Culture, language and consumer behaviour: an empirical study on standardisation and adaptation of food advertising in the UK market

In the context of globalisation and international trade, advertising is a precious tool multinational companies use to enter international markets and promote their products and services to foreign consumers. As far as communication is concerned, nowadays multinational firms must decide whether to standardise their advertising campaigns for a matter of efficiency, or to adapt them to the target market to reach a greater effectiveness. This is an ongoing debate, which has characterised the marketing world since the 1950s, although there are many studies stating that successful companies must adopt a "glocal approach", a hybridised approach that encourages companies to "think global, act local". Certainly, the role of culture and language is essential when it comes to international advertising, since they seem to have a great influence on consumer behaviour. The aim of the present research is to investigate the abovementioned role of culture and language (together with individual and brand factors) on consumer behaviour and, therefore, to prove their effective influence on communication strategies adopted within the field of food advertising in the UK market. A quantitative analysis will be performed through the administration of surveys measuring different constructs related to the topic.