Textile and Apparel Industries

Standing Out or Blending In? Cross-Cultural Image and Color Cues Driving Instagram Engagement via Image Mining

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Abstract

This study investigates how visual and color cues shape Instagram engagement (i.e., likes) across cultures using image-mining techniques. Grounded in individualism-collectivism and analytic versus holistic cognition, this study investigates the effects of the number of people and figure–ground size difference, as well as the moderating roles of brightness and contrast, in the United States and Indonesia. Using OpenCV and DeepFace, 8,503 posts from Uniqlo and Wrangler were analyzed. Results show that in the U.S., fewer people and greater figure ground size difference increase likes, consistent with preferences for salient and distinct visuals. In Indonesia, engagement depends on interactions: contrast moderates the effect of number of people and brightness moderates the effect of figure ground size difference. Overall, users in individualistic cultures respond more to isolated visual cues, whereas users in collectivist cultures evaluate cues more holistically. The findings extend visual marketing research and inform global content design. 

Keywords: Number of people, Figure-ground size difference, Color marketing, Image-mining, Cross-cultural analysis, Social media

How to Cite:

Min, Y., Kim, J., Ahn, S., Chen, Y., Kwon, J. & Jin, B. E., (2025) “Standing Out or Blending In? Cross-Cultural Image and Color Cues Driving Instagram Engagement via Image Mining”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 82(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.22016