This article discusses the similarities and differences found in some Spanish and American television advertisements broadcast at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. To carry out this study, forty advertisements shown on television in the two countries during the months of March and April 2020 were analysed. Qualitative and quantitative analysis considered the cultural dimensions of identity, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity. In addition, the Chi-square formula was also applied in order to confirm that the differences found in both groups of adverts were not significantly important. The results show that a great deal of similar messages and even expressions was conveyed to both audiences in both countries, although some differences were also found. Besides, the main goal of these ads in both groups was to comfort the audience, and not to clearly promote or advertise the product. Thus, this study demonstrates once again that despite the differences that these two cultural groups display, and which are usually portrayed in intercultural literature, the context highly influences the values typically assigned to a linguistic community. That is reflected in the discourse of speakers, and it is the reason why we can find values opposite to those expected in a cultural group.
This paper analyses the negative reviews that some users of social services in New York and Madrid posted on Google. The aim is to relate the impoliteness strategies that the users of these centres reported to have received or that they issued themselves with the cultural values of the groups they belong to. To achieve this, twenty American and Spanish centres were analysed, obtaining more than two hundred negative comments that, qualitatively and quantitatively analysed, were related to impoliteness strategies. These impoliteness strategies were linked to the four social characteristics already presented in a previous study. Also, the chi-square formula was applied to the data. Thus, this study has shown that the use that speakers make of impoliteness strategies is related to the cultural values of the group they belong to.
This paper aims to offer a brief revision of some of the best-known contributions to the field study of impoliteness. On the one hand, a taxonomy of impoliteness strategies is presented, based on my own model of social characteristics. On the other hand, as an example of the application of this model, dialogues in six films -three of them filmed in peninsular Spanish and the rest in American English-are analysed, in search of the use of such impoliteness strategies. The results will show that different cultural conceptions of these two groups reflect upon the use of impoliteness strategies.
Este artículo analiza las diferencias encontradas en algunos anuncios de televisión británicos y españoles emitidos al principio de la pandemia de COVID-19, concretamente durante marzo y abril de 2020, es decir, durante las primeras semanas de confinamiento. Se analizaron cuarenta anuncios emitidos en Gran Bretaña y España, identificando expresiones que remitiesen a las dimensiones culturales de identidad, de género, de evitación de la incertidumbre y de orientación a largo plazo. Esta última dimensión no se suele analizar en la literatura intercultural, por lo que añade valor a este estudio. En este análisis, de carácter cualitativo y cuantitativo, se demuestra que, aunque tradicionalmente se describen importantes diferencias en la publicidad que se hace en estos dos países debido a sus también diferentes valores culturales, en un momento de pandemia global, los valores y preferencias se asemejan mucho, llegando a utilizarse las mismas expresiones de forma repetida en los anuncios de ambos grupos culturales. En concreto, los anuncios dirigidos al público británico apelaron a valores culturales femeninos y tribales-colectivistas, cuando los anuncios de este grupo cultural exhiben normalmente rasgos de masculinidad y de individualismo. Es decir, este artículo demuestra la importancia que tiene el contexto a la hora de analizar el discurso de los hablantes, hasta el punto de que un grupo cultural puede resaltar unos valores culturales con los que no es tradicionalmente asociado. Como se aprecia aquí, las similitudes en el estilo comunicativo superan a las diferencias que puedan presentar estos dos países, cuando tradicionalmente no debería ser así. This article discusses the differences found in some British and Spanish television advertisements issued at the beginning ofthe COVID-19 pandemic and more specifically during the months of March and April 2020, i.e., during the first weeks of confinement. Forty advertisements issued in Great Britain and Spain were analysed, identifying expressions referring to the cultural dimensions of identity, gender, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation. The last dimension is not usually included in intercultural communication analysis, so its inclusion here adds value to this study. This qualitative and quantitative analysis shows thatalthough there are traditionally large differences in advertising in these two countries, due to their also different cultural values, at a time of a global pandemic, values and preferences are very similar, and the same expressions are repeatedly used in the advertisements of both cultural groups.In particular, advertisements aimed at the British audience appealed to feminine and tribal-collectivist cultural values, although adverts for this cultural group typically exhibit traits of masculinity and individualism. Thus, this article demonstrates the importance of context when analysing the speakers' discourse,to the point that a cultural group can highlight cultural values with which it is not traditionally associated. As can be seen in this paper, the similarities found in the communicative styles of these two groups outweigh the differences, when traditionally it should not have been the case.
is a lecturer in the Department of English Studies at the University of Alicante. She is a Doctor in English Studies and she has an additional degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology. Thus, her preferred field of study is intercultural pragmatics, with a special interest in comparative linguistics and cultural issues. Her line of research is focused on how cultural differences reflect upon speakers' discourse, particularly in the field of social sciences.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.