Current advertisements reflect different cultural values。 This thesis is based on Hofstede’s Model of Cultural Dimensions and Hall’s background cultural theory。 Depending on Hofstede and Hall’s theories, the author makes comparisons between Chinese and American cultural values on advertising from four aspects: Power distance, Macho Culture, Cultural Background and Human Centrism。 Meanwhile, to find out similarities between Chinese and American cultural values on advertising from thress points: thought people oriented, the pursuit to quality and practical values。 

The discussion of common characteristics and the differences between the cultural contents have been reflected in the Chinese and English advertising languages。 It is obviously much more significant and meaningful for the advertisers to know how to take advantage of the advertisement under the given cultural background, especially when they are engaged in the transnational advertising company。 Therefore, serving as a cultural carrier, Chinese advertising language contains particular oriental cultural color while American advertising language is shaped by its own cultural features。 The thesis can help a lot to reinforce people’s cultural awareness, improve the development of cross-culture advertising, decrease cultural barriers, and promote cultural communication。

2。 Literature Review

2。1 Studies on advertising

2。1。1 Definition of advertising

In many dictionaries and books, different kinds of definition for advertising and advertisement can be found。 In Collins English-Chinese Dictionary (32) “advertising is the activity of creating advertisements and making sure people see them。” In Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (33) “advertising is the business of encouraging people to buy goods by means of advertisement。” In Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary (30) “advertising is the activity and industry of advertising things to people on television, in newspaper, on the Internet。” Although advertising means different things to different people, the basic purpose is to create brand awareness and loyalty, in order to stimulate demand and increase market share。

The word “advertise” is originated from the Latin word “advertere”, which means “to inform somebody of something” or “to make known to the public。” (Mueller。B 55) There are various definitions for advertising。 Advertising is defined as “a method of delivering a message from a sponsor though an impersonal medium, to many people。” “the use of mass media to carry paid massage for a commercial purpose or to advance a cause, institution, or political candidate” and “any paid from of non-personal presentation and promotion of idea, goods or service by of identified sponsor。” (Mueller。B 55)文献综述

To sum up, advertisements have the same functions: 1。 to express the information that the product contains 2。  to attract consumers to purchase products the advertisement has introduced。 

2。1。2 Function of advertisement 

Advertisements have a powerful effect on people and their behaviors。 Advertisements can help people to realize a product, then to remember it, despite visual content and design in advertising have a great impact on consumers。 So the choice of mode to convey specific messages with the intention of influencing consumers is of importance in advertising writing and translation。

Peter Newmark (Newmark 32) has illustrated three main functions of advertisements: the expressive, the informative and the vocative functions。 

1。 Expressive Function

The main purpose of an advertisement is to stimulate mind share of a certain product or service among consumers in order to facilitate them to remember the brand or to urge them to buy it。