Race for Recognition

White American and Black American consumers were asked to view a series of clothing ads featuring a mix of Black models and White models. Some of the ads included a relatively small number of models, while the others had a relatively large number. In each ad, the percentages of White and Black models were the same.
     Later, each study participant was asked to estimate the number of White and Black models in the ads. The participant was also shown pictures of Black models and White models and asked to say if each had been or had not been in one of the ads.

• All the consumers in the study—whether Black or White—were generally accurate in guessing the number of White models in the ads.
• When the number of Black models in an ad was relatively small, the White consumers said there were more Black models than there actually were.
• But when the number of Black models was relatively large, the White consumers were generally accurate in guessing the number.
• The Black consumers were generally accurate in guessing the number of Black models when the number was small, but were notably less accurate in their frequency estimates when the number of Black models was relatively large.
• The White study participants were substantially more accurate than the Black study participants in recalling the faces of the Black models.

     The researchers, based at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, attribute the differences to a high interest consumers of a racial minority have in checking that their race is represented. The evidence is that the Black consumers, when viewing each ad, would count the number of Black models, which left insufficient attention for storing in memory the facial features of the models.
     The study findings are a reminder to retailers that in advertising and store staffing, your shoppers who consider themselves to be in the racial, ethnic, cultural, or language minority pay close attention to whether their minority is represented equitably.
     Researchers from Stanford University found that Black Americans had more positive reactions to an ad with Black actors than American Whites had to the same sort of ad featuring White actors. Latino consumers living in Austin, Texas—where Latinos were an ethnic minority—were more likely to trust a Latino salesperson than were Latino consumers living just 80 miles away in San Antonio—where Latinos were an ethnic majority.

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