Advertisments in High and Low context cultures

From the two advertisement clips on vehicles above , we are able to classify them according to the Classical Dimensions of Cultures by Edward Hall.

The first one is a Yamaha advertisement from Taiwan which falls under the high context culture while the second one is a Toyota advertisement from Europe which falls under the low context culture.

The difference in the context cultures is very visible.
The advert in that is shown in Taiwan make use of celebrity endorsement( in this case it is endorsed by Gui Lun Mei , a Taiwanese actress) and the potryal of a happy feeling in the commercial. This is typical of a high context culture advertisement where the importance is not placed in the transmitted message , but rather on information preprogrammed in the receiver and setting. The use of celebrity endorsement would attract those who likes her to support the advertisement and the audience would be able to better identify with her as well since she is from the same country. The happy feeling present would also encourage the audiences to purchase the item as they would naturally want to buy things that would give them a happy feeling and also the happy feeling adds to the enojyment of the advertisment encouraging them to want to purchase the product too. Subtle cues like people staring at the scooter brings out the message as well , persuading the audience through the thought that it is something that people would envy you for and it is something people would desire

The Western advertisement for Toyota belongs to the low context culture where the focus is on the transmitted message in order to make sense of the context , where there is no ambiguity in it. This commercial can be identified as a low context culture through the use of direct, explicit and unambiguous verbal communication style. Speech becomes a tool to express the message, as seen in this advert where the phrase “ have you ever seen a broken down Toyota?” clearly tells us the message the advertisers want the audience to know. The persuasion here is extremely straightforward, Toyota hopes to attract the audience to buy their cars through telling them that it never breaks down, thus it is a good car, a brand they should consider buying. The message is very clear cut and straightforward.

So which culture is at a higher disadvantage? I feel it is the higher context one. Sometimes the advertisement even becomes too focused on other things rather than the product itself that the audience would not even know what it is until the end when the brand name is briefly flashes across the screen. Yes, people remember the commercial better, it captures their attention. But, how then would the audience buy something that they don’t even know what it is or whether it is what they want or like? Thus in a way , I feel that the low context culture’s advertisement ways are more effective as they are less likely to make audiences lose focus in a way.