Targeting without alienating

Abstract

The growing diversity of different nations’ populations has encouraged advertisers to adopt their strategy by taking into consideration groups of consumers that were not traditionally targeted, such as cultural and sexual minorities. However, while such targeting has been favourably received among the targeted minorities, it has also engendered unfavourable reactions among majority members. This paper examines a way for advertisers to target a specific minority group within the mainstream media while maintaining resonance among the broader audience. An experiment is conducted to examine viewers’ responses to multicultural advertising in France. Results demonstrate the fundamental role of viewers’ congruence judgements and felt targetedness on the effectiveness of multicultural targeting attempts, and extend our understanding of consumer responses to multicultural advertising.