Ethnic Minorities in Advertising

Abstract

The literature on diversity suffers from several shortcomings, leading to conflicting views or unjustified beliefs about ethnic minorities in advertising. Evidence is needed to show whether advertising has indeed become more ethnically diverse over time, whether any cultural differences exist, and whether ethnic diversity in advertising in new media differs from that in traditional media advertisements. Building on extant research and social role theory, this study provides two empirical studies, a meta-analysis and content analysis, and questions commonly held beliefs in the diversity literature. The findings show that any increase in ethnic minority representation in advertising is fully captured by the fact that ethnic minorities in the general population have increased and that relevant changes have occurred only in Eastern societies where the overrepresentation of the white minority has decreased. Ethnic minorities are well represented in online and TV media but not in print media. Except for the product use of ethnic minority endorsers, stereotyping prevails and barely differs between old and new media. These findings have implications for both researchers and advertisers.