8. Black Models and the Invention of the US “Negro Market,” 1945–1960

Brown, Elspeth H.

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576746.003.0009

Cited by 13 publications

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“…This research shows how in their efforts to create consumer engagement, brands contribute narratives and frameworks that allow for the legitimization (social fitness) of cultural groups in broader societal contexts. For ethnic minorities, market visibility has been an important means of creating legitimacy (Brown, 2011). This study found that companies increase the visibility of Hispanic communities through narratives that emphasize leadership, accomplishment, community engagement and endurance.…”

Section: Theoretical Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bilingual brand communities? Strategies for targeting Hispanics on social media

Villegas¹,

Marin

2021

JPBM

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Purpose This paper aims to explore different strategies used by brands to target the Hispanic market via social media from the lens of the Spanish language in a multicultural country like the USA. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a netnographic approach by drawing information from a study of the Facebook pages of 11 brands belonging to different industries. Findings Companies engage in four levels of cultural identity adaptation using different strategies based on ethnicity: language adaptation, identity elements, identity matching and Latino persona. The study also shows that merely translating Facebook pages do not generate high levels of communitarian interaction. Practical implications This study examines different strategies used by brands in the USA to target the Hispanic audience on social media to provide insights for brand managers to develop online engagement. Originality/value With the increase in cultural diversity in different countries and the rise of social media platforms, brand researchers need to better understand how cultural identity permeates marketing strategies in online spaces. Social media platforms such as Facebook offer flexible environments where strategies beyond product- and brand-related aspects can be used. This study extends the literature by showing the heterogeneity of cultural identity-based strategies used by companies to ensure customer engagement and brand loyalty and the impact of such strategies on users.

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Section: Theoretical Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bilingual brand communities? Strategies for targeting Hispanics on social media

Villegas¹,

Marin

2021

JPBM

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“…Therefore, we claim that segmentation should be conceived as a representational practice that includes the social construction of consumer subjects in the public domain. From consumer activists representing fellow consumers as potential market segments (Scaraboto and Fischer, 2013;Stigzelius, 2018) to the socio-political imperatives characterizing ethnic groups through their purchasing power (Brown, 2012;Dávila, 2012), markets are a recurrent source of consumer representations, some of which can (and often do) become commercial targets.…”

Section: Expanding the Conceptualization Of Market Segmentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In consequence, while we have ample evidence of a phenomenon in which CIs participate in the categorization of consumers (Chessel and Dubuisson-Quellier, 2018;Lien, 2004), and that CIs have devised consumer categories that marketers target in their commercial efforts (Brown, 2012;Rinallo, 2011), this phenomenon lacks the systematic research of the ad hoc and syndicated segmentation modalities. We address this limitation by investigating empirically one episode of feral segmentation.…”

Section: Introducing Feral Segmentation: the Role Of Cis In Segmentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feral segmentation: How cultural intermediaries perform market segmentation in the wild

Ruiz

Kjellberg

2020

Marketing Theory

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This article extends the S-T-P framework of market segmentation (i.e. segmentation, targeting, and positioning), showing that firms have more sources of segments than previously acknowledged, including the option of integrating feral segments that emerge publicly in the marketplace. While the S-T-P framework currently focuses on ad hoc segmentation tailored for a focal firm and syndicated segmentation made for commercialization to multiple firms, this article introduces feral segmentation in which cultural intermediaries (CIs) coin consumers categories through their familiarity with popular culture. Empirically, the article investigates how CIs constructed the lumbersexual segment, a neologism combining the narcissism of the metrosexual with the roughness of the lumberjack. The findings include a four-step feral segmentation process: (1) Establishing deviance—singling out anomalies that lower the explanatory power of existing segments. (2) Prototyping—sketching profiles that enhance familiarity and allow identification. (3) Anchoring—attaching the segment into public discussions. (4) Vaccination—coining preemptive validations against criticism.

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“…Producing convincing data on the purchasing power of the post-war Negro market was an essential survival strategy for black newspapers and periodicals, which needed reliable data to convince white businesses to advertise in these media outlets. The results of these subsequent empirical or quantitative studies were reported on heavily in the black press, however, with less attention paid in the white press until the early 1960s, when articles on the “ethnic market” and the “Negro market” appeared with increasing regularity in the business trade press (Brown, 2011, p. 185).…”

Section: Marketing Literature In the Period Under Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Brown (2011) discusses the US advertising industry as a site of symbolic apartheid. She contends that the emergence of black modelling agencies in the late 1940s signified a renewed wave of efforts by Negro market experts and civil rights groups to both render visible a black consuming public and to change how blacks were depicted in white advertising.…”

Section: Discourse Of the White Backlashmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Negro marketing dilemma

Ibrahim

2016

JHRM

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Purpose Terminologies such as “integrated marketing” and “market segmentation” may be common parlance in contemporary marketing literature, but, in post-war America, they had distinct racial orientations mediated by a history of segregation. This paper aims to examine the resonant discourses in the construction of the Negro market in post-war America and observes that the field of marketing provides a historiography, where Negro marketing was constructed as dilemmatic and through a duality of the black market impacting the well-established white market. A survey of marketing literature from the 1950s to the 1970s reflects a discursive turn from scepticism and caution in approaching the Negro market to evoking the ethical discourse and advocating equal rights for the black consumer. Design/methodology/approach A review of articles on the topic reveals that research occurred in other academic fields beyond the remit of marketing, and these different disciplines approached the issue of the Negro market from different research orientations and fields of enquiry. This paper focuses on academic literature that was published in marketing and business journals which were concerned with marketing to the black community. The journals reviewed in this paper include Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing/Communications, The Journal of Business, The Journal of Marketing and Journal of Advertising Research published from the 1950s to the 1960s. In reviewing the marketing literature from these journals, it highlights the recurrent and resonant themes and shifts in discourse in the period mentioned. Findings Despite the scepticism, there was a recognition among market researchers that they were in a unique position to influence significantly the future relationships between blacks and whites in America (Gould et al., 1970, p. 26; Kassarjian, 1971; Hair et al., 1977; Solomon et al., 1976). The marketing discourses also showed reluctance in supporting black media, as advertising agencies did not have a preference for it. Black advertising organizations, while providing access to the Negro market, were seen as having high preparation costs and high costs per thousand in terms of reaching the population. There was also dissatisfaction expressed with the results of the copy (Alexis, 1959). Originality/value The moral turn in advertising is evident in the late 1960s and early 1970s, where marketers spoke of intervention beyond market strategies. Cohen (1970, p. 3) argued fervently that there exists an opportunity for advertising to improve its social image by giving more attention to the black community. The moral discourse of social responsibility as marketers and advertisers sought to go beyond advocating consumer rights to recognising that structural changes and attitudinal shifts was required to reform the industry through recruitment and training of black staff in creative and consultative roles. Wall (1970, p. 48), in commenting on integrated advertising, observed that beyond producing advertisements which create a sense of equality in life style and values, black employment is vitally important in creative levels in the advertising industry to improve credibility and acceptance.

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8. Black Models and the Invention of the US “Negro Market,” 1945–1960

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

Bilingual brand communities? Strategies for targeting Hispanics on social media

Bilingual brand communities? Strategies for targeting Hispanics on social media

Feral segmentation: How cultural intermediaries perform market segmentation in the wild

The Negro marketing dilemma

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