An Exploratory Study on Consumers’ Perceptions of Mono- and Multiethnic Marketing: An Abstract

Abstract

The extant literature shows a lack of consistency and understanding of the impact of ethnic marketing on ethnic consumers’ well-being and identity dynamics (Bennett et al. 2013; Demangeot et al. 2014; Kipnis et al. 2012). While considerable amount of research is concerned with ethnic consumer response to ethnic embedded marketing communications, less attention has been paid to the psychological and social mechanisms that dictate such responses (Appiah 2001; Bennett et al. 2013). The way ethnic consumers are depicted in marketing communications has deep impact on individual self-perceptions (Bailey 2006; Johnson and Grier 2012). Therefore, it is of immediate importance to identify potential controversies and vulnerabilities that result from ethnic-targeted marketing efforts and to expand our horizons and look beyond narrowly defined target marketing at the impact that ethnic marketing has on migrants’ well-being and their experience in the broader society. While mono-ethnic marketing communications and segmentation practices have been subject to criticism (Davidson 2009; Jafari and Visconti 2014; Kipnis et al. 2012), limited research has been conducted on multiethnic marketing communications, which have the potential to reach to multiple consumer segments simultaneously (Johnson and Grier 2011; Kipnis et al. 2012). This paper reports on the results of an interpretivist-constructivist qualitative study that investigates how ethnic consumers in the UK interpret both mono-ethnic and multiethnic embedded marketing communications and explores their impact on intercultural communication, ethnic consumers’ well-being, and their experience in being an integral part of the host country. Twelve in-depth interviews employing a photo elicitation technique were conducted with multicultural consumers of varied ethnic backgrounds and lengths of residence in the UK. This study employed a purposive sample, identified through a maximal variation sampling strategy (Creswell 2012). During the interviews, the participants were exposed and asked to interpret a series of mono-ethnic and multiethnic print advertisements featured in the British media. The data collected were analyzed inductively following the six steps of thematic analysis technique (Braun and Clarke 2006). The results show that multicultural cues in advertising appeals are a more accurate reflection of the enhanced diversity in the modern society and can potentially be a viable solution against vulnerability and toward more fluid cross-cultural communication. Multiethnic marketing communications were found to promote a sense of acceptance by acknowledging the ethnic presence in the community and sensitizing the society on diversity issues. On the other hand, our findings show that multicultural identities cannot be primed through mono-ethnic-targeted messages, which were primarily interpreted as tools to capitalize on ethnic consumers’ buying power. Our results contribute to insights into ethnic consumers’ experience of living in the UK and the role of marketing communications in enhancing social well-being and conviviality of ethnic individuals in the broader society.