Marketing to Minorities
Portrayals of Minorities in Advertising
“It is understanding that gives us an ability to
have peace. When we understand the other
fellow’s viewpoint, and he understand ours,
then we can sit down and work out our
differences”—Harry Truman
Growth of minorities
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Influence of minorities is growing
Growth rates
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US population: 9% per year
Caucasians: 3%
African Americans: 14%
African American Consumers
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34.7 million
12.3% of U.S. population
Average age younger that white population
>40% consider themselves middle class
75% of black couples own homes
Average income growing at 9%/year
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Compared to 4% for whites
Purchasing power of $572 billion
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Efforts to market to blacks relatively recent
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Began in 1960’s
Began in earnest in 1980’s
By 1992 half of Fortune 1000 companies had
ethnic-marketing campaigns
$1 billion in advertising is spent targeting the
market
Often treated as a monolithic group, but there
are significant differences based on age,
economic status and region
Reaching the Audience
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1.
2.
Marketers have followed one of two distinct
marketing strategies:
All advertising in general mass media in
belief that African Americans have same
media habits as whites
Running advertising in selected media
directed exclusively to African Americans
Hispanic/Latino American Consumers
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35.3 million
12.5% of U.S. population
Growing 6.5 times faster than general market
Largest minority in US
Buying power of ~$500 billion in 2001
Median age ~10 years younger than white
population
Larger, extended families (more children)
Not monolithic group
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separate subcultural markets based on countries of origin
Reaching the Audience
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Less than half speak fluent English
83% speak Spanish in their homes (where
they receive their advertising messages)
Some businesses sponsor major promotional
campaigns around Latino holidays
Others have adopted major Spanishlanguage campaigns
Fact or urban legend?
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Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in spanishspeaking countries
No va
“Doesn’t go”
No funciona
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Mitsubishi renamed Pajero model because it
means masturbating man
Marketed in Latin America as Montero
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American Airlines translated its slogan “fly in
leather” as vuela en cuero
Vuela en cuero means “fly buck naked”
en cueros
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“It won’t stain your pocket and embarrass
you”
No manchara tu bolsillo, ni te embarazara
Embarazar means “to be pregnant”
“It won’t stain your pocket and get you
pregnant”
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Tienes leche?
“Are you lactating?
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“It takes a strong man to make a tender
chicken”
Tierno can mean “tender”
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Un tipo duro can mean “a strong man”
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also “soft” or “affectionate”
literally “a hard chap”
coloquially “sexually aroused”
“It takes a sexually aroused man to make a
chicken affectionate”
Asian American consumers
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10.2 million
Represent 17 nations of origin
Fastest-growing minority?
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50% increase last decade
Predominantly urban
Strongly driven to achieve middle class
lifestyle
Median income exceeds US average by 20%
Reaching the audience
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Many don’t speak English well
No major Asian cable TV networks
Native American consumers
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2.5 million
Least affluent of all ethnic groups
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Marketers do not target them due to
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Median income $10,000 lower than average
Unemployment rate 35%
Geographic isolation
Small numbers
One exception: alcohol advertising
Advertising spending
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2001: $280 billion spent on advertising
1.3% spent in targeted ethnic media
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$2.1 billion in Hispanic media
$1.5 billion in black-targeted media
$500 million in media targeted to Asians
1. Images of Minorities in Advertising:
African Americans
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Prior to the civil rights
movement, few images of
blacks in advertising
Exception: “Aunt Jemima”
caricature
 Subservient, dark, heavy,
asexual, inarticulate
 Stereotyped black women
as belonging only in the
kitchen
Complaints about use of the
stereotype heard as late as
mid-80’s
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As late as 1990, 3% of people featured in national
advertising were black
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Blacks appearing in ads:
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GQ, Vogue, Esquire--fewest black models
Sports Illustrated--most black models
Athletes
Entertainers
Laborers
children
<than 20% of ads with blacks used women
Ethnic minority models often selected based on how
they conform to standards of white beauty
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Blacks used in 17% of 904 commercials
31% of ads with blacks put them in major
roles
Tend to appear in groups in ads
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6.9 persons on average
Most likely to cast in ads for
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Beer or malt liquor
Cigarettes
Hair care products
2000 study of television commercials that
showed only one race
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105 commercials for autos or trucks
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74 commercials for perfumes
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percentage of Caucasians: 100%
percentage of Caucasians: 98%
47 commercials for jewelry or cosmetics
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percentage of Caucasians: 100%
Hispanics
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Virtually unused in ads prior to 1980
In late 1980’s
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5.8% of television commercials
Speaking roles in 1.5% of network television ads
1999 study by Magazine Publishers of America
found Hispanics appeared in only 2% of ads
Tend to appear in background roles as part of group
Generally not seen in mainstream roles
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Exception: stereotyped Latina sex object
2. Impact of Advertising on Children:
1999 Report by Children Now
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Children who watch positive multiracial
interactions on shows such as Sesame Street
show more positive attitudes towards people
of color and other cultures
Kids who watch shows that routinely
stereotype people of color have less
favorable attitudes towards those who may
be different
Advertising has the same ability as television
programming to impact children’s perceptions
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Often cast white kids as leaders and gogetters
Minority children play passive or ignorant
roles
White kids outnumber children of color
Minorities children generally appear in group
shots
Stereotyping
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Some of the worst
stereotypes were
disappearing:
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Lively Latins
Pigtailed Chinese
Subservient blacks
Mexican bandits
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Some stereotypes remain:
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Asians are computer geeks
African American boys play ball
African American girls dance
All African American kids rap
3. No Urban/Spanish Dictates and
Minority Discounts
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1999 FCC asked to investigate practices in
advertising industry that created barriers to
competition in broadcasting
Studied data from 3,745 radio stations
Confirmed existence of practices
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No Urban/Spanish dictates
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Practice of not advertising on radio stations that
target programming to ethnic/racial minorities
Minority discounts
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Paying minority-formatted radio stations less than
what is paid to general market stations with
comparable audience size
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Study also found that in some cases media
buying process is guided by
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Ethnic/racial stereotyping
Underestimations of disposable income
Desire to control product image
Study concluded that practice
1. Adversely affects minority-owned radio
stations
2. Defeats interest of all Americans in having
broad and diverse range of informational
and entertainment programming
3. Should be outlawed