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Target marketing

In a competitive business environment, brands have to design and market their products

or services in order to attract a particular market segment. This is normally achieved through the

target market, which is a process of on segmenting a market depending on certain features. The

United States has experienced transformation in the 21st century in terms of demographic

distribution from white dominant population to a diverse society. Initially, America constituted

of more than 87% of white while African Americans made up the large composition of the

primary minority groups (SCHAEFFER). However, the country has experience a significant

increase in other races especially among the Asians and Hispanic populations. According to the

latest demographic data, the ethnic minorities make up approximately 25% of the total US

population, with an estimation of reaching 50% by the year 2020. Today, ethnic minorities are

more educated and therefore have more disposable income in comparison to the past. As a result,

their purchasing power has increased significantly, with the estimation of a combined $600

billion annually. Many companies have realized the changes in market dynamics and have in

turn taken a different approach to the production and marketing of their products or services.

Brands are creating products to target specific markets through target adverts. Thus, consumers

from specific races are more likely to receive such information as compared to adverts that target

general masses. The same strategy has also been implemented in technology particularly social

networking sites. The applications and websites are capable of running targetted adverts
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depending on specific programs. This paper aims to discuss of brands are using target adverts to

attract certain market segment depending on their ethnicity.

Research indicates that most of the firms in America have an ethnic marketing program

(Cui et al). Whereas some companies have mastered the art of targeting consumers based on their

race or culture, some have failed to achieve the intended objective. In most cases, the failure is

associated with inadequate knowledge in addition to assumptions resulting from prejudices and

stereotypes about a particular race. Such kind of advert receive negative review for the target

consumers thus affecting the brands. This is prevalent especially in cosmetic industries as well as

fashion. Various ads have been accused of supporting racism, especially those that target black

people. Therefore, the development of strategies as well as products targeting different ethnic

backgrounds have become an essential part of the business. However, due to higher diversity

including race, nationality, and language, it is hard for a marketer to use similar techniques for

all consumer groups (De, Mooij).

According to marketing theories, an effective marketing plan must understand the target

market in terms of demographics as well as psychographically. The method used should allow

delivering of the customized message that are appealing to interested consumers. This helps in

reducing the expenses associated with reaching disinterested consumers in addition to getting

more feedback for the target audience. For instance, cosmetic companies may receive more

feedback from advertising in fashion magazines than normal print media such as Time

Magazine that has a broader readership. Similarly, perfume company might run adverts in

different platforms but have varying designs targeting both male and females in their respective

magazines. The same concept is used when targeting various ethnic groups. Therefore, the target

market plays a significant role in allowing advertisers to reach a market audience that is likely to
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purchase the products or services. Additionally, advertisers can design campaigns that are

relevant to the target population.

In America, most of advertisements created to attract masses in most cases are assumed

to appeal to the whites-only since they are the majority. Initially, ads that acknowledge that some

individuals in the masses were not whites were based on stereotypes, for instance, Aunt Jemima

pancakes, which has undergone various transformations over the years. The company’s intention

is to build relevant cultural images by eliminating biasness and stereotypes.

In 1999, the National Rifle Association ran an advert in opposing gun control regulations.

However, the ethnic minority group, especially African Americans, viewed the ad to be racist

and therefore opposed the add. The advertisement had mug shots of males from black and

Hispanic communities, which was seen as to relay a message that irresponsible use of the gun

was associated with minority groups. The goal of the advert was taint ethnic minority especially

African American and Hispanic in a negative way and vice versa for the white individuals who

owned licensed gun. The ad also supported the notion that members from the two communities

are in most cases associated with criminal activities.

Studies have demonstrated overrepresentation of blacks in both athletes and the

entertainment industry during advertisements (Dixon et al). The visibility of African Americans

in advertisement has increased over the years. This comprises of celebrities including actors,

athletes as well as musicians. In most cases, the adverts are created to resonate with black

audiences. For example, in magazines such as Ebony which is considered to have a wider

African American readership, normally features black models that support stills resonates with

the ideology of black is beautiful movement. Recent research indicates that in the last 10 years,

more than 80 percent of the models in Ebony have been African Americans with few models
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from other races and most are children models. Additionally, some products are more associated

with black people than others, particularly designer clothes such as Tommy Hilfiger. The brand

started initially by dressing hip hop artist and later became more popular within the black

community. Also, until recently, Gucci had a large following among the black people but lost

some significant percentage after the “balaclava jumper” product. Also, H&M received a

massive backlash after featuring a black child wearing a hoodie that was printed “coolest

monkey in the jungle.”

The continued growth of the Hispanic population in the United States has seen a rise in

the publication of spinach magazines, which have a higher number of Spanish subscribers

(Flores). Such magazines aids in reaching a particular ethnic community when running adverts as

compared to the broad ones, which are universal. Advertisers are therefore taking advantage of

such customized magazines in reaching Hispanic consumers. As a result, only individuals who

understand Spanish will get information about related products. Companies in fashion industries

have been targeting Hispanic consumers through such magazines.

Furthermore, some adverts are believed to target some ethnic groups. For example, junk

food adverts have been accused of targeting African Americans as well as Hispanic youths,

which has contributed to health disparities. According to the Rudd Report, Hispanic youth

viewed an average of two adverts in Spanish language and the English language every day. The

brands that ranked top in making targeted adverts included McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Taco

Bell, which invested in advertisements in the Spanish language whereas Domino’s, Burger King,

and Arby’s spent more on target adverts in Black-oriented TV programs. The advertising

patterns implies that African American and Hispanic likes junk food as compared to healthier

meals(Harris)
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Use of social media to target consumers

Recently, there has been increased target advertising using social media in America.

Targeted advertising can easily be implemented in social networks, depending on the key

variables of the user. The websites and applications are capable of storing data which can be

used to make predictions as well as personalized advertisement. Additionally, social networks

can collect information about the location. However, advertisers are taking advantage of taking

the information and using it to create ads that target specific individuals based on key

information. Notably, Facebook has been charged for misusing personal data from its users

(Julia). In 2018, the Department of Housing and Urban Development filed a suit against

Facebook for mishandling data, thus violating the Fair Housing Act which conducting

advertisements. The social media platforms had developed algorithms that allowed

discrimination on the basis of race. Users received adverts about the house in some specific areas

depending on their race and location.

In media advertises, cases of racist attitudes targeting both minority businesses and

consumers have been reported. Particularly, in real estate and financial institutions have been

accused of inferential racism in addition to acts of discrimination. Similar to the Facebook

scandal which is connected to real estate, both institutions declined to serve individuals from a

minority group in the past. The practice of steering some race to particular neighborhoods is now

be conducted through internet advertisement, though indirectly. An example, Wells Fargo was

alleged to have targeted consumers depending on their race through the website classification of

packages. As a result, the institution had to disable some elements from the website, which stated

that the majority of residents under low-income lifestyle consisted of blacks at 89 percent but

rank high in the usage of pest control service.

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In conclusion, due to increased competition brands are targeting consumers based on

their ethnicity. Using magazines, and television programs, companies can reach specific

customers using a particular market strategy. Additionally, technology including social networks

such as Facebook and website are being used to run target adverts to particular races.
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Works Cited

Cui, Geng, and Pravat Choudhury. "Effective strategies for ethnic segmentation and

marketing." Proceedings of the 1998 Multicultural Marketing Conference. Springer,

Cham, 2015.

De Mooij, Marieke. Consumer behavior and culture: Consequences for global marketing and

advertising. SAGE Publications Limited, 2019.

Dixon, Travis L., Kristopher R. Weeks, and Marisa A. Smith. "Media Constructions of Culture,

Race, and Ethnicity." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. 2019.

Flores, Antonio. "How the US Hispanic population is changing." Pew Research Center 18

(2017).

Harris, J. (2019). Increasing disparities in unhealthy food advertising targeted to Hispanic and

Black youth. [online] Uconnruddcenter.org. Available at:

http://uconnruddcenter.org/files/Pdfs/TargetedMarketingReport2019.pdf [Accessed 8

Dec. 2019].

Julia Angwin, T. (2019). Facebook Lets Advertisers Exclude Users by Race — ProPublica.

[online] ProPublica. Available at: https://www.propublica.org/article/facebook-lets-

advertisers-exclude-users-by-race [Accessed 8 Dec. 2019].

Schaffer , K. (2019). The most common age among whites in U.S. is 58 – more than double that

of racial and ethnic minorities. [online] Pew Research Center. Available at:
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https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/30/most-common-age-among-us-racial-

ethnic-groups/ [Accessed 8 Dec. 2019].