Ethnic marketing to the global millennial consumers: Challenges and opportunities

This paper reports on an exploratory interpretivist study of global millennial consumers' subjective interpretations of ethnic targeted marketing communications in a multicultural marketplace. Although millennials are the most ethnically diverse generational cohort that has ever existed, little is known about their interpretation of ethnicity depiction in advertising and how they draw from advertising imagery to infer their ethnic identity, social acceptance and inclusion in a culturally diverse society. Within the broader context of the global consumer culture, this paper draws on theories of social identity, persuasion and multiculturalism to investigate whether ethnic marketing is still applicable to reach the diverse millennial consumers. In-depth interviews with the photo elicitation technique were conducted with an ethnically heterogeneous sample of twenty-three millennial individuals in the UK. The findings show that ethnic millennials' multicultural identities cannot be primed through mono-ethnic targeted messages, whereas multi-ethnic embedded marketing communications provide a more effective access for the ethnically diverse millennial consumers in the modern society and can potentially be a viable solution towards enhanced wellbeing and lower prejudice. This study contributes to insights into millennial consumers' experience in the multicultural marketplace, the sociocultural meanings of ethnic advertising and the opportunities and challenges of reaching to this diverse audience

Ethnic marketing: the good, the bad and the unknown

The representation and targeting of ethnic minority consumers in marketing has sparked debate recently. Global brands have been criticized for using stereotyping or exoticizing portrayals of race and ethnicity in marketing communications that misrepresent or exclude certain consumer segments (ASA, 2022) and are accused of racially profiling or mistreating ethnic minority consumers in retail settings (Pittman, 2020). Yet, a review of the ethnic marketing literature shows a paucity of research aimed at understanding whether ethnic marketing, as a targeting strategy, is effective not only for financial gains, but for ethnic consumers’ wellbeing and positive integration in the host society (Licsandru & Cui, 2018). Drawing on seminal theories such as the common in-group identity model (Gaertner et al., 1993), the intergroup contact theory (Allport, 1954) and more recent work on inclusive marketing in multicultural marketplaces (Demangeot et al., 2019; Licsandru & Cui, 2018), this chapter aims to shed light on the underlying processes that motivate consumers’ response to portrayals of ethnicity in marketing communications and, more broadly, other ethnic marketing efforts (e.g. product and service design, race-based segmentation). We critique the effectiveness of ethnic marketing targeted at mono-ethnic consumer segments to successfully elicit the multifaceted identities of multicultural consumers and call for more inclusive marketing approaches to enhance both minority- and majority-ethnic consumers’ positive feelings of inclusion, wellbeing and conviviality in the multicultural marketplace (Licsandru & Cui, 2018)

Subjective social inclusion: A conceptual critique for socially inclusive marketing

This paper draws on an interdisciplinary theoretical background to define the new construct of subjective social inclusion and initiate a new theoretical framework of inclusive marketing. We define subjective social inclusion as a multi-dimensional construct comprising of acceptance, belongingness, empowerment, equality and respect. The proposed framework of inclusive marketing explains the potential effect of multi-ethnic embedded marketing communications on self-feelings of social inclusion by ethnic consumers, as well as the intervening effects of ethnic self-referencing, ethnic self-awareness, ethnic self-identification and self-congruity. The analysis shows that multi-ethnic embedded marketing communications may represent an effective means to more inclusive communication with ethnic individuals for the benefits of consumer wellbeing and marketing effectiveness. This paper initiates a new research agenda of marketing to disadvantaged individuals, with implications for future research, practice, and public policy