Shades of Representation : Auto-Detection and Perception of Skin-tone Diversity in Visual Marketing Communication

Skin-tone representation in brand visuals can signal brands' diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. However, it is unclear what skin-tone DEI means to people, and there is no objective standard for its quantification from visual content. We propose an automated framework assessing skin-tone DEI across three dimensions: richness (number of skin-tone categories included), evenness (equality of representation of different skin-tone categories), and brightness (lightness or darkness of skin-tones). Through a collage-making experiment, we discover that people perceive representations with greater richness, greater evenness, and darker skin tones as more diverse. After testing the reliability and sensitivity, we find that richness and evenness are objective measures, whereas brightness is subjective due to heterogeneity of observers' perceptions. Applying our methodology to 48,607 images posted on Instagram and Twitter by 34 fashion brands from 2019 to 2021, we find: (1) brands featured significantly more darker skin tones in their visual communication from May 2020, possibly influenced by Black-out Tuesday; and (2) noticeable improvement in skin-tone inclusion and equality within these brands did not emerge until August 2020. This study enhances our understanding of skin-tone DEI, provides tools for future researchers, and offers managerial implications for practitioners to benchmark and target their DEI efforts