Advertising To The Ages
May 3, 2005 Rachel Sobel, Jacquelyn Vainik, Scott Witt, Michael Worringer
“The Multicultural “American Dream” Index study reports that AsianAmericans, Hispanic-Americans and African Americans are increasing household income, obtaining mortgages, owning small businesses and earning college degrees more than three times as quickly as Americans.”
(Source:Drewniany, B. & Jewler, A. (2001). Creative Strategy In Advertising. Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, Belmont: CA.)
Thesis
Advertisers have become more race conscious in the 21st century. All ads, regardless of age of target audience, will try to incorporate minorities in order to reflect the increasing diversity of the population.
Talking To Our Kids
Farming/cultivating consumers Showing diversity in a different way
Shark Tale ad
Talking To our Kids
Kids do not look at ads critically… unknowingly looking at ads and not realizing they are including minorities.
Nickelodeon family suites ad
Advertising Regulations for Kids
“Younger children have a limited capacity for evaluating the credibility of information they receive…Advertisers, therefore, have a special responsibility to protect children from their own susceptibilities.” “Care should be taken to incorporate minority and other groups in advertisements in order to present positive and pro-social roles and role models wherever possible.”
(Source: Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children’s Advertising (1974)) Self-
Teens and ’Tweens = $$$
The youth market is fast becoming a major force for advertisers and marketers because of their increasing purchasing power. One in three teens is an ethnic or racial minority Teens spent $170 billion in 2002 Teens, especially 16- and 17-year-olds, spend $1,300 of their own money annually.
(sources: U.S. Census Bureau, 2002 and Sheridan)
Spend, Spend, Spend! Pulling In Our Teens
Minority representation becomes apparent to teens
Young adults are highly advertised to… advertisers spend most time focusing on teen market
Minorities included in ads for mainstream products, but usually in stereotyped fashion
Pepsi ad
Therefore, young adults are getting most stereotyped messages
All Grown Up… What Will Advertisers Do Now?
People are increasingly turning to the web for news Advertisers aware of this For example, local online advertising spending: 2003: $2.1 billion 2004: $2.7 billion 2005: $3.9 billion projected
(source: ClickZ stats)
All Grown Up… What Will Advertisers Do Now?
Online Newspaper web sites: 44 percent ($1.2b) Demographics: “Internet users between the ages of 25 and 34, with household incomes over $75,000, are more active online than the overall U.S. Web population.” 72% male
(source: ClickZ stats)
All Grown Up… What Will Advertisers Do Now?
Hours of Internet use per week by race (2001):
White- 6.2 Black- 3.8 Asian- 8.3 Hispanic- 5.4
(source: Electronic Journal of Sociology) Sociology)
All Grown Up… What Will Advertisers Do Now?
Mainstream advertising generally, but not always, plays to the racial demographics
CNN.com Westin Hotel ads 1, 2 MSNBC.com E-diets ads 1, 2 NYTimes.com Citibank ads 1, 2
Ads targeted at minorities use mainly minorities
www.blackreport.com Amazon.com 1, 2 www.nativetimes.com FBI ad
Our thesis= WRONG!!!
The portrayal of minorities is not uniform across age groups.
Our Conclusions
Based on the age of the consumer, minority representation in ads differs Children’s marketing includes multi-racial representation, but it is often under the radar In mainstream marketing, minorities seem to be included as a way of “keeping peace” with consumers Niche marketing for adults succeeds in representing minorities while mainstream fails
Bibliography
Better Business Bureau. Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children’s Advertising , 1975/2003 SelfDrewniany, B. & Jewler, A. (2001). Creative Strategy In Advertising. Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, Belmont: Drewniany, Jewler, CA. Kerner, Sean Michael. “Online Ad Spend Swells.” 1 April 2005. Available Kerner, Available http://www.clickz.com/stats/sectors/advertising/article.php/3494561 http://www.clickz.com/stats/sectors/advertising/article.php/3494561 Korgen, Kathleen et al. “Internet Use Among College Students: Are There Differences By Race/ethnicity?” Korgen, There Electronic Journal of Sociology. 2001. Available http://www.sociology.org/content/vol005.003/korgen.html Sociology. http://www.sociology.org/content/vol005.003/korgen.html McGann, Rob. “Most Active Web Users are Young, Affluent.” 6 January 2005. Available McGann, 2005. http://www.clickz.com/stats/sectors/traffic_patterns/article.php/3455741 http://www.clickz.com/stats/sectors/traffic_patterns/article.php/3455741 Pepsi ad: available at http://www.visit4info.com/details.cfm?adid=20416 Sheridan, Margaret. “Mad Cool Marketing; Appealing to 21st century teems begins by understanding their world.” Restaurants and Institutions, 15 June 2003. Lexis-Nexis. Institutions, Lexis- Nexis. Shark Tale ad, Nickelodeon family suites ad: Nickelodeon magazine, Dec. 2004. magazine,