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This Master Dissertation elaborates upon differences between Dutch and Spanish advertising language for beauty brands. Are there any differences and, if so, could they be explained? To answer this question, 48 advertisements were randomly collected. The selection comprises 24 Dove advertisements, of which twelve in Dutch and twelve in Spanish, and 24 Nivea advertisements, also half of them in Dutch and half in Spanish. Both Dove and Nivea are multinationals which produce beauty and care products. The advertisements have been compared and analysed on a cultural as well as on a linguistic level. The analysis on the cultural level was about: -The dimensions of Hofstede -High-context vs. Low-context -Hard-sell vs. Soft-sell -Fear appeal messages The analysis on the linguistic level was about: -Personally vs. Neutral -The length of the sentences -Adjectives -Verbal forms -Metaphors After the advertisements were analysed and compared, the following conclusions could be drawn: On a cultural level, Dutch and Spanish advertisements were quite similar. Although, according to the dimensions of Hofstede, there are big cultural differences between Spain and the Netherlands, these differences could not be discovered through the way of advertising. This might have to do with the fact that the advertisements were merely translated from English texts, without taking the cultural context of the country in which the advertisement will appear into account. Most texts used low-context communication and soft-sell, both in Dutch as in Spanish, and fear appeal messages were avoided. On a linguistic level some more differences were found. It was striking that more original and poetic verbs were used in Spanish advertisements than in Dutch ones. Another remarkable aspect was that, compared to Spanish texts, Dutch texts are more often written in telegram style. The hypothesis that Dutch advertisements would contain more English terms was confirmed. Other hypotheses were negated, such as the hypothesis that Spanish sentences would be longer, that they would contain more adjectives and more metaphors.

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