Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 19 December 1991 — Page 18

The Muncie Times, Thursday, 19 December, 1991, Page 18

Advertisers Benefit by Targeting Minorities

West Lafayette, Ind.--To maintain a marketing edge in the coming years, companies will have to do a better job of targeting minority consumers, said a Purdue University Professor. Thelma Snuggs, assistant professor of consumer sciences and retailing, said her research indicates many companies spend a great deal of time researching what majority consumers want, but they don’t exert the same effort to determine minorities’ preferences. “When marketers look at the majority population, they identify the market segment they wish to target,

determine its needs through research and then satisfy those needs,” said Snuggs, who has conducted a number of studies about multicultural retailing and international marketing. “Yet some of the same companies have misconceptions about minorities that may lead them to offend minority consumers or to miss important minority segments altogether.” Snuggs also said, “with minority populations increasing in the United States, companies that miss the mark may pay the price.” “It is not social responsibility, but economic consideration that dictates

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Thelma Snuggs

advertisers be more sensitive to minority consumers and portray them in a positive light,” she said. Specifically, companies must overcome five basic myths to reach minority markets: Myth 1-Minorities are monolithic groups. Snuggs said there is a tendency to treat minority groups as homogeneous, when in fact there are many sub-markets within the black, Hispanic and Asian populations. For instance, black sub-markets include African-Americans,

West Indians, and Jamaicans, while Hispanics include Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Cubans, among others. All may require different marketing approaches. Myth 2-Minorities are the same as majority consumers. “The American melting pot is not a reality for many minority consumers,” Snuggs said. “We all are products of our cultures, and the minority cultures are very different from the majority.” Myth 3--You do not need to target minority consumers because you can reach them with mass media. Snuggs cited studies that show brand identification and intent-to-purchase scores are higher among blacks viewing ads in a black publication as opposed to a white one. “Minority consumers, like mainstream consumers, can identify with media specifically developed to meet their needs,” she said.

Myth 4-Language is a minor consideration. On the contrary, Snuggs said upper-scale blacks are likely to be offended when black slang is injected into ads. “While certain segments of the black population, such as teen-agers or lower or middle-class consumers, may respond positively to such language, it may be entirely inappropriate for other segments,” she said. “And the offensive or stereotypical ads could be avoided if marketers would do some research.” Myth 5-Minorities put a low value on product diversity. Minorities do not like to see a disproportionate number of ads for potentially detrimental products, such as cigarettes and alcohol, in ethnic-oriented media, Snuggs said. “The variety of products advertised to black consumers is much more limited than those targeted to white consumers, Snuggs

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