Media Impact

Media Research Project Proposal: In what ways do Ads differ from country to country? How might an ad agency alter their advertisements (for the same product) based on demographics, and in what ways might there be negative repracussions for not altering advertisements?

I would conduct my research by looking at ads (both printed and commercial) for a handful of products, and see how ads for identical products differ from the U.S and other countries (both impoverished and wealthy). I could also take a group of different demographics (ie nationality, age, culture, etc) and have them respond to questions after viewing certain ads. The ads would be for the same product's ad but in 5 different countries (not necessarily that of the test subject). I would use a mixture of methods to get a more thorough result, including content analysis, survey methods, and random sampling. Some more predictable ideas of the out come would be that, yes, they do differ depending on demographics. More than likely ads will be significantly different based on the culture and values of the targeted demographic. The first idea that comes to mind is Nestle boycott, where many people have opted not to buy nestle baby formula because they advertise in impovershed countries, where using baby formula can have many health risks.