From Representation to Reception : Evaluating the Impact of Diversity in TV Advertising on Consumer Purchase Intention

While most managers today acknowledge the importance of featuring diverse racial identities in their marketing communications, empirical research that shows how improving such representation may affect consumer behavior is lacking. To fill this gap, we use face recognition and race classification technologies to quantify the Black actor share of ads in TV ad creatives and investigate its impact on consumer purchase intention. We show that this impact depends on the processing route and the level of public attention to racial inequality. Our findings indicate that before the murder of George Floyd, consumers displayed a stronger tendency to purchase from brands featuring a higher representation of Black actors in their ads when they engaged in peripheral processing. However, during the period characterized by increased public attention to racial inequality after George Floyd’s murder, consumers were less inclined to purchase from brands with a higher representation of Black actors in their ads when they engaged in central processing. Our study underscores a need for a nuanced understanding of the complexity involved in effectively conveying a commitment to diversity and meeting consumer expectations amid a dynamically shifting sociopolitical environment