Ethnic Minorities in Advertising

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Martin Eisend
• Subject Area: Accounting and Finance ; Communication Sciences
• Term: from 2020 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 449610606

Many, especially European, countries have experienced a noticeable demographic change in recent years, which is reflected in a more and more ethnically diverse society. Marketing has responded to increasing ethnic diversity and targeted ethnic minorities as a relevant new segment in advertising. Companies are at risk of the ethnic majority in a society perceiving the representation of ethnic minorities in advertising as less positive, while advertising that targets only the ethnic majority may deter promising target groups of certain ethnic minorities. Ignoring minorities in advertising is also criticized from a societal point of view, since it conveys a picture of a less diverse society and propagates negative stereotypes.Research has already taken on the topic. However, studies on the portrayal of ethnic minorities are mostly performed in the US and date back to the 1990s and 2000s. These results are not transferable to today's European context. Many studies on the effects of ethnic minority in advertising exist, but their results are mixed and inconclusive, suggesting that there are contextual factors that can explain these differences. Furthermore, previous research leaves the question unanswered, how marketing and social effects are related, and whether advertising is responsible for negative social consequences such as decreasing acceptance of ethnic minorities. Finally, it has not yet been possible to conceptually integrate the findings on the portrayal and influence of different minorities and disadvantaged groups in advertising and to link them to a theoretical framework that can be used for future research.The current research project (1) examines how ethnic minorities are portrayed in current advertising and compares the findings across countries and time; (2) examines the effects of the portrayals of ethnic minorities on consumers both in terms of brand-related effects and social effects; (3) examines important moderators of these effects; (4) investigates whether advertising is responsible for negative societal diversity-related effects; and (5) integrates past research on minority and disadvantaged groups in advertising and develops a new conceptual framework for future research.The findings help to clarify inconsistencies of previous research. How, when, and where ethnic minorities can be portrayed in advertising to achieve positive effects is relevant to marketing practice. The question of how advertising is responsible for possible negative diversity-related effects in society is of high political relevance.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants