Premium
Why do I identify with thee? Let me count three ways: How ad context influences race‐based character identification
Author(s) -
Brumbaugh Anne M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
psychology and marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.035
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1520-6793
pISSN - 0742-6046
DOI - 10.1002/mar.20308
Subject(s) - race (biology) , identification (biology) , character (mathematics) , psychology , mainstream , context (archaeology) , white (mutation) , social psychology , african american , gender studies , sociology , anthropology , paleontology , philosophy , biochemistry , mathematics , theology , chemistry , gene , biology , botany , geometry
Three quasi‐experimental studies with nonstudent samples reveal that one's ability to identify with a character shown in an ad based on shared race depends on the construction of the ad and the context in which characters are depicted. Results show that race‐based identification overshadows both gender‐ and role‐based identification for a racially targeted ad for distinctive black subjects but occurs for both black and white subjects for a culturally ambiguous ad. Further, results show that race‐based character identification is absent when black and white characters are depicted in a mainstream inclusive ad and that dominant cultural norms predominate. Theoretical and managerial implications regarding the contextuality of race‐based identification, processing of source cues, and construction of ads in a pluralistic society are discussed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.