How Brands Highlight Country of Origin in Magazine Advertising: A Content Analysis

Abstract In 2014, a classification was proposed of ways in which brands communicate their country of origin (COO). The current, exploratory study is the first to empirically investigate the frequency with which brands employ such COO markers in magazine advertisements. An analysis of about 750 ads from the British, Dutch, and Spanish editions of Cosmopolitan showed that the prototypical “made in” marker was rarely used, and that “COO embedded in company name” and “use of COO language” were most frequently employed. In all, 36% of the total number of ads contained at least one COO marker, underlining the importance of the COO construct.

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