Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Professor of Marketing Subodh Bhat discussed an increase in interracial relationships in American advertisements.
While Bhat believes these ads may attract consumers from biracial families or relationships, they also pull in customers whose values align with the diversity in TV commercials and other advertising. “The public is no longer simply interested in which product might be slightly better,” Bhat says. “They also want to feel good about the company’s values.”
However, there is still room to grow in this area. In his research on advertising with mixed-race couples, Bhat discovered that “ads depicting Black and white couples elicited more negative emotions and attitudes toward a brand than comparable ads showing same-race couples.” The conscious inclusion of interracial couples and families in ads elicits many reactions, both positive and negative, but is a step in the direction of reflecting an increasingly diverse America.
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