Study: Inclusion of Multiracial Families in Advertising Can Contribute to a Positive Attitude Toward the Ads and the Brand

A new study has found that the use of multiracial families in advertising can promote a positive attitude toward the ad as well as the brand and purchase intention.

The findings by University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) doctoral student Chelsea Moss and UFCJC Public Relations Professor and Executive Associate Dean Spiro Kiousis are featured in “The Model Family: The Effect of Multiracial Families in Advertising on Emerging Adult Consumers’ Attitudes and Intentions” published in Mass Communication and Society on April 16.

The authors tested the effect of advertisements featuring a multiracial family on emerging adult consumers’ responses.

According to the authors, “Our results lend preliminary support that practitioners should seek to use multiracial families in their advertising targeted at emerging adults as it directly promotes positive attitudes toward the ad and indirectly positively effects attitude toward the brand and purchase intention.”

They add, “While neither personal nor perceived parental attitudes toward interracial relationships and multiracial families was found to moderate the effect of multiracial family portrayal on consumer responses, this study’s development of two new attitude scales offers great promise for future research examining emerging adulthood, advertising effects, and perceptions of racial portrayals more broadly.”

Posted: April 18, 2024
Category: College News, Student News
Tagged as: Chelsea Moss, Multiracial Advertising, Public Relations, Spiro Kiousis