Viewers' processing of Actor's race and message claims in advertising stimuli

Abstract

This study examines the impact of white and black actors' race and viewers' racial attitudes on advertisement evaluation, A total of 160 white and 140 black participants rated an advertisement featuring a white or black actor promoting a portable word processor or a liquid laundry detergent. An assessment of racial attitudes (i.e., whites' racial prejudice and blacks' identification with black culture) followed product, advertisement, and actor ratings. The findings indicated that, when the black actor promoted the relatively inexpensive liquid detergent, viewers with stronger racial attitudes were more likely to employ racially focused heuristics than viewers with weaker racial attitudes. The data did not support the notion that viewers with less defined racial attitudes would be more likely to consider the message claims than viewers with firmly established racial attitudes. These findings provided partial support for the heuristic versus systematic processing distinction.

Advertising and recruitment: Marketing to minorities

“…Furthermore, Williams, Qualls, and Grier (1995) found that African Americans displayed stronger identification and liking towards integrated ads than ads featuring all White models. Whittler (1989Whittler ( , 1991 found that African Americans reacted more favorably to advertisements with African American actors. These participants perceived a heightened sense of similarity with same-race actors and expressed a greater likelihood of buying from a company that had an African American promoting a product (Whittler, 1989).…”

Targeted Marketing and Public Health

“…Research has demonstrated that targeted consumers are more persuaded, i.e., respond more favorably to targeted advertisements, when there is homophily (112), that is, where people infer similarity between themselves and some characteristics of the advertisement, e.g., person pictured, language used, or lifestyle represented (1). Studies have shown positive effects of targeted marketing based on similarity of a variety of consumer characteristics including race and ethnicity (126), strength of ethnic identification (5), and shared cultural knowledge (11). Research has also shown that the process that underlies the positive effects of similarity on consumer response is driven by an ad viewer's belief that he or she is the intended audience for the ad, a process known as "felt targetedness" (1).…”

The portrayal of black people in UK television advertising: perception and reality

“…White respondents have been shown to receive advertisements containing black models as favourably as those that used white models in terms of advertisement ratings (Muse, 1971), recall (Choudhury and Schmid, 1974), and perceptions between one advertisement depicting a black male executive with a white secretary and one where the roles were reversed, or where both roles were occupied by white models (Guest, 1970). Moreover, Whittler (1989) measured white respondent's racial prejudice toward black people and found no differences in purchase intentions between advertisements containing black and white models even among high-prejudice white consumers. In contrast, while white consumers do not appear to be adversely affected by the use of black models in advertising, experiments suggest that the inclusion of black models can enhance recall (Choudhury and Schmid, 1974), affect (Whittler and Spira, 2002) and purchase intentions (Whittler, 1989) among black consumers.…”

“…Moreover, Whittler (1989) measured white respondent's racial prejudice toward black people and found no differences in purchase intentions between advertisements containing black and white models even among high-prejudice white consumers. In contrast, while white consumers do not appear to be adversely affected by the use of black models in advertising, experiments suggest that the inclusion of black models can enhance recall (Choudhury and Schmid, 1974), affect (Whittler and Spira, 2002) and purchase intentions (Whittler, 1989) among black consumers.…”