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Rapid globalization has continually promoted integration between different cultures. This study attempts to examine responses toward culture mixing based on spatial metaphor theory. Specifically, it focuses on power relationships to explore the impact of space image schemas on consumer attitudes. The boundary conditions of this effect, the significance of cultural symbols and the dominance trait are also analyzed.

Three experiments are conducted, and 567 participants are involved in this research. The data are analyzed using ANOVA and Process 213.

The results show that the relative vertical positions of cultural symbols significantly impact consumer attitudes toward culture mixing, and demonstrate that perceived cultural threat enhances ethnocentric tendencies. The data also indicate that individuals only express their distinct attitudes toward culture mixing when significant cultural symbols are presented, and only high-dominance individuals, who prefer to link vertical spatial metaphor with power relationships, are sensitive to vertical spatial metaphor.

This research highlights the underlying mechanism, encouraging ethnocentric tendencies among the young population in China. It extends work on the use of metaphorical concepts and contributes to the increasing literature on power in consumer behavior. Additionally, it generates useful suggestions for multinational entrepreneurs who want to facilitate symbolic localization.

The essence of “Chinese element” has been pinpointed as the representation of national cultural archetype resource of China, which reflects to the overall power enhancement of China. Applying the Chinese national cultural archetype resource, which will be used for promoting the Chinese Brand internationalization, aims for the consumers' approval with the hope of integrating and spreading the unique cultural advantage of Chinese brand. The recognizing of Chinese brand's cultural archetype in this paper has constituted the basis of Chinese brand's cultural archetype strategy.

Based on the Grounded Theory, this paper has collected and analyzed the value symbols, character images and theme stories of Chinese narrative advertisements and constructed the cultural archetype framework of Chinese brands. This paper makes a comprehensive application of Charmaz's constructivist analysis and the main axis analysis and inspection method advocated by Strauss, with the aim of building a more objective and systematic theoretical framework for the Chinese brand cultural archetype.

In this framework, it revealed: (1) Chinese brand's cultural archetype can be divided into 12 concrete archetypes according to individual's relationship with self, the other, community and nature; (2) Consumers' different ways of self-categorization are attributed as the essential difference among various archetypes. This paper also compared and analyzed the differences between Chinese and Western cultural archetypes from three perspectives, formation of social structure, pedigree of myth and character's feature.

This paper has certain innovative significance to the theoretical construction of the archetype of Chinese brand culture. First, based on the cultural perspective, this paper applied the cultural psychological connotation of archetype to the brand research across culture, which is more conducive to the researchers' investigation of the cultural psychology of consumers in the cross-cultural context? Second, based on the identification and comparative study of Chinese brand culture archetype, it provides a new expansion and supplement for the research on brand internationalization and globalization in emerging countries.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the interpretation strategy of cultural mixing on consumers’ evaluations of global brands that incorporate local cultural elements. Specifically, this paper examines whether a property interpretation and a relational interpretation have different influences on consumers’ evaluations of global brands that incorporate local cultural elements.

Two experiments were conducted as part of this research. Experiment 1 adopted a two (interpretation strategy: property interpretation vs relational interpretation) single-factor between-subjects design. Experiment 2 adopted a 2 (interpretation strategy: property interpretation vs relational interpretation) × 2 (polyculturalist beliefs: high vs low) between-subjects design. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and PROCESS 213.

A property interpretation (emphasizing that some features of a global brand transfer to local cultural elements) leads to a less favorable evaluation of global brands that incorporate local cultural elements than a relational interpretation (emphasizing a relation between global brands and local cultural elements). This effect is fully mediated by perceived cultural intrusion, and it exists only when consumers have a low level of polyculturalist beliefs.

This paper reveals that the phenomenon of cultural mixing occurs when global brands incorporate local cultural elements. In addition, the way that consumers perceive the relationship between global brands and local cultural elements will determine their reactions to global brands that incorporate local cultural elements.