How different are television commercials in the UK and the US?

Although there are certain cultural similarities between the UK and the US, some stark dissimilarities can also be found when television advertisements are compared in the two countries. It is seen that British advertisements often employ a soft sell with less information rather than an entertaining and hard-selling approach. It is also seen that the British audiences’ opinions of advertising are often more favorable than those of the American audience.

Americans who watch British television advertisements should take into consideration that the approach to television advertising that the British have is different from the one that is generally found in their country. It is also true that the differences have not always existed. When television advertising was first authorized in 1956, British brands hired a lot of American marketers to help them in their advertising campaigns. During this period, a lot of American agencies were setting up their offices in British cities such as London to serve the requirements of the British brands. This was the time when the American flair of advertising was seen the most in British television commercials.

The method that most marketers in the UK inculcate in their commercials is soft selling. During the early days of television commercials, marketers and advertisers were quite unwanted in the homes of the people. They needed to be polite and soft to have a chance and this was the advent of the soft sell method. However, American advertising has always been about hard-selling, that is, providing information to the audience and influencing them by a slight deliberate use of pressure to make a sale.

When looked from above, the commercials in the two countries may not seem to be a whole lot different. But with a micro view, it can be seen that there are certain differences in the techniques of selling that are influenced by differences in the cultures along with media influences.