J Brand Manag (2018) 25:337–350
https://doi.org/10.1057/s41262-017-0085-x
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Luxury brands do not glitter equally for everyone
Farhad Aliyev1 • Taylan Ürkmez2 • Ralf Wagner1
Revised: 11 August 2017 / Published online: 28 November 2017
Ó Macmillan Publishers Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2017
Abstract Previous studies indicate that Westerners and
non-Westerners vary in terms of culture and in the degree
of focus on objects and the background of advertisings. In
this study, the divergences in the perceptions of adver-
tisements for luxury cars are tested by using eye-tracking
technology. Going beyond previous studies that considered
the time spent on the observations, we use a mixed-meth-
ods approach to complement experimental results with
survey data. As expected, Europeans pay more attention to
the object (i.e., luxury product) in the advertising compared
to Asians. In contrast, Asians focus more on the back-
ground of the stimuli. Seizing these results, practitioners
will be able to design better-targeted advertising for luxury
brands based on whether the audience is Asian or Western.
The study also shows how an advertiser distracts the
attention of the target group from the object (product) by
adding focal objects on the sides.
Keywords Eye-tracking
Asians and Europeans
Luxury
brand
Perceptions
Object and background
Mixed-
methods research
& Farhad Aliyev
aliyev@wirtschaft.uni-kassel.de
Taylan Ürkmez
turkmez@solbridge.ac.kr
Ralf Wagner
rwagner@wirtschaft.uni-kassel.de
1 p. 246). The lay theory in Western civilization focuses on the
SVI-Endowed Chair for International Direct Marketing,
DMCC-Dialog Marketing Competence Center, University of
Kassel, Mönchebergstraße 1, 34125 Kassel, Germany
2
SolBridge International School of Business, Daejeon, South
Korea
Introduction
Despite the major growth of luxury marketing research, the
recent literature reviews on the discipline (Aliyev et al. 2017;
Gurzki and Woisetschläger 2016) showed that there are a few
studies that have examined luxury brand advertising. Nota-
bly, most studies have challenged the luxury consumer’s
behavior; less attention has been devoted to luxury brand
advertising stream (Freire 2014). There is a need for more
cultural-focused investigations in luxury brand engagement,
which is embodied by advertising, because the increase in
luxury product sales is mainly noticed in countries outside
the European markets (Kim et al. 2016). Moreover, ‘‘clas-
sical marketing is the surest way to fail in the luxury busi-
ness’’ (Kapferer and Bastien 2009, p. 2). Previous studies
(e.g. Boddewyn et al. 1986; Gregory and Munch 1997)
demonstrated that consumers tend to devote attention to
advertising that is congruous with their national culture.
Therefore, scholars attribute culture as having a significant
influence on international advertising effectiveness (e.g.
Melewar et al. 2004). Seminal studies (e.g. Chua et al. 2005;
Wagner et al. 2015) have shown that individuals in Asian
cultures pay more attention to the background of a stimulus
than individuals in Western societies. Westerners emphasize
figures more than Easterners do. This generates a question of
why Easterners and Westerners tend to focus differently on
the foreground and background. If ‘‘one perceives oneself as
embedded within a larger context of which one is an inter-
dependent part, it is likely that other objects or events will be
perceived in a similar way’’ (Markus and Kitayama 1991,
responsibility for a behavior mainly residing with the indi-
vidual, that is, the tendency called dispositionism. In con-
trast, East Asians focus on the whole context of a behavior,
which is situationism or contextualism (e.g. Lloyd 1990;
338
Markus and Kitayama 1991). Nisbett et al. (2001) framed the
divergence of East Asians from Westerners in terms of
thinking style in a theoretical model. According to this
framework, East Asians think holistically and, therefore, pay
more attention to the context and relations among the objects
in the context. However, Westerners tend to analyze what
separates the object from the context and pay attention to the
object’s features. Based on this approach, we fill the current
gap in the literature by challenging the question of the dif-
ferences in the focus on luxury brand advertising between
Asians and Westerners. In other words, Asians may focus
more on background contextualization, while Westerners
may pay more attention to objects or subjects. Additionally,
the current study examines whether cultural traits in luxury
advertising catch the recipients’ attention. Complementing
this, we investigate the extent to which colors in luxury
advertisings attract Asians or Europeans. Furthermore, the
present study challenges whether the background should be
bright enough or mostly simple to provide a contrast to
expose an object. Notably, the background framing is a
critical component of designing advertising for luxury
brands because frequently, luxury attributes refer to the
context (Urkmez and Wagner 2015) instead of the features of
the product itself. Consequently, the advertising of a luxury
brand often needs framings that present lifestyles, values,
and attitudes that relate to a luxurious life (Kim et al. 2016),
such as well-dressed models and special locations, such as
yachts, castles, the façades of historical buildings, or
exclusive hotels, in the background. To the authors’ best
knowledge, no previous studies have examined respondents’
perceptions of the foreground and background in advertise-
ments for luxury items. The results of this study will allow
practitioners to design better luxury brand advertisings based
on their target group, whether it is an Asian or European
audience. This study aims to fill this gap with the use of eye-
tracking technology to test participants’ perceptions of
foreground and background. This technology allows
researchers and practitioners to collect real-time information
acquired from consumers’ fixations and visualizations (Vila
and Gomez 2016).
The remainder of the paper is structured as follows:
First, the authors develop the propositions by reviewing the
related literature. Next, the authors present the methodol-
ogy of the study and the results of the empirical research.
Then, the authors develop the discussion based on the
results, followed by future research suggestions.
Related research and propositions
Humans tend to differentiate between the foreground and
the background while obtaining visual information (Arn-
heim 1970). The ground stays behind the figure and
F. Aliyev et al.
frequently takes a formless shape, whereas the figure is
more apparent than the ground (Smith-Gratto and Fisher
1999). Several psychological studies showed that Asians
tend to explain an individual’s behavior by using situa-
tional factors, while Americans tend to use internal factors,
such as personality features and other appropriate dispo-
sitional words (e.g. Lee et al. 1996). Westerners are more
likely than Asians to agree that behavior generally is in line
with actual attitudes (Kashima et al. 1992). The analytic
tradition has a significant impact on a Westerner’s men-
tality and way of thinking (Lloyd 1990):
Detachment of the object from its context, a tendency
to focus on attributes of the object in order to assign it
to categories, and a preference for using rules about
the categories to explain and predict the object’s
behavior. Inferences rest in part on the practice of
decontextualizing structure from content, the use of
formal logic, and avoidance of contradiction. (Nisbett
et al. 2001, p. 293)
In contrast, Asians’ mentality and way of thinking are
influenced by a holistic tradition: ‘‘An orientation to the
context or field as a whole, including attention to rela-
tionships between a focal object and the field, and a pref-
erence for explaining and predicting events on the basis of
such relationships’’ (Nisbett et al. 2001, p. 293). In the
1940s, early evidence showed that Asians mainly use the
holistic way of thinking in information processing (Abel
and Hsu 1949). Americans with Chinese roots aim to stress
all facets on a Rorschach card (i.e. the Rorschach test),
whereas Americans with European roots accented parts or
single aspects of the images. There are also differences in
categorization patterns between Asians and Westerners.
Chinese children tend to be more ‘‘relational contextual’’
(Chiu 1972) when they sort objects, while American chil-
dren are more likely to group items based on categories.
Related to memorizing, Watkins (1996) and Telbis et al.
(2014, p. 333) explained ‘‘Asian students typically combine
the processes of memorizing and understanding in ways not
commonly found among Western students.’’
Technological advancements, such as eye-tracking
technology, create new opportunities for various research
directions. For instance, in terms of eye movement, com-
pared to Chinese, Americans focus more on focal objects
(Chua et al. 2005). Moreover, Americans glance at an
object faster than Chinese do. In contrast, compared to
Americans, Chinese pay more attention to the background.
Using an eye-tracking device, Wagner et al. (2015) pro-
vided supporting results. Americans’ values are less
dependent on social orientation, accentuating self-direc-
tion, individualism, and self-expression, whereas Japanese
focus on interdependent social orientation, stressing har-
mony, relations, and connections. This finding indicates
Luxury brands do not glitter equally for everyone
that analytic and holistic thoughts strongly relate to dif-
ferent social orientations (Varnum et al. 2010). Most of
these studies have referred to East Asian countries, par-
ticularly China and Japan. Summarizing, we expect that in
addition to East Asians, other Asians would tend to follow
holistic thought as well. Some nationalities of the European
family differ ‘‘both in social orientation and in terms of
cognitive style’’ (Okazaki et al. 2013, p. 261). ‘‘East’’ also
encompasses the territories as West Asia, Central Asia, or
North Asia. Although the Asian societies over immense
territories they share ‘‘they broadly share cultural values
and philosophies’’ (Barkema et al. 2015). For example,
compared to Germans, Russians are less independent
(Naumov 1996), and Russian nationals are inclined to
demonstrate more contextual behavior of visual orientation
(Medzheritskaya 2008). Compared to Americans, Russians
are more likely to take a holistic approach and are more
interdependent in a social direction (Grossmann 2009). The
authors of the current study assume that these findings also
characterize former Soviet Union republics, such as
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, which existed with Russia
inside the Soviet Union for 70 years.
The structure of social systems provides underlying
causal explanations (e.g. Masuda and Nisbett 2001; Kelly
et al. 2010): Westerners are considered individualistic and
pursue their own goals, which could be a reason why they
process focal objects. However, Asian cultures are more
collectivistic and stress group significance. Thus, they
think and treat information more globally. Summarizing,
we formulate the following propositions:
Proposition 1 Compared to Europeans, Asians focus
more on background contextualization while watching the
advertising of a luxury brand.
Proposition 2 Compared to Asians, Europeans focus
more on objects while watching the advertising of a luxury
brand.
If the propositions are supported, the results would
create new opportunities for improving luxury brand
advertising research, especially when it comes to interna-
tional advertising. Moreover, practitioners may also benefit
by making their advertising more attractive to the target
groups. In contrast, not finding support for our propositions
also would provide many interesting research questions to
academia. For instance, in luxury brands advertisings
affluent context is usually used (Kim et al. 2016), and this
is typically in the background in the communication of
luxury goods. Thus, negative results of the study will
confirm the common statement that the marketing of
ordinary goods takes a different approach than marketing
of luxury goods (Kapferer and Bastien 2009) in case if
future research will show that in the advertising of non-
339
luxury brands Asians focus more on the background and
Europeans concentrate more on the object.
Methodology
Eye-tracking
Eye-tracking technology has been developed and improved
over decades. Recently, it has advanced to become a
popular technique for researchers, especially when inves-
tigating the marketing field, because it is flexible and easy
to use (Maughan et al. 2007). Several studies (e.g. Felix
and Borges 2014; Maughan et al. 2007; Smit et al. 2015;
Steele et al. 2013; Matukin et al. 2016) have confirmed the
usability of eye-tracking methodologies in advertising
research. It helps to determine which point in the adver-
tising was seen at any time during experiments (Felix and
Borges 2014). The technology enables the collection of
rich data regarding gaze behavior and can do so more
accurately than through surveys. Moreover, a participant
cannot manipulate the process (Holmqvist et al. 2011)
because he or she is not able to guide his or her information
collection behavior because visual attention is not con-
trolled by cognition (Reisen et al. 2008). A literature
review on eye-tracking (Wedel and Pieters 2008) con-
cluded that the technology plays an irreplaceable role in the
development of the visual marketing discipline, especially
in researching visual attention for advertising, because of
the speed, lack of conscious access, and ability to com-
plement other traditional measures.
Participants
One hundred and seven individuals participated in the study.
Of them, 71 were Asian, and 36 were Westerners. Because
of accuracy and precision problems with the Asian group
(especially with individuals of the Mongoloid physique)
during the calibration process and the pretest in our sample
design, this group outnumbers the European. Blignaut and
Wium (2014) confirm that accuracy and precision were
better achieved among Africans and Caucasians rather than
East Asians. Therefore, we acquired data from 54 Asians and
35 Europeans. In total, two treatment groups from various
Western (German, Italians, French, etc.) and Eastern
nationalities (Azerbaijanis, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc.) rep-
resenting Europe and Asia were formed (see Table 1).
Azerbaijan was emphasized because it is considered to be an
emerging market with population segments prone to luxury
consumption (Suleymanov and Yusifov 2014). Germany,
for its part, is heavily Westernized. Nationality is a sound
indicator for assessing culture (Steenkamp 2001). Nations
‘‘are the source of considerable amount of common mental
340 F. Aliyev et al.

Table 1 The nationality of the participants that were accepted for the average age of the Asian participants was 36.3, while the
study Western participants was 25.5. Young people are important
Nationality Asians Nationality Europeans for luxury companies because they tend to have life-long
buying patterns and loyalties (Bian and Forsythe 2012).
Azerbaijani 34 62.96% German 20 57.14%
Young people buy more conspicuous products compared to
Vietnamese 6 11.11% Italian 9 25.71% Generation X or the Baby Boomers (Eastman and Liu
Chinese 4 7.41% French 3 8.57% 2012). In the Asian group, the participants were 32% males
Indian 3 5.56% Croatian 1 2.86% and 68% females, while there were 35% males and 65%
Thai 1 1.85% Hungarian 1 2.86% females in the Western group. From the Eastern sample,
Pakistani 1 1.85% English 1 2.86% 75% of the participants had a bachelor’s degree or higher
Afghan 1 1.85% education, whereas from the Western sample, almost all of
Turkmen 1 1.85% them (94%) acquired at least a bachelor’s degree.
Iranian 1 1.85% One participant in the Asian group performed the
Georgian 1 1.85% experiment with one eye because she had a health problem
Singaporean 1 1.85% with her left eye; however, good quality data were acquired
as the right eye was dominant. According to observations
in previous studies, the right eye was dominant in 65% of
programming of their citizens’’ (Hofstede 1991, p. 12)
the participants, while the left eye was dominant in 32%
because nations with a long history and heritage possess
(Porac and Coren 1976).
resistance to the integration of foreign cultural elements
(Soares et al. 2007). Nations provide an indicator for people
Procedure
of a particular culture who tend to share a similar language,
history, religion, or identity (Dawar and Parker 1994).
We used a Gazepoint GP3 Eye Tracker with a 60 Hz
Moreover, Steenkamp (2001) suggested that culture could
update rate. Six images of luxury advertising were pre-
be defined by the group of nations such as European Union.
sented to the participants. All images consisted of clear
Several scholars (e.g. Mattila 1999) conducted the research
objects and a clear background. The authors obtained the
concerning the influence of culture on purchase motivation
images of luxury cars from Mercedes’ official Facebook
in service encounter evaluations by distinguishing Asian and
page, which are considered social media advertising. We
Western cultures.
used mainly Westernized advertising to test whether
In Azerbaijan, employees from two medical centers
Europeans would recall features related to their culture.
were invited. In Germany, as the laboratory (Gazepoint
The experiments were conducted individually. To reg-
GP3 Eye Tracker device) was installed at the university
ulate the distance between the eyes and the monitor, the
where scholars, researchers, and postgraduate students
participants sat in an office desk chair. After the distance
participated. We applied a non-random purposive sampling
was adjusted, eye fixation was calibrated using a five-point
for attracting the participants (Heckathorn 1997). Non-
fixation procedure. The process was carried out until the
random sampling is appropriate when the objective is
optimal calibration criterion was achieved. Participants
investigating psychological processes rather than general-
followed the white ball on the screen that in turn was
izations (O’Cass 2000) ‘‘because statistical generalization
placed on green points. Subsequently, when the actual
of the findings is not the goal’’ (Calder et al. 1981, p. 200).
fixation was exactly on the green point, then a participant
Therefore, in theoretical and comparative international
continued to follow the next step.
research, non-probability sampling is acceptable (Reynolds
The purpose of the study was hidden from the partici-
et al. 2003). In the case of eye-tracking, there is no reason
pants to avoid introducing a bias. After successful cali-
to assume that students or non-constant luxury shoppers
bration (five-point fixation procedure), the participants
have different visual perceptions from permanent luxury
were presented a short text in which the instructions of the
buyers. However, we first asked the participants whether
experiments were described. This text played the role of
they had acquired any luxury purchases in the last year. All
the pretest, the use of which has been strongly recom-
persons in our sample made luxury purchases at least
mended (Holmqvist et al. 2011). While the participant read
several times a year. Our main criterion is whether the
the text, it was clear whether the quality of the eye-
participant is from the East or West.
movement recording was acceptable or not. In the case of
The final data collected from 54 Asians and 35 Euro-
problematic offsets and negative outcomes, steps were
peans after the pretest were accepted. The pretest consisted
taken (e.g. changing the seat position or the angle) until an
of the calibration process and reading of the sample test to
acceptable quality (when fixations and saccades are on the
evaluate the quality of the eye-movement recording. The
same lines of the text) was obtained.
Luxury brands do not glitter equally for everyone
In the first phase, the stimuli were presented for 20–25 s
without any pause between them. Sometimes, the duration
was 30 s because of the manual control. Studies (e.g. Chua
et al. 2005) have shown that a duration of 20 s is sufficient.
Furthermore, in the beginning, some participants were
asked whether the defined time was sufficient to observe
each stimulus. Everybody agreed that they had sufficient
time for the observation.
After the experiment, each participant responded to a
short questionnaire. The questions were divided into recall
and recognition tests. In the open-ended question, the
respondents described the objects or backgrounds seen in
the images. While answering the close-ended questions, the
respondents had to select the right items from the back-
grounds of the stimuli and the colors of the luxury cars. In
the recognition phase, additional items that were not in the
images were included.
Data analyses
In the first phase, the authors analyzed the perceptions of
the six stimuli at the aggregate level of a heat map for each
group (Asian and European). Subsequently, the authors
conducted an area of interest (AOI) analysis. This analysis
is needed when it is optically difficult to define the intensity
of the heat maps in a certain area. A t test on the
Fig. 1 Red car stimulus and
related heat maps
341
significance of the differences in viewing behavior was
conducted. In the mixed-methods research design, the
information from the survey was complemented by the
recall and recognition tests.
Results
Heat map and AOI analysis
Contradicting the study’s propositions, the heat maps for
the European group are more intense in the background
compared with the heat maps for the Asian group (see
Fig. 1). However, the heat map intensity for the Asian
group in the background is higher than for the European
group (see Figs. 2, 3). Compared to the European group,
the Asian group paid more attention to the mountain/rock
(see Fig. 2). The heat map for the castle in the background
is more intense for the Asian group than for the European
group (see Fig. 3).
Due to the difference in the number of the participants
(i.e. more Asian participants than European participants),
the isolated heat map comparison might be misleading.
Moreover, because of the lack of manual control for all
participants, an equal duration for the presentation was not
provided. Therefore, to show that a group paid more
342
Fig. 2 Car and rocks stimulus
and related heat maps
attention to the object or to the background, an AOI
analysis and statistical testing were needed.
The area of the interest was defined on the object. If the
Asian participants were more likely than the European
participants or at the same level to observe the foreground,
then the propositions are less likely to be supported. The
outlined AOI example can be observed in the example
shown in Fig. 4. The AOI in this case is the highlighted
Mercedes vehicle.
For the first five images, the European participants paid
more attention to the object than the Asian participants (see
Table 2). This means that in most cases, the Asian partic-
ipants observed the background more than their European
counterparts. For instance, for the first image, the European
participants spent 12.6% of their time observing the car,
whereas the Asian participants spent only 8.8% of their
time doing so. This means that the Asian participants
compared to the European participants viewed the back-
ground more.
In general, the European participants focused on the
object. The sixth image was an exception as there was a
slight difference between the two groups. For the first five
images, there were a clear background and a clear object.
However, in the last stimulus, the situation was a little
different; that is, on the left side, the viewer saw the shark,
and it was considered the focal point (see Fig. 5). The focal
F. Aliyev et al.
object was observed more frequently by the European
participants than by the Asian participants (Chua et al.
2005). When the shark’s head was drawn as the AOI, the
analyses showed that the European participants (6.4%) paid
more attention to this point than the Asian participants
(6.0%). When the whole shark was considered the AOI,
then the results were 10.53 and 8.11% for the European and
Asian participants, respectively. Therefore, in the case of
the sixth image, because of the additional focal point, the
main object was less observed by the European
participants.
Many participants paid attention to the license plates
and to the Mercedes logo. An AOI analysis of the Mer-
cedes logo was conducted. For four of the six images, the
European participants spent more time observing the
Mercedes logo than the Asian participants. The AOI
analyses showed that the Asian participants observed the
car’s license plate more than the European participants did.
Significance test
We also tested for the statistical significance of the dif-
ferences using a t test caring unequal sample variance. The
t test was conducted based on the percentage of the viewing
time. To decide whether to assume equal or unequal vari-
ances in the t test, an F test of two sample variances was
Luxury brands do not glitter equally for everyone
Fig. 3 Car and castle in the
evening stimulus and related
heat maps
Fig. 4 Stimulus with AOI
conducted. One-tailed P values are presented because the
stated propositions are directive. In the first five images,
there was a statistical significance for the first five images;
the P value was less than or equal to 0.05, meaning that the
null hypothesis was rejected (see Table 3).
Only for the sixth image (the car and shark image) was the
result not statistically significant. Due to the other focal
object that is shark, less attention was paid to the main object.
343
Survey results
The final phase of the analyses was processing the data
acquired in the small survey conducted after the laboratory
experiment. First, the respondents were asked to tell about
what they remembered from the images. The Asian and
European respondents recalled the Mercedes cars the most
(68.52 and 48.57%, respectively) as the question itself
asked to depict the images with Mercedes (see Fig. 6).
However, among the European group, the most recalled
image was the shark that was considered the focal object.
In the second phase of the analysis of the survey data,
the recognition test was conducted (see Fig. 7). A list of
items was suggested to the respondents, and they selected
the items that they thought were in the image. Some of the
answers were incorrect. Again, the shark was more fre-
quently selected by the European participants than by the
Asian participants. In addition, another car in the back-
ground of the sixth image and the water puddle in the fifth
image were emphasized more by the European participants
than by the Asian participants.
Generally, compared to the European participants, the
Asian participants selected background items, such as roads,
sky, plain, trees, and others more frequently. Non-existent
testing items, such as skyscrapers, the moon, and stars, were
rarely chosen, proving the reliability of the respondents’
344 F. Aliyev et al.

Table 2 AOI analyses

Asian European

Red car
Number of viewers who looked at the AOI 54 34
First viewed: average length of time until first view of the AOI 0.45 1.27
Viewed time: average length of time spent viewing the AOI 5.31 4.41
Viewed time (%) 8.81% 12.58%
Number of viewers who looked at the AOI more than one time 54 33
Revisits: average number of revisits made by the participants 7.4 5.9
Car and rocks
Number of viewers who looked at the AOI 53 29
First viewed: average length of time until first view of the AOI 0.46 0.88
Viewed time: average length of time spent viewing the AOI 6.59 8.22
Viewed time (%) 21.27% 27.85
Number of viewers who looked at the AOI more than one time 53 29
Revisits: average number of revisits made by the participants 6.6 8.5
Car and castle
Number of viewers who looked at the AOI 54 29
First viewed: average length of time until first view of the AOI 0.39 1.58
Viewed time: average length of time spent viewing the AOI 6.20 6.75
Viewed time (%) 18.01% 24.75%
Number of viewers who looked at the AOI more than one time 54 29
Revisits: average number of revisits made by the participants 7.6 7.7
Car and plain
Number of viewers who looked at the AOI 54 30
First viewed: average length of time until the first view of the AOI 0.68 0.47
Viewed time: average length of time spent viewing the AOI 6.26 6.52
Viewed time (%) 20.51% 25.85%
Number of viewers who looked at the AOI more than one time 54 30
Revisits: average number of revisits made by the participants 6.5 6.7
Car and arcs
Number of viewers who looked at the AOI 52 30
First viewed: average length of time until first view of the AOI 0.37 1.80
Viewed time: average length of time spent viewing the AOI 7.75 7.94
Viewed time (%) 23.64% 32.33%
Number of viewers who looked at the AOI more than one time 52 30
Revisits: average number of revisits made by the participants 7.8 7.5
Car and shark
Number of viewers who looked at the AOI 54 29
First viewed: average length of time until first view of the AOI 0.82 1.60
Viewed time: average length of time spent viewing the AOI 5.84 5.15
Viewed time (%) 19.46% 20.9%
Number of viewers who looked at the AOI more than one time 54 29
Revisits: average number of revisits made by the participants 6.3 7.1

observations. Furthermore, the respondents were asked to
select the color of the Mercedes cars (see Fig. 8). Cars in
brown, yellow, and blue were not shown to the participants.
In other words, the respondents chose the colors that
came first or second to their minds (see Fig. 9). Silver or
gray metallic was the most frequently recalled color
because in three images, the cars in these colors were
represented. Among the European participants, the red
color depicted in the first image was the second most fre-
quently recalled color. However, among the Asian group,
the white color depicted in the second to the last image was
the second most frequently recalled color.
Luxury brands do not glitter equally for everyone 345

analyses showed that both study propositions are sup-

ported. The results show that Asians tend to use a holistic
way of thinking, whereas Europeans tend to use analytical
thinking (Nisbett et al. 2001). A common belief is that
people from various cultures tend to express different
narratives of advertisings (Phillips and McQuarrie 2011).
However, according to Kim et al. (2016), the implicit route
to advertising engagement and narratives are the same
across cultures although there are differences in expressing
the luxury brand advertising across different countries.
Terms such as romance reflect their cultural backgrounds
when describing images featuring this term. This study’s
results suggest to reconsider their traditional view con-
cerning luxury brand advertising by taking into account its
background as an important component. Such as advertis-
Fig. 5 Car and shark stimulus ing appeals, the background of luxury advertising plays a
critical role in capturing the target audience attention.
Table 3 Test of significant differences Notably, for designing advertisings targeting on an audi-
Red car Car and rocks Car and castle ence of Westerners, the cultural cues should be included in
foreground elements.
t stat 2765 t stat 2629 t stat 3123 In addition, it is surprising that red was emphasized
df 53 df 80 df 81 more among the European participants and consequently
P one-tailed 0.004 P one-tailed 0.003 P one-tailed 0.001 was the second most recalled color. However, the Asian
Car and plain Car and arcs Car and shark participants preferred white, which was the second most
popular color. In Eastern Asia, because red is positive, for
t stat 1984 t stat 3761 t stat 0655
instance, in China red is a color of fortune (Copeland and
df 82 df 80 df 81
Griggs 1986), it was supposed that among Asians, it would
P one-tailed 0.022 P one-tailed 0.0001 P one-tailed 0.251
be frequently recalled. In both groups, the most recalled
color was silver/gray.
Notably, the European respondents, especially the Ger-
man participants, paid more attention to items relating to
Discussion their culture. These were more frequently recalled as well.
For example, none of the Asian participants indicated that
Academic implications they had seen the wine cellar, mushrooms, or the bell.
Thus, despite all attempts of standardized and globalized
This study contributes to the up-and-coming research brand communication, the selection of cultural cues needs
stream of luxury brand advertising research (Kwon et al. to be done quite close to the target audience culture.
2016) and to overcoming the gap emphasized by Freire Additionally, this study revealed that Asians recalled the
(2014). In order to draw fruitful academic implications for Mercedes cars more than Europeans. Asians are collectivist
the discipline, the objective of the study was to find out and tend to be more status sensitive (Wong and Ahuvia
whether there are differences in the focus on advertising of 1998). Therefore, they may recall the Mercedes vehicles
a luxury brand to see if Asians compared to Europeans more often. Moreover, because of the economic relativity
focus more on the background of a stimulus. The authors of luxury (Urkmez and Wagner 2015), emphasizing that
investigated the perceptions of real-world luxury advertis- one product may be ordinary in one country due to high
ing by using the mixed-methods approach. disposable income, whereas in another country it might be
The AOI analyses showed that the European participants prestigious because of low income. Therefore, Mercedes
spent more time observing the foreground than the back- can be more luxurious and desired in Asia as the most
ground. The t test analysis confirmed that there was a developed countries concentrated in Europe.
statistically significant difference between the two groups. The empirical research of the Asian group has been
Summarizing the results of the recognition tests, the Asian conducted with individuals from countries other than China
participants emphasized the background items more, and or Japan, which can be considered another research con-
the European participants focused more on the focal tribution. In addition, the results acquired from Azerbaijani
objects (the cars and the shark). As a result, several representatives may be applied to other former Soviet
346
Fig. 6 Recall test results
Union Republics or to countries such as Turkey, which is
culturally close to Azerbaijan.
Managerial implications
Seizing the results of this study, advertisers, especially
those involved with luxury advertisements on social media,
can better design ads based on their target group, whether it
is an Asian or European audience. Thus, a clear adaptive
message will be sent, and better positioning will be applied.
The study revealed that culture-bound items, such as
wine cellars and mushrooms, attracted attention in the
advertisings. This supports previous studies (e.g. Bod-
dewyn et al. 1986) that consumers tend to pay attention to
advertising that is congruous with their culture. Maughan
et al. (2007) revealed that there is positive correlation
between preference of advertising and increased attention.
Complementing this, the results of the current study show
F. Aliyev et al.
that practitioners should use cultural traits to increase the
attractiveness of their advertising.
This study suggests that a simpler web advertising
background positively influenced psychographic measures
such as attitude toward a brand and purchase intention.
Therefore, to draw more attention from Western repre-
sentatives to an object, the background and the object in the
advertising should be clearly contrasted. The Westernized
background should be simple.
Furthermore, the study showed that a distracting effect,
such as a shark in a window, which was another focal
object, is stronger for Europeans. Thus, the attention of this
target audience is guided not to the main object (the
Mercedes car) but to the secondary counterparts. The more
conspicuous and complex the background contextualiza-
tion has, such as table settings and decoration, the less
people pay attention to the food items that are the con-
sidered objects. In addition, compared to Americans,
Luxury brands do not glitter equally for everyone
Fig. 7 Recognition test of the
items
Chinese are more affected by background contexts (Zhang
and Seo 2015). Considering the present results, the authors
conclude that to increase recall of luxury products, as a rule
of thumb, the background of the advertisement should be as
simple as possible. Moreover, practitioners are advised to
condense all relevant information in the object.
This study started from the fact that luxury advertising
often employs special framings, such as well-dressed
models and beautiful luxurious surroundings in the back-
ground (Kim et al. 2016). This study challenges the pos-
sible drawbacks of the proceedings. Contradicting the
expectations built by contemporary luxury advertising
practices, the results led to the conclusion that the simpler
the background, the more an object attracts the viewer’s
attention.
Future research
There are some suggestions for future research. First, the
geographic scope of the present research study can be
extended to other continents, such as South America or
Africa. The authors recommend that future research use a
wider variety of advertising types as stimuli. In addition,
the advertising stimuli of the current study were
347
westernized. Therefore, testing advertising that is close to
Asian cultures and observing Westerners’ eye-movement
reactions are recommended.
The perception and the level of luxury in a certain brand
are determined by the context and the target audience
(Vigneron and Johnson 2004). A hierarchy and the acces-
sibility of luxury, such as inaccessible, intermediate, and
accessible luxury-based consumers’ socioeconomic clas-
ses, have been suggested (Urkmez and Wagner 2015).
Therefore, in the future, researchers should examine dif-
ferent levels of luxury in terms of its relativity (e.g. cultural
or economic relativity).
There are reasons behind why non-luxury segments
have divergent approaches. For instance, Vickers and
Renand’s (2003) study showed that from a consumer’s
perspective, the main values of luxury cars are psycho-
logical (social and personal cues). Luxury cars exhibit
more experiential components such as ‘‘ownership is
something special’’ compared to non-luxury ones. Fur-
thermore, luxury cars demonstrate more symbolic values
such as cars for wealthy or sophisticated people. Therefore,
a promising venue for future research is to examine non-
luxury cars as well.
There are strong relationships between the self and
holistic and analytic thinking. Seminal studies (Monga and
348 F. Aliyev et al.

Fig. 8 Recognition test of the

colors

Fig. 9 Recognition test of the Silver/Grey metalic

colors based on the ranking (Europeans) 54,3% 31,4% 5,7% 5,7%
Silver/Grey metalic
(Asians) 42,6% 20,4% 16,7% 3,7%

White (Europeans) 11,4% 17,1% 34,3% 5,7%

White (Asians) 20,4% 25,9% 14,8% 9,3%

Red (Europeans) 28,6% 17,1% 8,6% 2,9%

Red (Asians) 18,5% 14,8% 5,6% 3,7%

Black (Europeans) 2,9% 28,6% 28,6% 20,0%

Black (Asians) 16,7% 25,9% 27,8% 11,1%

1st 2nd 3rd 4th

Luxury brands do not glitter equally for everyone
John 2008; Nisbett et al. 2001) confirm that people with
stronger independent self adopt an analytic thinking style
that is stressing individual objects as independent. Con-
versely, individuals with strong interdependent self aim to
adopt a holistic style which is perceiving the elements
interrelated. Therefore, the impact of the self can be con-
sidered for the future research.
Additionally, future research that investigates the fore-
ground and background of animated advertising could be
promising. From 1970 to 2016 in EBSCO, there are less
than 55 articles (40 of them published in the last decade) on
animated advertising.
Acknowledgements Funding was provided by University of Kassel.
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest On behalf of all authors, the corresponding
author states that there is no conflict of interest.
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Farhad Aliyev is a Ph.D. candidate at the SVI-Endowed Chair for
International Direct Marketing, DMCC-Dialog Marketing Compe-
tence Center, University of Kassel in Germany. His research interests
cover luxury, cross-cultural consumer behavior and advertising.
Farhad Aliyev can be contacted at aliyev@wirtschaft.uni-kassel.de.
Taylan Ürkmez is a an assistant professor of Marketing at SolBridge
International School of Business, in Daejeon/S. Korea. He is a
member of American Marketing Science (AMS), European Marketing
Academy (EMAC) and International Management Development
Association (IMDA). His major of research includes mainly luxury,
consumer behavior, entrepreneurship, retailing, and fashion. His
previous works appeared in Journal of Euromarketing, Journal of
Global Scholars of Marketing. Taylan Ürkmez can be contacted at
turkmez@solbridge.ac.kr.
Dr. Ralf Wagner holds the SVI-Endowed Chair for International
Direct Marketing at Kassel University, Germany. He received his
Ph.D. from Bielefeld University in Germany. His research interests
cover interactive marketing and intercultural divergences of human
behavior. Application domains are retailing, direct marketing and IT-
enabled communication. He is leading the ‘‘Marketing Communica-
tion Innovativeness of European Entrepreneurs’’ project, which is a
consortium of 10 European universities research faculties. Method-
ological interests are equivalence in cross-cultural research and the
handling of missing values in empirical marketing research.
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