Gen Z, Sexuality and Brands
Gen Z has different attitudes about sexuality than most older Americans. What are the implications for brands? Read more »
LGBTQ
Not All Boycotts are Equal
A Harvard Business Review paper points to a number of reasons why the Bud Light boycott was more effective than most. The researchers suggest steps companies can take to avoid such boycotts while emphasizing the unique circumstances of this particular situation.
- Past Event Highlights
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Industry In Progress: Unlocking The Power of Inclusive Advertising
Denya Chinquee – Senior Director, Audience Impact & Intelligence, Paramount Advertising
Michelle Green – Manager, Audience Impact & Intelligence, Paramount Advertising
Representation in advertising is more complicated than ever with brands getting it wrong receiving strong backlash. Denya Chinquee and Michelle Green of Paramount Advertising discussed their latest study on on-screen representation, which evaluated the state of inclusivity in advertising, consumer expectations and effective advertising strategies. They used a multi-phase research approach using mobile ethnographies, in-depth interviews, semiotics, ad database analysis, foresight analysis and a nationally representative survey of over 3,500 consumers. They also went beyond race and ethnicity to include Native/Indigenous people and people who identify as LGBTQ+, differently abled, neurodiverse and those who belong to religious minorities, such as Jewish, Muslim and Hindu. This research helped create The Content for Change Ad Toolkit, which provides guidelines for marketers to build up their inclusivity IQ. Key takeaways:- Representation matters in media: 85% of consumers agree that the way people are portrayed in entertainment influences perceptions about them in the real-world.
- It’s also equally important in advertising: 73% of consumers say diversity, equality and inclusion is important in advertising.
- The events of 2020 drove an increase in diverse representation; however, we are now seeing a decline in representation with Hispanic representation having the sharpest decline (9% in 2021 to 5% in 2022) even though Hispanics make up 20% of the total U.S. population.
- Misrepresentation is worse than no representation, according to the majority of respondents. Negative stereotypes perpetuated by advertising impact how people of minority groups are seen by society.
- Sixty-two percent of consumers are more likely to notice brands that represent people like them.
- Inclusion drives purchase intent, loyalty and consumers’ willingness to pay more: 57% are more likely to buy from brands that represent people like them, 53% are more loyal to brands that represent people like them and 45% would pay more for a brand that is embracing inclusivity with their ads.
- Inclusivity isn’t one size fits all. Consumers want storytelling that is of universal or omnicultural experiences to more unique or divergent representations.
- Past Event Highlights
- Article
Attitudes Towards Inclusivity in Advertising: A Twelve Country Study
Steven Millman – Global Head of Research & Data Science, Dynata
Steven Millman of Dynata shared key findings from Dynata’s global research on attitudes towards inclusivity in advertising and why that matters. The online survey was conducted across 12 countries (U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, China, Japan, Australia and Brazil) with a representative sample of 18+ adults and a total of 12,043 respondents. The survey examined attitudes and feelings of various minority groups (including LGBTQIA+, women, seniors, people with disabilities). Race was only considered for the U.S. sample, as race couldn’t be asked in certain countries or it was challenging to get sufficient diverse samples by race in non-U.S. countries. Overall, the study found that members of minority groups generally feel somewhat less authentically represented in advertising than do others. With the exception of racial minorities in the U.S., marginalized groups also tend to feel less satisfied by their portrayals in advertising. The presentation also delved into cross-country trends and differences, as well as a deeper dive into the impact of political affiliations and gender on attitudes and purchase intent in the U.S. along issues of inclusivity and diversity. Key takeaways:- Across countries, members of minority groups generally feel somewhat less authentically represented in advertising than do others. However, most people do not across the board.
- Marginalized groups, especially LGBTQ+, are also less likely to be satisfied by their portrayals in advertising. The only exception was underrepresented racial group in the U.S.
- In general, people think inclusivity in advertising is important, especially among younger groups. However, the exception was seniors, who only ranked portrayals of people over 65 as highly important.
- Portrayals of equal representation of women and men and people with disabilities ranked the highest in importance across different age demos.
- Portrayals of the LGBTQIA+ community ranked the lowest in term of importance across all age groups, and the portrayal of LGBTQIA+ was important to less than half of non-LGBTQIA+ respondents.
- The majority felt that we are going in the right direction in terms of whether things are getting better or worse with respect to inclusivity in advertising. This satisfaction was overall lower in the U.S., similarly between racial and non-racial minorities.
- In the U.S., Democratic men were much more likely than Republican or Independent men to say that they would be more likely to purchase from inclusive advertisers. There were similar differences among women along party lines, but the gaps were much closer.
- Among countries, Brazil reported the importance of the portrayals of marginalized groups as the highest.
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Authentic Representation – Where We Are and How the Audience Perceives it
This March 7th event, curated by the ARF Cultural Effectiveness Council, explored the topic of authentic representation by sharing research on the current landscape and audience perceptions, as well as research to improve authentic representation in media and advertising.
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A Guide to Diverse & Inclusive Terminology, Including Definitions and Best Practices
How can we more effectively understand and communicate with the diverse audiences of 21st century America? The ARF Cultural Effectiveness Council has created a guide to help accomplish this. It contains the latest information about diversity and inclusive terminology—an ever-evolving subject—specific definitions and best practices. This guide helps researchers and media and marketing professionals to recognize and understand preferred terms that are used to identify members of these audiences, to show proper respect and connect with them more effectively.
Member Only AccessDEI in 2024
In addition to the ARF event, DEI and diversity were recently addressed by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) strategic partners in their forecasts for 2024 priorities and in a new Morning Consult study.
OTT 2023 Conference
As the media landscape continues to evolve at, arguably, the fastest rate ever, the meaning of OTT has changed from “Over-the-Top” to include video content on all platforms. The ARF’s 2023 OTT conference, held last month in LA, was about “OTT and Beyond.” Read more »
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Does Having Multicultural Marketing Mean Your Brand is Inclusive?
Multicultural marketing is popular today. Its aim is to increase inclusion through consumption. But does propagating such marketing make a brand inclusive? An inclusive brand is one that creates, communicates and delivers offerings that serve underrepresented communities, say researchers in this Marketing Science Institute (MSI) working paper. In this way, such brands enhance lives through increased equality, acceptance, respect, belonging and empowerment.
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- Research & Data Quality
- Article
Navigating the Evolving Media Landscape
The media landscape continues to evolve, arguably at a faster rate than ever. Leading media and measurement experts presented research-based insights on how viewers use different forms of TV/video on various platforms. Attendees joined us at the Warner Bros. Discovery Studios in California and via livestream to understand the latest data and discussions of the data’s implications.
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