Chapter 14
Ethnic, Racial, and Religious
Subcultures
CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR, 8e
Michael Solomon
Chapter Objectives
When you finish this chapter you should understand
why:
• Our memberships in ethnic, racial, and religious
subcultures often play a big role in guiding our
consumption behaviors.
• Additional influences come from our identification
with microcultures that reflect a shared interest in
some organization or activity.
• Many marketing messages appeal to ethnic and
racial identity.
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Chapter Objectives (cont.)
• African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian
Americans are the three most important ethnic/racial
subcultures in the United States.
• Marketers increasingly use religious and spiritual
themes when they talk to consumers.
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Subcultures, Microcultures, and
Consumer Identity
• Consumers’ lifestyles are affected by group
membership within the society-at-large
• Subcultures of age, race/ethnicity, place of
residence
• Microcultures share a strong identification with an
activity or art form
• Have own unique set of norms, vocabulary, and
product insignias
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Ethnic and Racial Subcultures
• Ethnic subculture
• Homogeneous versus heterogeneous cultural
societies
• Marketers cannot ignore the diversity of cultures in
society today
• Ethnic minorities spend more than $600 billion a
year on products
 Click for
Crestkids.com
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Ethnicity and Marketing Strategies
Subcultural memberships help shape people’s
needs/wants
• Minorities find an advertising spokesperson from
their own group more trustworthy
• Ethnic subculture affects level/type of media
exposure, food/apparel preferences, political
behavior, leisure activities, willingness to try new
products
• High-context culture (group members infer meanings
from verbal messages) versus low-context culture
(group members take words literally)
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Is Ethnicity a Moving Target?
• Defining/targeting an ethnic
group is not always so easy
(“melting pot” society)
• Many identify with two or more
races
• De-ethnicization: a product we
associate with a specific ethnic
group detaches itself from its
roots and appeals to other
groups as well
• Example: bagels
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New Ethnic Groups
• The dominant American culture exerts pressure on
immigrants to become absorbed in mainstream
society
• New immigrants are much more likely to be Asian or
Hispanic
• Tend to cluster together geographically
• Word-of-mouth is especially important
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America’s Newest Markets
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Figure 14.1
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Ethnic and Racial Stereotypes
Many subcultures have stereotypes associations
• Subgroups are assumed to possess certain traits
(often erroneously) which can be cast either
positively or negatively
• Marketers in the past have made vast use of ethnic
stereotypes to communicate product attributes
• Aunt Jemima and Frito Bandito
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Discussion
• Locate current examples of marketing stimuli that
depend on an ethnic or religious stereotype to
communicate a message
• How effective are these appeals?
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A Model of Consumer Acculturation
• Individual differences affect how rocky adjustment
will be
• Acculturation agents include culture of origin and
culture of immigration
• Assimilation, maintenance, resistance, and
segregation
• Progressive learning model
• Consumer behavior as mix of original culture and
•
host culture
Differences between consumers who retain strong
ethnic identification and more assimilated consumers
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A Model of Consumer Acculturation
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Figure 14.2
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Discussion
• Locate one or more consumers (perhaps family
members) who have emigrated from another country
• Interview them about how they adapted to their host
culture
• In particular, what changes did they make in their
consumption practices over time?
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The “Big Three” American Subcultures
• African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian
Americans
• Hispanic population is now the largest ethnic
subculture (12.5%)
• Asian Americans (3.6%) are the fastest-growing
racial group (due to immigration)
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African Americans
• The African American market is
hardly as homogeneous as
many seem to believe
• Overall spending patterns of
blacks and whites are roughly
similar
• Household income and
educational levels are rising for
African Americans
• Differences in consumption
behaviors can be subtle but
still very important
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Hispanic Americans
• “Hispanic” = many different
backgrounds
• Hispanics are:
• Brand loyal
• Highly concentrated
•
geographically by country
of origin (easy to reach)
Many are rushing to sign
Hispanic celebrities/actors
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Hispanic Americans (cont.)
• Some ad campaigns don’t work well among
Hispanics, while Anglos don’t understand some
products popular among Hispanics
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Distinguishing Characteristics of the
Hispanic Market
• “Young bicultural” Hispanic consumers
• Latino youth are changing mainstream culture
• Looking for spirituality, stronger family ties, and
more color in their lives
• Large family size of Hispanic market
• Spend more on groceries
• Shopping is a family affair
• Regard clothing children well as matter of pride
• Convenience/saving time is not important to
Hispanic homemaker
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Levels of Acculturation: Understanding
Hispanic Identity
• Acculturation: process of movement and adaptation to one
country’s cultural environment by a person from another
country
Segment
Size
Status
Description
Characteristics
Established
Adapters
17%
Upwardly
mobile
Older,
Assimilated into U.S. culture
Young
Strivers
16%
Increasingly
important
Younger
Hopeful
Loyalists
40%
Largest but
shrinking
Working class
Slow to adapt to U.S. culture
Recent
Seekers
27%
Growing
Newest
Strongest identification with
Hispanic background
U.S.-born
Adaptable to U.S. culture
U.S.-born
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Table 14.2 (abridged)
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Levels of Acculturation (cont.)
• Hispanic consumers are
sympathetic to marketing that
emphasizes Hispanic cultural
heritage
• Many younger Hispanics are
searching for their roots and
rediscovering the value of
ethnic identity
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Asian Americans Are…
• Fastest-growing population
group
• Most affluent and best educated
• Most likely to hold technology
job and buy high-tech gadgets
• Most brand-conscious but least
brand loyal
• Most concerned with keeping up
appearances
• Made up of culturally diverse
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subgroups that speak many
different languages/dialects
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Religious Subcultures
• The rise of spirituality
• Explosion of religion/spirituality in pop culture
• Churches are adopting aggressive marketing
• Megachurches
• Religious themes can spill over into everyday
consumption
• “Cult products”
• Marketing opportunity among religious subcultures
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Demographics of Religious Subcultures
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Figure 14.3
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Discussion
• Should members of a religious group adapt
marketing techniques that manufacturers
customarily use to increase market share for their
products? Why or why not?
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Old and New Religions
Large variety of flourishing new
religious movements
•
•
•
•
•
Scientologists
•
•
•
•
Cao Dai
Wicca
The Raelians
The Ahmadis
The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual
University
Soka Gakkai International
The Toronto Blessing
 Click photo for
Beliefnet.com
Umbanda
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The Impact of Religion on Consumption
• Religion is seen as a taboo subject to marketers
• Polygamy Porter beer billboard
• Lipton ad mocking the Catholic Church
• Pirelli tires ad with Christ the Redeemer statue
• Dietary and dress requirements create demand for
certain products
• Religious subcultures affect personality, attitudes
toward sexuality, birthrates and household
formation, income, and political attitudes
• Church leaders can encourage and/or discourage
consumption (e.g., boycott of Disney)
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The Born-Again Boom
• Those who follow literal
interpretations of the Bible and
who acknowledge being born
again through belief in Jesus
• Fastest-growing religious
 Click photo for
C28.com
affiliations in United States
• Christian merchandising
activity is increasing
• Christian bookstores
• C28 stores/Not of This World
brand
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Discussion
• Born-again Christian groups have been instrumental
in organizing boycotts of products advertised on
shows they find objectionable, especially those they
feel undermine family values
• Do religious groups have a right or a responsibility
to dictate what advertising a network should carry?
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