Is On-Line Health Promotion Culture-Bound? Cultural Characteristics Manifested in U.S. and South Korean Antismoking Web Sites

Our study examined three aspects of cultural characteristics manifested in U.S. and South Korean antismoking Web sites: cultural values (i.e., Hofstede's [1980] individualism/collectivism), cultural contexts (Hall's [1976] high/low cultural context), and culture-bound health promotion strategies drawn from existing theories in other disciplines. Our findings seem to partially support Hall's cultural context framework, but not Hofstede's cultural value framework. They also indicate that on-line health promotion is indeed culture bound in the sense that health promotion strategies-that is, subjective norm, social support, and modeling-are used more frequently in South Korean antismoking Web sites than in their U.S. counterparts. Managerial and academic research implications for global advertising researchers and marketers, as well as health promotion practitioners, are provided. © 2009 American Academy of Advertising.