Cross-cultural Reception Analysis Of Selected Commercials On Ethiopian Television (etv) Amharic Program

The role of advertising in market economy is to inform as well as educate consumersrnabout products and services. To achieve these goals, advertisers employ a variety ofrncultural values in their appeals.rnToday one of the most contested issues in advertising strategies is the role of culture. Thernmain focus of this study is the role of culture in media messages and the reception ofrnthem. How Ethiopian audiences draw on local or western cultural resources or arncombination of the two, in their meeting with different media texts will be central.rnA qualitative research method is often considered the most appropriate in audiencernreception studies, and this was also the case here in this study. The study follows a threernstage qualitative approach; which include qualitative content analysis, focus grouprninterviews and in-depth interviews with individual viewers.rnFor this study, a two stage sampling technique was used for selecting commercials to berncontent analyzed. The first stage comprised the selection of specific time intervals whenrnads are broadcasted; two different segments of prime time (prime time I and II) werernselected. In the second stage, twenty commercials for food and drinks that were runningrnduring the six months’ research period were randomly selected. Regarding the audiencernsampling, a purposive sampling technique was followed. Audiences categorized to bernamong the target audiences were purposively selected.rnThe qualitative content analysis of the selected commercials revealed that western valuesrnare predominantly recurring themes, rather than more local or traditional themes. Arncentral reason was given by the advertising agencies, which argued that western valuesrnwere much more powerful and had a more homogenizing effect than the local values.rnWith regard to the audience, it appeared that audiences, regardless of their level ofrneducation, are active and powerful in the meaning making process and reshape therncontent of media messages. The study also explored how external factors like socialrncontext, age, marital status, and personal contact are present in the processes of meaningrnmaking of ads which reflect either western or traditional Ethiopian values.

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