The effect of racial cues on the reader's response to advertisements : A US-China comparative study

Purpose – Given that global advertising often originates in the West, this study aimed to investigate whether the same racial cues in advertising had different effects on US and Chinese readers who belonged to the majority group in their own country but occupied varied positions in the global racial hierarchy. Design/methodology/approach – The study included two experiments that used US and Chinese college students as participants to test the effect of model race on model likeability, ad attitude, and brand attitude. Findings – The experiments confirmed that model race affected the effectiveness of advertising, though the nature and extent of its effects were mediated by factors such as country and product category. The effects of model race were much more pronounced for the Chinese data than for the US data, and for computer than for beer. Practical implications – The findings illustrate the inadequacy of the center-periphery approach to global advertising planning, expose the limitations of the social identity theory in predicting racial attitudes in international settings, and outline the ethical challenge for global advertisers to develop effective multicultural advertising. Originality/value – To date, most studies on racial cues in advertising have focused on the USA, and very few have explored the topic in the context of other markets. As an initial cross-country comparative investigation, this study suggests that multicultural advertising does not have the same effect in international markets.