A Multi-Country Examination of Hard-Sell and Soft-Sell Advertising
研究了多国消费者对软销售（间接、形象型）和硬销售（直接、信息型）广告的偏好，发现软销售广告在全球市场更有效，能产生更积极的态度且较少引起反感。
<h3>ABSTRACT</h3> Prior research has revealed that advertisements utilizing a global consumer culture positioning (GCCP) strategy more often adopt soft-sell (indirect and image-based) rather than hard-sell (direct and information-based) appeals. However, little empirical research has examined consumer preferences for soft-sell versus hard-sell advertising appeals in multi-country settings. This investigation attempted to fill this gap by proposing a multi-country research framework and conducting a pilot study. Soft-sell and hard-sell versions of a print advertisement were pretested with nearly 2,000 subjects in both holistic- and analytical-thinking countries. Findings indicated that employing a soft-sell appeal would be more effective than its hard-sell counterpart in global markets. Results from <i>t</i>-tests collectively indicated that soft-sell advertisements were more likely to generate favorable attitudes and less likely to evoke advertising irritation in most of the countries examined. In closing, the authors discuss theoretical as well as managerial implications, recognize important limitations, and summarize suggestions for future research.