Oriental Cultural Values Depicted in Advertising; with Special Reference to Sri Lankan Context

Abstract

Since the terrorist menace that affected the country for over 30 years was eradicated, Sri Lanka entered into an era of rapid social and economic development. In this process, mass media can play a significance role. Therefore a need arises to study the role of Advertising media in the sphere of cultural development. The nature and development of the Sri Lankan advertising culture mostly depends on the form of oriental cultural values. Cultural dimension is an essential factor for understanding advertising environments. It can be defined as a learned system of knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, beliefs and norms, which are shared among a group of people from various nations or cultures. Sufficient emphasis has not yet been paid on the advertising culture, which is a significant component in the concept development and cultural processes of Sri Lanka. The advertising in oriental cultural values settings remains a relatively unexplored area of research across all disciplines, even that of media communications study. Therefore, the authors of this paper attempt to fill this lacuna. This study examines the effect of oriental cultural values for advertising culture in Sri Lanka. This research aims to foster cultivation of Sri Lankan cultural values through the concept development of advertising.