Differences between American and Indian consumers' visual images

Purpose – A company's corporate image is very important and it can be conveyed through visual images. In order to provoke interest and grasp attention, visual application is an important communication process. The purpose of this paper is to explore the cultural aspects that affect consumers' interpretation of visual communication in terms of corporate imaging/branding through electronic images on the internet. Specifically two different countries' cultures are being compared: the United States and India. Design/methodology/approach – Web images of 30 brands, selected from a list of top 100 brands have been chosen and compared in both scenes. Findings – The results show that some differences really do exist, especially regarding illustrations, groups of people and information in the visual image. Research limitations/implications – There are additional sub‐cultures in both countries. Future research could take these sub‐cultures into consideration. Practical implications – Marketing managers should take cultural aspects into consideration when developing virtual marketing campaigns because culture does matter when it comes to visual images as not every culture prefers the same types of visual appeals. Additionally, by adapting visual images to cultures a company will be able to clearly identify its target group and can be assured that the right audience is being reached. Originality/value – Much research has been done on examining Western countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom with Asian countries such as China and Japan, but not with India.