o:36158 ADVERTISING MATTERS THE CULTURAL INFLUENCE OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN BRANDS ADVERTISED IN THE KINGDOM OF YUGOSLAVIA en Abstract: A form of mass communication, advertising has been regarded as an influential medium of cultural transfer among developed and underdeveloped nations. Both social and economic aspects of advertising explain its role as an inevitable channel through which foreign cultures, values, and behavioral patterns may be promoted abroad to become locally adopted in exposed societies. While critics may see advertising as an intrusive phenomenon allowing “cultural invasion” through the promotion of different consumption patterns and behaviors, its proponents advocate the positive role of advertising in the economic development and modernization of societies through cultural transfer initiated by foreign brands. Following the latter standpoint, we build upon the positive role of advertising, focusing on its contribution to the development and modernization of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the interwar period. The main aim of the paper is to analyze and discuss European and American cultural influence through advertising messages of foreign brands in the most influential national daily papers of the period. To achieve that, we compared print ads published in Politika (the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Le Figaro (France), and The Times (UK). The primary focus is on international brands and their advertising approaches based on Anglo-American cultural values and consumption patterns. We analyze a set of selected ads to assess the direct transfer of foreign culture or its subtle adaptation to the local context f to gauge the overall influence of ads on socioeconomic development and modernization. Our findings show that advertising substantially developed in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia over the analyzed period, following the pattern of more developed countries such as France and the UK. This is supported by the appearance of new types of products and services advertised and the changes in advertising formats and creative ideas bringing liberal advertising appeals directed at diverse target groups. Thus, we conclude that cultural transfer through foreign brands that advertised their products and services in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia contributed to the adoption of novel consumption patterns and the overall economic development and modernization of the country in the first half of the 20th century. The publication of this monograph has been realised trough the Project No. 7747152, “Cultural Transfer Europe-Serbia from the 19th till the 21st Century – CTES” funded by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia. Keywords: advertising, foreign brands, economic development, modernization, consumerism 1552099 10.18485/ies_ctes_echoes.2025.ch2 1552100 978-86-7494-183-6 2025-05-06T07:42:37.106Z 44 no 46 Galjina Ognjanov Univerzitet u Beogradu Ekonomski fakultet 0000-0002-4102-1567 Sanja Mitić Univerzitet u Beogradu Ekonomski fakultet person 0000-0003-1365-273X Dušan Mojić Univerzitet u Beogradu Filozofski fakultet person 0000-0002-8571-3223 application/pdf 640008 https://phaidrabg.bg.ac.rs/o:36158 no yes 1 70 92000004 11A03 Echoes of Europe : cultural transfer Europe-Serbia in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia 45 65 Belgrade Institute of European Studies Zepter Book World 2025