Purpose: This study aims to verify whether cultural aspects influence consumers’ product appraisal by analyzing how consumers from two countries choose products from designers with diverse cultural backgrounds.

Design/Methodology: A questionnaire was applied, with 321 female respondents (217 from Brazil, 104 from Israel) who chose swimsuits from two different styles (“Classic” and “Trendy”) in four different options: bikini, one-piece, solid colors, and print options.

Findings: Both countries preferred design from the same cultural background, but while Brazilian respondents opted mostly for designs by Brazilian designers, Israeli respondents chose more openly. Israeli respondents presented a much higher restriction on bikini models than one-pieces, while Brazilians presented the opposite type of rejection.

Research implications: The results suggest that cultural aspects influence consumers’ choices in product appraisal, as respondents tend to choose designs made under the same cultural influence.

Originality/value: This paper is the first to compare consumers’ choices in a cross-cultural context, applying the same questionnaire in two countries on different continents.

Keywords: cultural aspects, consumer behavior, product appraisal, swimwear, cross-cultural

Culture affects consumers’ buying behavior, evaluation of a product or a service, and aptitude to engage with the product or service based on their values.¹ Chegini et al.¹ noted that while several brand preference studies have been conducted, the self-congruity theory is the most applicable when making fashion buying decisions since consumers are influenced by their self-image. In a classical study about product design, Bloch² affirmed that cultural values affect the appraisal of a product and that cross-cultural differences in design tastes are common. Colors, materials, and shapes appreciated in one country may be unattractive to consumers in another country with different cultural values.

With the development of a global market, consumption has also become global, and branding and marketing managers are facing challenges on common consumption-related behavior and the need to address similar products or services to members of different cultures.³ The world is becoming increasingly cross-cultural,⁴ and the advancement of the Internet and social media is expected to produce a globalized homogenized consumer,⁵ where the modern and globalized world supplants cultural traditions and values. Nevertheless, traditions often survive, even for more globalized consumers, so the question becomes how consumers embrace these changes typified by cultural hybridization. We live in a world where converging technologies, distinctive ways of life, and diverse belief systems create a complex "global stew".⁵ Thus, understanding how globalization influences consumer behavior is a complex task. An exciting research question to be addressed is, “How do cultural values influence consumers’ choices in this globalized economy?” To provide cues to help answer this question, the objective of this study is to discuss how cultural values influence consumers' choices. More specifically, we compare product appraisals from consumers from two countries inserted in the globalized world but present differences and similarities in their cultural aspects. Kim, Forsythe, Gu, and Jae Moon⁶ analyzed consumers’ choices from two different countries in Asia (China and South Korea) and found that for apparel products, experiential needs are the most influential for apparel purchases by female consumers. Similarly, we focus on the apparel market, specifically the swimwear market, and chose two countries where this market is relevant: Brazil and Israel. Unlike the previous study, however, we compare countries from different continents, intending to obtain a more global perspective.

We start this article by presenting the similarities and differences between the Brazilian and Israeli cultures. Brazil and Israel were chosen for this study based on their similarities, such as the significant presence of beach areas in their geography, climate (favorable for swimwear most of the year), and the fact that one predominant religion is present in the country, even though this religion differs in the countries. In the next section, we present a brief revision of the literature regarding the cultural influences on consumer behavior. We then move to the primary focus of this study: a cross-cultural questionnaire completed by 321 respondents across both countries (217 in Brazil, 104 in Israel) regarding female consumers’ product appraisals in swimwear. Swimwear was chosen as the market of study as consumers in both countries habitually use this kind of product for several months of the year. According to an ICM Research study, 76% of Brazilian consumers are very interested in research about fashion regarding swimwear (Mohit, 2014), and the aesthetic perception of the product when worn is the main driver for 59% of women when choosing a swimsuit. Although Mohit’s⁷ research did not present information for Israel, it does provide data on other European countries, such as Italy, France, and Germany. In these countries, around 60% of women reported having a very or extreme interest in research about fashion trends in swimwear.

These results suggest that design plays an important role when buying swimwear. This is also coherent with our experiences as practitioners in the swimwear market—i.e., design is a key driver in the purchase of swimwear. Considering this, we opted to use design as an aesthetic experience, which, according to Desmet and Hekkert,⁸ can be defined as a product’s capacity to delight one or more people’s sensory modalities. In the final part of this article, we discuss our main findings and suggest some avenues to be developed in future studies.

Similarities and differences between Brazil and Israel

Several commonalities between Brazil and Israel may influence consumers’ culture and consumption. These are presented below.

Beaches and coastline

Both countries are surrounded by hundreds of beaches spread along a vast coastline (in comparison to the country's whole territory). The main beaches in Israel are scattered along four bodies of water: the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Dead Sea, and the Sea of Galilee. In total, there are 137 beaches in Israel.⁹ Likewise, Brazil is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and has a coastline of 7,491 kilometers (4,655 miles) with 2,095 different beaches around the whole extension of the shore. The beaches go from the south to the north of Brazil, passing through 17 of the country’s 27 states.¹⁰

Climate suited to beachwear

Both countries have an adequate temperature for beachwear throughout most of the year. In Israel, temperatures vary widely, especially during winter. Coastal areas, such as Tel Aviv and Haifa, have a typical Mediterranean climate with cool, rainy winters and long, hot summers. The weather in Brazil is mostly tropical, with hot temperatures all year long. Except for some weeks in winter or autumn, temperatures vary from 25°C to 35°C. During summer, there is a concentration of rain.¹¹

One predominant religion

In both countries, there is one dominant religion. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (2017), 75% are Jewish, 5% have no predominant religion, and 21% are Muslim. Religion in Brazil was formed from the meeting of the Catholic Church with the religious traditions of enslaved African and indigenous peoples.¹² From the 2010 Census, we verified that 64% of the Brazilian population declared itself as Catholic, 22% Protestant, 8% had no predominant religion, and 2% Spiritism (a Christan based religion that studies the nature, origin, and destiny of spirits, and their relation with the human world). Both Protestantism and Spiritism are branches of Christianity.¹³

Mandatory military service

One interesting thing both countries have in common is compulsory military service. In Israel, it is compulsory for both men and women, and in Brazil only for men. This may influence cultural values and make citizens feel more or less patriotic. Most Israelis go into the military at the age of 18. Men serve two years and eight months, and women two years.¹⁴ In Brazil, military service is mandatory for every male who turns 18 years old, usually lasting for one year. In addition, according to the law, every man is subject to military service from January 1 of the year in which he turns 18 until December 31 of the year in which he turns 45, meaning that in case of war, even those who have completed their service might be called again.¹⁵

Several brands in the local swimwear market

Both countries have influential swimwear brands that are local or even global players in the market. Israel is known for some of its swimwear brands worldwide, such as Gottex and Gideon Oberson. Along with these two large brands, there are many designer boutiques. Swimwear is a national passion for Brazilian women, who use beachwear all year. There are hundreds of local brands and national and global suppliers, such as Agua de Coco, Lenny, Cia Maritima, Adriana Degreas, Salinas, Vix, and BlueMan.

Differences between Israel and Brazil

There are also differences between the countries, such as size, population, and education. The income per capita is difficult to compare due to the different populations of the two countries—the population of Israel was estimated in 2017 to be 9.4 million people, while Brazil the population is over 214 million people.¹⁶ The total area under Israeli law, including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, is 22,072 square kilometers (8,522 square miles), and the area of Brazil is 8.5 million square kilometers (3.2 million square miles), making it the fifth largest country in the world (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2017).

In 2015, Israel ranked third among OECD members (after Canada and Japan) for the percentage of 25–64-year-olds that have attained tertiary education, at 49%, compared with the OECD average of 35%. Brazil is way below that average, with only 11.3% of the adult population completing tertiary education.¹³

According to the OECD, Brazil is a developing country, while Israel is a developed country.¹³ Lee, Phau, and Roy¹⁷ noted that “there is a tendency for consumers to prefer products from developed countries over those from less developed ones.” Luxury items from well-known brands are better perceived when they come from developed countries, according to Kaynak and Kara¹⁸ and O’Cass and Lim,¹⁹ while price concessions may compensate for apparel from developing countries.

Cultural influence on consumers’ behavior

Culture has long been studied to influence consumer behavior, as it acts as a filter between the intended users of apparel and their requirements. It influences what users consider an acceptable option for resolving design problems (Pedro, 2002). Lamb and Kallal²⁰ argued that designers must be alert to culture when developing new products. Expressive considerations incorporate the communicative and symbolic aspects of apparel. Lamb and Kallal,²⁰ acknowledging Damhorst’s research, highlighted that dress communicates various messages by the wearer. They also referred to Kaiser’s²¹ findings that a garment is a symbol that viewers interpret in various ways, which are often culturally directed (Pedro, 2002). Luna and Forquer Gupta⁴ suggested a framework to assess the cultural influence on consumers. They included values as the center of what they called a Cultural Value System (CVS) that included symbols, rituals, and heroes of a specific culture. This CVS, in turn, influences consumer behavior and should be considered in marketing communications.

Aesthetic considerations fulfill the human desire for beauty. Aesthetic requirements for apparel products include using line, form, color, texture, and pattern to create a pleasing design. Customers react to apparel merchandise according to their own culture; the standards for beauty can vary within an individual culture or between cultures. The cultural and social background can, in turn, influence consumers’ choices of color and prints.^22,23

German, Lukins, Swinbourne, and Leicht²⁴ found that white clothing, such as bike shorts, provided more body coverage and distorted body image perception at the thighs when compared with bright swimming costumes. They suggested that this difference most likely reflected differences in the clothing styles, as the thighs were more exposed in the swimming costume than in the bike shorts. Full-coverage swimming costumes can potentially create a continuous, streamlined color effect and divert or concentrate visual attention (Finney, 2006). Cultural norms regarding design are fundamental, as they can influence inner feelings and individual preferences; in addition, cross-cultural differences in design aspects such as colors and shapes can be desirable in one culture but not in another.² One interesting approach to seeing how culture influences consumer behavior can be found in a study by Gonzalez-Jimenez,²⁵ which found that an individual’s cosmopolitan orientation may influence their choice. Cosmopolitan consumers are positively associated with body appreciation and self-esteem. These consumers choose clothes for fashion purposes and are more eager to express their individuality through clothes.

A product’s form is one way to gain success in a competitive market. The product's form, as explained by Bloch,² "represents several elements chosen and blended into a whole by the design team to achieve a particular sensory effect (p. 17)”. Bloch² used four points to explain the importance and contribution of product form and design to its success. First, shape, size, and color can make a product stand out, especially in a mature market. Second, the product’s form creates the initial impression and communicates information to the consumers. This initial impression can also create inferences regarding other product attributes, such as price. Third, the product’s form may provide sensory pleasure and stimulation, while products with design flaws can create distaste and even lead to accidents.²⁶ Fourth, products can become iconic and impact consumers’ perceptions. The term “product,” according to Bloch,² refers to a wide variety of goods and services; the author also argued that designers consider various characteristics when making design choices that may include shape, scale, tempo, proportion, materials, colors, reflectiveness, ornamentation, and texture.

Cross-cultural analysis of preferences

Several approaches have been used to assess how cultural aspects influence consumers’ choices. Sook Moon and Chan²⁷ compared perceptions of advertising in consumers from Hong Kong and South Korea, finding that consumers’ perceptions vary due to the uncertainty avoidance of each culture. Singh²⁸ studied consumers from France and Germany and found that certain cultural dimensions help define whether consumers display a propensity to innovate. Pittard, Ewing, and Jevons²⁹ surveyed three countries—Australia, Singapore, and South Africa—to see how culture influences aesthetic preferences for logo design. They found that in unity with the theory of the divine proportion, there is a universal preference for logos that follow the divine ratio of 1:1.618 in the three different cultures, but only for logos with forms found in nature (flowers, waves). Interestingly, logos with artificial forms (such as windows) also had a universal preference amongst the three different cultures, but with a ratio of 1:1.

To shed some light on how culture influences consumer behavior, we opted to use the aesthetic experience⁸ as inspiration in our study since the design is a fundamental asset in the market. We were also inspired by the paired comparison methodology used by Albers-Miller³⁰ to compare cross-cultural perceptions of advertising in 11 different countries. Our question is very straightforward: Do consumers prefer swimwear designed by designers from the same cultural background? To answer this question, we prepared a questionnaire in which respondents had to choose their most and least preferred design from a series of swimsuits. The intention was to verify whether Brazilians prefer swimwear made by Brazilian designers and reject swimwear made by other countries’ designers—in this case, Israel—and vice-versa.

In swimwear, three main characteristics define the product: shape, color, and style. The female market has two main shapes: one-pieces and bikinis. Regarding color, products can be divided into two main categories: solids and prints. Solids are garments comprising one or more colors without any prints, and prints are garments with different graphical shapes that can be a single graphic shape or repeated graphic shapes such as stripes. Style can also be split into several different groups. To narrow these down, we opted to base the categories proposed by Englis, Solomon, and Ashmore,³¹ who identified eight distinct categories as the most prevalent beauty types in the United States; i.e., classic, feminine, sensual, exotic, cute, girl-next-door, sex kitten, and trendy. Their study was based on beauty types, but we decided to use that as a reference for style because swimwear is very closely related to women’s body perceptions, and shape and style are critical in defining women’s preferences for swimwear.⁷ From the eight types, we extracted classic, sensual, and trendy since they are more understandable in the native languages of Hebrew and Portuguese, while cute, girl-next-door, and sex kitten are culturally related to the United States and are harder to translate.

Pre-test

To verify whether consumers perceived these categories as different styles, we conducted a pre-test with 12 different swimsuits, four from each style (classic, sensual, and trendy), with variations of one-piece x bikini x color x print options. Respondents were asked to choose which kind of style they would classify each of the 12 looks under and answer three open questions about what characteristics a swimsuit should have to be considered classic, sensual, or trendy. The questions appeared in random order, and it was written in English, but respondents were advised to feel free to respond to the open questions in their native language. We sent the pre-test to 40 respondents and received 33 usable answers—17 from Brazil and 16 from Israel. Since, in both countries, English is the second language, a question about the respondent’s English level was added to avoid inaccurate correspondence. Respondents in Brazil were, on average, 36.5 years old and wore swimsuits nine times per year. In Israel, respondents were, on average, 45 years old and wore swimsuits 7.2 times per year. Table 1 shows the summarized results related to the style chosen by the respondents.

Of the 12 looks, most respondents classified only two styles as the style of the garment: classic and trendy. The sensual style was not defined as the main style by the respondents in either Brazil or Israel for any of the 12 looks presented. This indicated that consumers primarily divide style perceptions into classic and trendy. When defining a style for the garment, in five of the 12 looks analyzed, more than 75% of respondents agreed on the same style. In the open questions, the Brazilian respondents classified a classic swimsuit as one with a classic cut, neutral colors, elegance, and timeless design. Israeli consumers agreed that classic cut and neutral colors are the main characteristics of a classic design. The Brazilian respondents stipulated innovative cuts, fashionable patterns, and contemporary design for trendy design. At the same time, Israeli consumers considered innovative cuts and contemporary design as the main characteristics of a trendy swimsuit.

Questionnaire

Based on the pre-test results, we decided to use only two classic and trendy styles with four variations for each one-piece, bikini, color, and print options. We then created a questionnaire with eight sets of options: (i) classic, solid color, bikini, (ii) classic, printed, bikini, (iii) trendy, solid color, bikini, (iv) trendy, printed, bikini, (v) classic, solid color, one-piece, (vi) classic, printed, one-piece, (vii) trendy, solid color, one-piece, (viii) trendy, printed, one-piece). For each set, we paired together four options of swimsuits: two from Brazilian designers and two from Israeli designers. To construct each set of options, we collected images of current swimsuits sold by these designers, with images chosen based on their similarity in the product line and price point. The brands Gottex and Gideon Oberson from Israel, and AcquaDoce, Lenny, Adriana Degreas, and Vix from Brazil were used. All six of these brands have price points that place their products in the premium/luxury swimwear category. None of the options available identified the designer of the garment or the country of origin for the design, as the objective of this study was to verify whether respondents would pick designs from their own country solely by the design choice. Appendix 1 presents how these options were shown to the respondents.

Appendix 1 Illustrative example of how swimwear was presented to respondents.

We used the information collected in the pre-test to select the options for classic and trendy looks: classic swimsuits had a classic cut and neutral colors. In contrast, trendy ones had innovative cuts and contemporary designs. For each set of options, the respondents were requested to choose the one they liked best and the one they would never choose. They were then asked to explain why they would never choose that garment. In the best-option and would-never-buy questions, we included alternatives to account for the fact that respondents might not like any of the options available (which we classified as rejection) or might not choose any of the options because they simply do not wear that kind of swimsuit, since some women only wear bikinis and never a one-piece, for instance. In this case, we classified these answers as a restriction.

The questionnaire was translated from English into Hebrew and Portuguese and then sent to the respondents, who were asked to reply to the questionnaire and share it with their female friends. We obtained 321 valuable responses—217 from Brazil and 104 from Israel. On average, the respondents in Brazil were 38.4 years old and wore swimwear 9.2 times per year. Respondents from Israel were, on average, 35.4 years old and wore swimsuits 10.3 times per year.

The Brazilian respondents accepted the options presented at 74% on average, indicating that three out of four respondents would choose to buy one of the options presented in the questionnaire. Israeli respondents were more selective, showing a 57% acceptance rate. For Brazilians, the look with the least acceptance was trendy, with solid colors and bikinis at 53%, while trendy, the printed bikini had the highest acceptance rate at 85%. For Israeli respondents, the trendy, solid bikini was also the option with the lowest acceptance rate at 32%. In contrast, the option with the highest acceptance rate was the classic, solid, one-piece. Brazilians were likelier to choose a design from their own country than Israeli respondents. Israeli chose Brazilian designers in five of the eight options; in four, more than 50% of respondents chose garments made by Brazilian designers (including all respondents, even with the rejection and restriction results). For Brazilian respondents, a classic, printed bikini was the option with the highest preference at 65%. The Israeli respondents chose garments from Israeli designers in only two options. One-piece classic solid was the most frequently selected option among Israeli designers, at 50%. Interestingly, for classic, printed, one-piece, and trendy, solid, one-piece, Israeli respondents preferred garments from Brazilian designers at similar rates (46% and 49%).

The results are summarized in Table 2. Chi-square tests acceptance of the options for the Brazilian respondents was 99.4, with a p-value of 0.011, while for Israeli respondents, the Chi-square was 99.9 with a p-value of 0.001, showing that the country of the responsible designer influenced respondents in both countries.

The respondents from Brazil and Israel presented a higher restriction for the classic styles but a higher rejection for the trendy styles presented in the questionnaire. For the Israeli respondents, this rejection was around 38%. In Brazil, there was much more restriction regarding one-piece suits than bikinis, while in Israel, the opposite was true. While 24% of respondents indicated restrictions regarding bikini use, only 4% indicated restrictions regarding one-pieces.

Regarding rejection, the Brazilian respondents rejected the Israeli design in four options. They rejected two options from Brazilian designers: trendy, solid, bikini and trendy, solid, one-piece, suggesting that Brazilian consumers are prone to choose printed options for their swimwear. Thus, Brazilians tend not to choose designs from their own country in the trendy, solid category. Israeli respondents rejected Brazilian designers for two sets of options—bikini trendy printed and one-piece classic solid—and Israeli designers for another two—bikini classic solid and one-piece classic printed. For both sets of respondents, the main reason for rejecting a model was its shape. Summarized results are shown in Table 3.

In this article, we aimed to shed light on the influence of cultural aspects on consumer behavior. We chose to use the swimwear market as a framework because swimwear tends to have a high emotional appeal for women⁷ when making their purchases, making them more vulnerable to cultural aspects such as value and aesthetics.³² Brazilian and Israeli respondents presented different results when choosing their swimsuit options within the questionnaire. While the Israelis presented a more open preference towards designs from a different cultural background, Brazilian respondents tended to opt for designs from their counterparts.

As we opted to use design as the main characteristic by which respondents evaluated their choice (no other characteristics were presented in the set of options available to respondents, such as price, time to deliver, country of origin [COO], etc.), this study was more related to product appraisal than to consumers’ choices.

The results also reveal other interesting aspects, such as that Israeli respondents presented much higher rejection and restriction rates for the options than Brazilians. In addition, in Brazil, there was a greater rejection of one-pieces, while in Israel, there was a much greater restriction on bikinis. However, the Israeli respondents were almost four years younger, on average, than the Brazilian respondents. Brazilian respondents prefer printed over solid color options, and Israeli consumers are more likely to choose designers from other countries. Thus, the results reveal differences in product appraisals between Brazilian and Israeli consumers and show that Israelis are more open to various options. At the same time, Brazilians tend to choose Brazilian designers when it comes to swimwear.

Several avenues may be suggested for future studies related to the findings of this research. One important issue is to verify whether the COO effect influences consumers’ perceptions. Within the context of consumer product evaluation, researchers define COO as country-of-manufacture (Laufer, Gillespie, & Silverac, 2009). The image of the COO can strongly impact consumers’ perceptions of products and brands,^33,34 including quality valuations. Like these studies, several others have addressed this phenomenon, and we believe that indicating COO information in the set of options might lead to some interesting results. It would be interesting to run a similar study and include the COO information to verify how results would differ when this information is unavailable.

We would also propose to investigate consumers' preferences, using the same methodology in a different context, where the product category i is related more to functional aspects, such as fitness wear. Would the results be the same amongst Brazilians and Israelis, for instance? It would also be relevant to analyze how other product characteristics might affect consumers’ choices, such as price or product quality. We selected only premium and luxury brands in this study; what would happen if we used options with different quality levels or indicated the prices of the swimsuits? Such studies would help to explain better how consumers from different cultures react to products by designers from different cultural backgrounds.

None.

None.

Author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

1. Chegini F, Molan SB, Kashanifar SS. An examination of the impact of cultural values on brand preferences in Tehran’s fashion market. Procedia Economics and Finance. 2016;36(16):189–200.
2. Bloch PH. Seeking the ideal form: Product design and consumer response. Journal of Marketing. 1995;59(3):16–29.
3. Gammoh BS, Koh AC, Okoroafo SC. Consumer culture brand positioning strategies: An experimental investigation. Journal of Product & Brand Management. 2011;20(1):48–57.
4. Luna D, Forquer Gupta S. An integrative framework for cross‐cultural consumer behavior. International Marketing Review. 2001;18(1):45–69.
5. Asgary N, Walle AH. The cultural impact of globalization: Economic activity and social change. Cross–Cultural Management: An International Journal. 2002;9(3):58–75.
6. Kim J, Forsythe S, Gu Q, et al. Cross‐cultural consumer values, needs, and purchase behavior. Journal of Consumer Marketing. 2002;19(6):481–502.
7. Mohit S. Invista swimwear survey. London, UK: ICM Research; 2014.
8. Desmet P, Hekkert P. A framework of product experience. International Journal of Design. 2007;1(1):57–66.
9. Jewish Virtual Library. Latest population statistics for Israel. 2017.
10. Central Intelligence Agency. The World Fact Book: Geography of Brazil; 2017.
11. Weather and Climate. 2017.
12. Boyle K, Sheen J. Freedom of religion and belief: A World report, Routledge. Central Bureau of Statistics. 2013.
13. IBGE. Censo Brasileiro 2010.
14. MFA. Israel Ministry of foreign affairs. 2017.
15. Planalto L. Presidency of the Republic. 2017.
16. Data World Bank. 2022.
17. Lee WJ, Phau I, Roy R. Status and nonstatus consumers’ attitudes toward foreign and domestic luxury brands of underwear. Journal of International Consumer Marketing. 2012;24(1–2):43–56.
18. Kaynak E, Kara A. Consumer perceptions of foreign products: An analysis of product–country images and ethnocentrism. European Journal of Marketing. 2002;36(7/8):928–949.
19. O'Cass A, Lim K. The influence of brand associations on brand preference and purchase intention: An Asian perspective on brand associations. Journal of International Consumer Marketing. 2002;14(2–3):41–71.
20. Lamb JM, Kallal MJ. A conceptual framework for apparel design. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal. 1992;10(2):42–47.
21. Kaiser SB. The social psychology of clothing. 2nd edn. New York: Macmillan; 1990.
22. Ackard DM, Croll JK, Kearney–Cooke A. Dieting frequency among college females: Association with disordered eating, body image, and related psychological problems. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 2002;52(3):129–136.
23. Duncan GE, Anton SD, Newton RL, et al. Comparison of perceived health to physiological measures of health in Black and White women. Preventive Medicine. 2003;36(5):624–628.
24. Girman CD, Lukins JE, Swinbourne AL, et al. Effect of clothing colour on body image perception. Performance Enhancement & Health. 2014;3(1):15–19.
25. Gonzalez–Jimenez H. Associations between cosmopolitanism, body appreciation, self–esteem and sought functions of clothing. Personality and Individual Differences. 2016;101:110–113.
26. Norman D. Design of everyday things. London: MIT Press; 1990.
27. Sook Moon Y, Chan K. Advertising appeals and cultural values in television commercials comparison of Hong Kong and Korea. International Marketing Review. 2005;22(1):48–66.
28. Singh S. Cultural differences in, and influences on, consumers’ propensity to adopt innovations. International Marketing Review. 2006;23(2):173–191.
29. Pittard N, Ewing M, Jevons C. Aesthetic theory and logo design: Examining consumer response to proportion across cultures. International Marketing Review. 2007;24(4), 457–473.
30. Albers–Miller ND. Designing cross–cultural advertising research: A closer look at paired comparisons. International Marketing Review. 1996;13(5):59–75.
31. Englis BG, Solomon MR, Ashmore RD. Beauty before the eyes of beholders: The cultural encoding of beauty types in magazine advertising and music television. Journal of Advertising. 1994;23(2):49–64.
32. Venkatesh A, Meamber LA. The aesthetics of consumption and the consumer as an aesthetic subject. Consumption Markets & Culture. 2008;11(1):45–70.
33. Nagashima A. A comparison of Japanese and US attitudes toward foreign products. The Journal of Marketing. 1970:68–74.
34. Schooler R. Bias phenomena attendant to the marketing of foreign goods in the US. Journal of International Business Studies. 1971;2(1):71–80.