摘 要

公益广告作为传播社会理念的方式，逐渐渗透到公众生活中，已成为国家文化软实力和国家形象的重要体现。语言作为公益广告的的重要载体，承载了丰富的文化内涵。而文化影响着人们的思维方式和行为，继而也影响着公益广告语言的创作。荷兰社会心理学家霍夫斯泰德的文化维度理论是跨文化交际的著名理论。该理论运用权力距离、不确定性规避、个人主义与集体主义、刚性与柔性、长期观与短期观以及放纵与约束这6个维度来衡量不同国家的文化差异，并在每个维度上对全球76个国家进行从0至100的评分。本文利用该理论对当前武汉及芝加哥地铁站上的公益广告语言进行对比，分析其内在文化特质，并就国内公益广告语言创作提出了可行性建议。本文希望通过该对比研究，加深英语学习者对中美公益广告语言中文化内涵的了解，激发广告制作者的文化意识，从而创作出更具效益性的公益广告。

关键词：文化维度理论；地铁站；中美公益广告；广告语言；对比研究

Abstract

As an approach of the dissemination of social values, public service advertisements, gradually penetrating into individuals’ life, have been a vital manifestation of national cultural soft power and national image. Language, as a crucial carrier of public service advertisements, bears ample cultural connotation. Meanwhile, culture influences individuals’ thinking patterns and behaviors, thus impacting public adverting language. Dutch social Psychologist Hofstede’s cultural dimensions is famous in cross-cultural communication, as it examines national culture in six dimensions, respectively power distance index, uncertainty avoidance index, individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, long-term orientation vs. short-term orientation and indulgence vs. restraint. The theory also scores 76 countries from 0 to 100 in each dimension on global scale. By applying cultural dimensions, the paper compares language of the public service advertisements in Wuhan and Chicago metro stations, explores their discrepant inner cultural traits, and presents some feasible suggestions on the creation of domestic public advertising language. From the perspective of cross-culture, the paper hopefully will enhance English learners to comprehend cultural connotation of public advertisements better, stimulate advertising producers’ cultural awareness and inspire them to create more effective public announcements.

Key Words: Hofstede’s cultural dimensions; metro stations; Sino-US public service advertising; advertising language; comparative study

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Significance of the Study 1

1.2 A Review of Previous Studies on Public Service Advertising Language 2

1.3 Public Service Advertising in Wuhan and Chicago Metro Stations 3

2 Advertising and Public Service Advertising 4

2.1 Definition of Advertising 4

2.2 Definition and Classification of Public Service Advertising 4

3 Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions and Public Service Advertising 5

3.1 Hofstede’s Definition of Culture 5

3.2 Cultural Dimensions 5

3.3 Relationship between Culture and Public Service Advertising 6

4 Application of Cultural Dimensions in the Comparative Study 8

4.1 Collectivism and Individualism 8

4.2 Restraint and Indulgence 10

4.3 Long Term and Short Term Orientation 11

4.4 Large and Small Power Distance 13

4.5 Strong and Weak Uncertainty Avoidance 15

4.6 Femininity and Masculinity 17

5 Reflection on the Creation of Domestic Public Service Advertising Language 19

5.1 Combination of Propriety and Novelty 19

5.2 Combination of Implicitness and Explicitness 19

5.3 Combination of Emotional and Rational Appeal 20

6 Conclusion 21

References 22

Acknowledgements 23

Comparative Study of Sino-US Public Service Advertising Language Using Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

Taking the Advertisements in Wuhan and Chicago Metro Stations as an Example

1 Introduction

1.1 Significance of the Study

The society of urbanization and globalization has witnessed an increasing number of pubic service advertisements appeared in various places, especially TV, Internet as well as metro and railway stations in cities. Public service advertising, a vital means of expressing public interests and encouraging individuals to participate in public benefit activities, gradually draws more attention of the general public, motivate their sense of duty, modify their behaviors, shapes their opinions, and stimulate their actions upon social issues, thus playing an increasingly significant role in the modern society. Professor Li Yanwei claims that public service advertisement is one form of culture that is worthy of researching, as it is a key to explore the values of this society (Li, 2015). The wide and influential use of public advertising therefore enhances scholars to study it.

Over the last few decades, China has ascended to a major economy and its GDP now ranks 2^nd in the globe, only after America. Nevertheless, according to Professor Guo Mingjie, Chinese cultural industry merely occupies about 4% in the worldwide cultural market, while American cultural industry partitions 43% (Guo, 2013). Therefore, as competitiveness of cultural industry contributes to national competitiveness and comprehensive national strength, modern China has to promote cultural development, while strengthening foreign economic relations and merging into the world market. Public service adverting, as an influential and ubiquitous form of culture, can exert a subtle influence on the general public, and ultimately improving national image and strengthening national cultural soft power, an important goal of constructing well-off society. Additionally, language, as the carrier and core of advertising, delivers persuasive information and meaningful implication. Though studies on public service advertising language have been carried on before, more research on it is necessary and significant. The paper thus aims at analyzing cultural traits of public advertising language, and eventually summarizing some practical advice on the producing of it.

The enduring success of American public service advertising is worthwhile to learn from. The Advertising Council, an American non-profit organization established in 1942, aiming at ameliorating everyday life of the American public, has gained numerous success. Targeted News Service reported that “the number of acres lost annually to wildfire has decreased from 22 million to an average of 6.5 million” after the releasing of the advertisement “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires” by the Council (Ad Council, 2012). While in China, public advertising did not come into existence till 1980s and its development is relatively rather slow (Yin, 2009). Yet now lots of social issues such as global warming emerged in China need help from both individuals and the government. Public service advertising, as a crucial means of modifying individuals’ behavior, can stimulate positive change among the general public and eventually help to tackle social issues. Therefore, the study of public service advertising language from the perspective of cross-culture is both beneficial and essential. The paper aims to examine discrepant cultural traits of Sino-US public announcements, as as to help advertisers get more comprehensive understanding toward them, as well as innovate and refresh public announcements with new research results on the base of traditional culture.