A well-designed online advertisement is essential for effective communication with potential customers and contributes to successful e-commerce. However, creating online sales messages that appeal to a broad range of cultures can pose unique challenges. Internet ads must offer both a globally appealing and a culture-specific message that in turn "enables localization of marketing communication". Several authors also suggest that "cultural congruity" is essential for effective Internet Web sites. Thus, the inclusion of verbal and nonverbal content that is congruent with a range of cultures allows for ad elements that will be successful both locally and globally. In order to examine cultural congruity in various cultures, the authors conducted consumer interviews of individuals of six nationalities about their reactions to two online Internet advertisements to reveal how the underlying meanings of ad elements vary from culture to culture. Comparisons of 32 interviewees' reactions to the symbolic elements of two Internet advertisements confirm that culture plays a key role in assigning meaning to symbols. (Contains 1 figure.)