Culturally Embedded Advertising and Consumer Decision-Making: A Six-Stage Analysis with Attitude, Satisfaction, and Exposure As Predictors

Advertising plays a vital role in influencing consumer behaviour and shaping brand ‎perception. In culturally diverse contexts like India, culturally embedded content has ‎become increasingly relevant. This paper examines the influence of four cultural ‎elements: vernacular language, cultural values, customs and rituals, and cultural ‎symbols, on six stages of consumer decision-making. The model extends the traditional ‎framework by treating attitude formation as a distinct stage, enabling closer analysis of ‎emotional and trust-based responses to advertisements. Data were collected from ‎Assam’s Kamrup Metropolitan District using a structured questionnaire administered to ‎‎400 respondents. The findings showed that these elements had the strongest influence ‎on the attitude formation stage, with age and gender differences observed mainly in the ‎purchase and post-purchase phases. Regression findings confirmed that attitude along ‎with exposure significantly predicted cultural advertising’s impact, while satisfaction ‎showed no meaningful effect. These results emphasise the importance of aligning ‎advertising strategies with cultural context in demographically diverse markets. The ‎study supports the usefulness of a modified decision-making model and provides ‎practical direction for marketers aiming to connect with audiences through culturally ‎meaningful content‎.