International Journal of Business Management and Administration Vol. 2(9), pp. 184-192, December 2013 ISSN 2327-3100 ©2013 Academe Research Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Dominant cultural values in durable goods television advertisements of India

Sunil Barthwal¹* and N.L. Gupta²

¹Department of Marketing, College of Management and Economic Studies, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Post Office Bhidoli, Energy Acres, Prem Nagar, Dehra Dun – 248007, Uttarakhand, India.

²Department of Management, Dehradun Institute of Technology, Village Makkawala, Dehra Dun-248009, Uttarakhand, India.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: sunilb@ddn.upes.ac.in. Tel: +91-135-2776201. Fax: +91-135-2776090.

Accepted 29 October, 2013

Abstract

Content analysis of Indian television durable goods was conducted using qualitative and quantitative approach to identify the dominant cultural values. Content analysis established the dominant as well as subsidiary or secondary cultural values in the advertisements. Some of the dominant cultural values identified were: ‘technology’, ‘family’, ‘enjoyment’ and ‘economy’. Apart from being the dominant cultural values, ‘technology’, ‘family’ and ‘enjoyment’ also had high presence as the subsidiary values. ‘Youth’ though was low in its dominant appearance, it had high presence as a subsidiary value. Certain cultural values like ‘individualism’ and ‘sexuality’ which were earlier seen less frequently in Indian advertisements now appear more frequently in the durable goods advertisements.

Key words: Cultural values, advertisement, durable goods, focus group, product category.