Do Ethnic Cues Improve Advertising Effectiveness for Ethnic Consumers?

This research investigates how the presence of ethnic cues in advertisements may influence ethnic consumers. Although past research has established the advertising effectiveness of ethnic cues particularly using the race of models as a cue, none have discussed the effectiveness across different types of ethnic cues. Yet, consumers may process visual and textual cues differently. Drawing on the elaboration likelihood model, we argue that the use of ethnic visual and textual cues in advertising may engender different outcomes. The results show that the presence of ethnic cues increases the likeability of advertisements and brand likeability for ethnic consumers. Visual cues are more effective than textual cues in enhancing advertisement likeability, but both cue types are just as effective for increasing brand likeability. The type of products (generic versus ethnic) makes no significant difference to advertising effectiveness for ethnic consumers. Academic and managerial implications are identified and discussed.