advertisements, regardless of product categories or group brands. However, differences are seen between
product categories and group brands in how they portray specific cultural values. When it comes to depicting
customs & rituals in advertisements, no significant differences were observed among product categories.
However, variations were observed in the advertisements for the group brand with the product category
‘Snacks-Chocolates-Biscuits’.
Concerning the use of cultural symbols, a significant difference was found among product categories - Groceries
and Snacks-Chocolates-Biscuits advertisements. Among group brands, varying degrees of use of cultural
symbols were identified. Significant variation was observed in the advertisements of HUL, Britannia Industries
Ltd, and Godrej Consumers Ltd. The outcome of the present study indicates that language elements of culture
are used in all the advertisements heavily followed by the portrayal of cultural values. However, Customs &
Rituals and Cultural Symbols, are less frequently used in advertisements.

Conclusion

This study emphasises the significant impact of culture on human behaviour and consumer choices, as reflected
in the advertising strategies of diverse brands. This research, though preliminary, establishes the foundation
for deeper inquiries into the complex relationship between cultural attributes and advertising strategies. For a
long period, marketers have been using various cultural elements in their advertisements strategically to attract
consumer attention. However, the findings of the present study revealed that advertisers are not giving equal
preference to the different elements of culture in advertisements. They are using a selective approach in
choosing specific cultural elements. This observed advertisers’ bias requires the need for further investigation
focusing on identifying factors influencing these selective preferences. The present research aimed to analyse
the integration of cultural elements in Indian advertising practices across product categories and group brands.
The study reveals a significant presence of language and cultural values in Indian advertising across various
product categories. However, it also highlights a notable absence of customs & rituals and cultural symbols.
Additionally, significant differences are observed among group brands regarding the portrayal of cultural
values in advertisements. However, the absence of significant differences in the reflection of cultural symbols
across group brands suggests a degree of consistency in this aspect of advertising. Thus, the stated objectives
of the research have been accomplished. Furthermore, the present study provides valuable insights into the
diversity of advertising strategies employed within the Indian market and suggests potential areas for
improvement in cultural integration in advertising practices. Future research could be undertaken to examine
the impact of such choices of advertisers on consumer decision-making. Such an academic exercise will help in
expanding the existing knowledge base concerning culture and advertising. Thus, contributing to a more
holistic understanding of the select theme of the research.
852 Subash Limbu et al. / Kuey, 30(4), 1576

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