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Marketing to ethnic minoritiesin BritainSonny Nwankwo

Sheffield Business School, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK,and

Andrew LindridgeSchool of Business and Management, South Cheshire College, UK

Introduction: ethnic marketing in BritainEthnic marketing is a term widely used in the USA to refer to the study ofmarketing within ethnic minority contexts (Cui, 1997; Venkatesh, 1995).Although it is fundamentally different from multicultural marketing(Nwankwo, 1996), the two terms are often used interchangeably (Nwankwo etal., 1997).

Efforts at marketing to ethnic minorities in Britain are currently at anembryonic stage. Very few companies have considered ethnic marketing in amanner evident in the USA (Hirschman, 1981; O’Guinn and Meyer, 1984;Rossman, 1994; Segal and Sosa, 1983). It is hard to find large British companieswith a well-developed multicultural marketing plan. Consequently, there areinadequate strategic insights into the nature of the ethnic minorities market. Itis rather disturbing that, in spite of the advances in marketing theory whichacknowledge the growing importance of diversity issues in marketing(Brownlie et al., 1994; Hunt, 1994), and the attendant implications of such issuesfor the strategic development of modern organisations (Robinson and Dechant,1997), there exists a very limited effort in the marketing literature to provideuseful frameworks which might help to improve marketing practices in thisimportant but hitherto neglected sector in Britain.

Recently, however, marketing practitioners have begun to show a growinginterest in ethnic marketing (Dwek, 1997; Kinra, 1997; Sills and Desai, 1996).This burgeoning interest is in part a result of the profoundly changing ethniclandscape of Britain and the heightened awareness that many people from theethnic minorities are more likely than those from the mainstream population todefine themselves according to their ethnic identities (Modood, 1997; Nwankwoet al., 1997). Thus, the prevalent idea in the USA that the “melting pot”metaphor (Glazer and Moynihan, 1968) is being supplanted by the “tossedsalad” or “cultural mosaic” metaphors (Venkatesh, 1995) is also, to a significantextent, true of Britain’s large cities such as Birmingham, Bradford, Leicester,London, Manchester and Sheffield. With an estimated 5.5 per cent of the UKpopulation, and annual spending power of £10 billion, the size of the ethnicminorities population is sufficiently large that they cannot be treated asmarginal. In addition, because their consumption patterns may differ from the

Journal of Marketing Practice:Applied Marketing Science, Vol. 4No. 7, 1998, pp. 200-216. © MCBUniversity Press, 1355-2538

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mainstream population, marketers should show a genuine desire to understandethnic groups, their practices and buying/consumption behaviours. This willhelp to shed light on the dynamics of marketing in a contemporary world andthus illuminate how such an understanding can be of value to marketingpractitioners who are attempting to deal with the implications of a diversesociety. This paper, based on a synthesis of the literature, is a preliminaryattempt at exploring the state of ethnic marketing in Britain.

Ethnic minorities in BritainConceptually, “ethnic minorities” refers to population groups that are small innumber and, by definition, less than the majority mainstream population. As atheoretical construct, it is euphemistically used as a substitute for severalidentifiers – race, religion, language group, a shared history and origin,nationality, etc. (Berthoud et al., 1997; Phinney, 1996a, b; Venkatesh, 1995). Intoday’s Britain, it is used to acknowledge the multi-ethnic or multicultural socialsetting by according a separate status to people belonging to differentiatedethnic groups. Broadly, this includes “white ethnics” (Irish, Polish, Greeks,Turks, etc.) and non-white ethnics (e.g. Africans, Asians, Caribbeans, Chinese).In everyday usage, however, the term is associated with immigrant populations,a convenient umbrella category under which any population that is not Whitecould be placed (Jones, 1993). This is the stance adopted in this paper. The term“white” is usually applied to people of European ancestry.

Britain experienced its first growth of ethnic minorities during theeighteenth and nineteenth centuries largely due to colonial expansion in Africa,the Caribbean and Indian sub-continent. Over the last 50 years, the influx ofpeople from countries which formerly comprised the British Empire hasresulted in a discernible trend towards a more visibly heterogeneous society.Today, ethnic minorities are estimated at around 3.3 million people, andgrowing. Available statistics indicate that the annual percentage growth rate ofethnic minorities far outstrips that of the White population, as reported bySocial Trends. For example, between 1981 and 1990, there was a 23 per centincrease in the ethnic minority groups compared to 1 per cent rise in the Whitepopulation. The major ethnic groups are:

• Asians – this group mainly comprises Indians, Pakistanis andBangladeshis. Together, they represent about 51 per cent of ethnicminorities. Indians, with a total of 27 per cent of the ethnic population,are the single largest group.

• Blacks – the second largest ethnic group representing 25 per cent of theethnic population.

• Others – including Arabs, Chinese and people of mixed origin represent24 per cent of ethnic minorities in Britain.

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Conceptualisation: rethinking marketing segmentationBefore the 1990s, studies on ethnic marketing, especially in the USA,concentrated on assessing the market potential of subcultural groups as newmarket segments (Albonetti and Dominguez, 1989; Bauer and Cunningham,1970; O’Guinn and Meyer, 1984). As a result, the basic criteria for marketsegments often determined the direction of the study and the type of knowledgegenerated (Costa and Bamossy, 1995). Implicitly, the conventional techniques ofmarket segmentation were deemed adequate to capture the heterogeneity of themarketplace. Currently, however, it is clear that traditional approaches tomarket segmentation can no longer accommodate adequately the diversitiesand complexities of the evolving marketing system, especially as new contexts,with all their attendant paradoxes, are focused upon.

Hoek et al. (1993), in their review article, point out that segmentation ofteninvolves a number of assumptions and arbitrary decisions which render theoutcome unstable and insufficiently robust. What seems to emerge from thecontemporary literature is that the discontinuities of our time are increasinglyexposing the bankruptcy of conventional marketing paradigms (Thomas,1994).

By and large, the ever-changing nature of the modern marketingenvironment, cut-throat competition in many consumer goods markets and theneed to target consumers more effectively are driving marketers continually toreview methods of segmenting markets in which they are interested. Whilesocio-economic segmentation, for example, can still give a broad picture of themarket place, marketing researchers are now exhorted to deploy other, moremeaningful methods. Consequently, there is a growing interest in fleshing outthe inadequacy of traditional approaches to market segmentation (Andreasen,1995; Datta, 1996; Wright, 1996). Companies wishing to engage meaningfully inethnic marketing should be wary of the widespread and uncritical acceptanceby the marketing community of some very dubious assumptions resulting fromthe application of the conventional segmentation techniques.

Furthermore, segmentation analysis, in all its multitudinous approaches,may predominantly focus on marketing cues which, in the context of ethnicmarketing, could be misdirected and grossly inaccurate. To overcome this, adeeper understanding of the “states of multiculturalism” in a society (Nemetzand Christensen, 1997) is desirable. This is important in order to help marketingstrategists to appreciate the mundane factors which might distinguish differentethnic groups and how those factors could influence buying behaviour. Forexample, a person’s ethnic identification is important in that it may bind thatperson to a group, as well as to the lifestyles that arise from that background.Successfully identifying these new distinctions, in addition to other usefulcharacterisations, increasingly looks like the key to penetrating ethnic markets,finding new customers and retaining their loyalty. Market researchers have thepotential to make important contributions to the development of knowledge inthis area. If carefully planned and executed, research will establish theenormous potentials of ethnic marketing, especially now that the socio-cultural

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and demographic profile of Britain has changed so much post-war. Frompublicly available data (Social Trends; Labour Force Surveys) it is possible toconstruct a profile of Britain’s ethnic minorities based on ethnic idiosyncrasies.Such a profile could provide the basis for comparison within (and between)different ethnic groups, and thus generate more useful variables for marketsegmentation.

Although research in both Britain and USA reveals that ethnic minorities arepotentially profitable market segments to enter (Dwek, 1997; Higgins, 1995;Segal and Sosa, 1983; Swenson, 1990), Fennel et al. (1992) remind us that it maybe counter-productive to segment a market based on ethnic origin alone.Segmentation can only be successful where different consumption-relatedbehaviours have been clearly identified and differ enough from the norm tomotivate a change in an organisation’s marketing efforts.

Understanding the ethno-marketing environmentAspects of environmental analysis which might help in formulating an effectiveethnic marketing strategy include demographics, life styles, culture, educationand employment.

Demographics (age distribution): there are differences in age structuresbetween most ethnic groups and the White population. For example, about 21per cent of the White population is 60 years or over while the correspondingfigure for all ethnic groups is less than 6 per cent, as reported by Social Trends.

Although age structure varies among the different ethnic groups, it is clearthat the ethnic minority population has a younger age structure than the Whitepopulation. For example, the under-30s represent about 58 per cent of the ethnicand 40 per cent of the White populations respectively, and nearly seven in ten ofthe Pakistani/Bangladeshi groups compared with just four in ten of the Whitepopulation. About 33 per cent of ethnic minorities and 20 per cent of Whitegroups are under 16 years of age. Government statistics also indicate that eightin ten members of the ethnic minority population aged under 25 were born inthe UK compared with just over a fifth of those aged 25 and over. This,therefore, implies that the ethnic youth market is sizeable and may be indicativeof the next “marketing battleground”. It is quite probable that ethnic minoritieswill show buying preferences that reflect their ethnic background and age.Products in the fashion, cosmetics and entertainment industries have apotentially high level of appeal to this age group.

Judging from the rate of growth of ethnic minority populations, it is beingsuggested that the minority/majority divide may disappear in many of Britain’sbig cities in the foreseeable future. For example, it is predicted that ethnicpopulation will double within the next 50 years, and by the year 2011, ethnicminorities will make up the majority in half of the London boroughs (Dwek,1997). This potentially represents enormous market power which businessescannot afford to ignore.

Life style: many ethnic minority groups tend to have more dependentchildren in the households and larger average household size than the White

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population. Statistics, as reported by Social Trends, show that households fromthe Asian community are the most likely to consist of six or more people(compared with two in the White population). Although data vary among thedifferent ethnic groups, one common feature among them is the importancethey place on the extended family. Black African-Caribbeans are known to havesmall household units on a smaller scale to the White population, but they tendto subscribe to “collectivism” in contrast to the “individualism” of the Whitecommunity (Nwankwo, 1996).

A recent phenomenon among the ethnic population is the steady upwardmovement in Britain’s socio-economic hierarchy. The most prominent ethnicgroup, the Asians, and particularly the Indian community, have now overtakenWhites as the people most likely to have their own businesses and professionalqualifications. A recent study shows that Indians have taken over from theJewish community as the most upwardly mobile group (Maung et al., 1996).Theirs is a culture that embraces and reinforces the extended family systemand this helps them to get ahead in business. Companies wishing to engage inethnic marketing have a lot to learn regarding the dynamics of buyingdecisions, the locus of power and authority to initiate, influence and/or executemarketing exchanges, and the wide area of behaviour referents in extendedfamily contexts.

Education/employment: the Government’s Labour Force Survey shows thathigher proportions of young people from Indian, Black and Asian Africa, andChinese origin stay in full-time education after 16 than their Whitecounterparts, and are, therefore, increasingly well-qualified in comparison.This is now being reflected in employment, with these groups substantiallyincreasing their presence in the higher levels of the job market, particularly inprofessional areas such as accountancy, medicine, legal services and computerconsultancy (Maung et al., 1996).

A study by the Policy Studies Institute (Jones, 1993) found that “there isevidence of a strong dynamic among ethnic minority communities driving themto develop beyond the social and economic niche they filled for the first 20 years– a major shift from previous studies which generally found even well-qualifiedpeople from ethnic minority groups were more often confined to lower job levelsthan similarly qualified Whites”. In essence, this means that marketers mustbegin to question some stereotypes and out-dated assumptions about ethnicconsumers and markets. Old ideas must give way to new ones.

The role of culture in marketing to ethnic minoritiesEthnic minorities exist within unique subcultures which require in-depthanalysis. Lee (1996) highlighted some of the areas where the Caucasian andethnic population cultures differ. A common feature among the ethnic groups isthat they exhibit high-context cultures, in contrast with the low-contextfeatures of the mainstream population. Ethnic minorities may have a greaterability to send and receive messages through symbols and gestures, and morelikely to define themselves in terms of ethnic identity than Whites. Thus,

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ethnicity is of considerable importance to minority persons in their self-description. This is not to say that there is a commonality of cultural valuesamong Britain’s ethnic minorities. Rather, ethnic-rooted cultural dimensions(Modood, 1997) are crucially important to the self and group identities and, to asignificant extent, purchasing/consumption-related behaviours. In ethnicmarketing, culture matters and this is well established in the literature (Pereira,1996; Rabin, 1994; Yau, 1988). For example, based on the Confucian andBuddhist philosophies among the Chinese, Yau (1988) argues that the notion ofconsumer satisfaction, dissatisfaction and complaint behaviour of Chinesewould differ from a comparable observation in the West, noting that the Chineseare more likely to blame their own fate when a product fails than attribute suchblame to product failures. Understanding these important dimensions willgreatly improve the practice of marketing in a multi-ethnic context.

A schema for cultural classification of ethnic minorities Understandably, UK marketers face a dilemma in relating to ethnic minorities.It is often the case that attempting to develop ethno-marketing strategies on theone hand, and seeking to avoid a possible but unintended racial segregationembroilment on the other, is proving to be a tough balancing act for manycompanies. While recognising the reality of today’s multi-ethnic Britain, manycompanies have been known to have recourse to taken-for-grantedcharacterisations of ethnic consumers and markets. Problems have arisen in thepast from such a clumsy approach to marketing (Dwek, 1997). For whateverreason – ignorance, tokenism, or parochialism – such marketing practices arelikely to alienate a section of ethnic minorities, particularly those who have astrong connection with their ethnic origin.

Understanding the ethno-cultural values is a necessary step to reachingethnic minority markets. Consequently, there is a need to provide a schema foridentifying ethnic subcultures in Britain. To explore this, the literature onacculturation offers a good conceptual base (Faber and O’Guinn, 1987; Penloza,1989). Basically, acculturation is a process in which ethnic consumers movealong a theoretic continuum from low acculturation, where they maintain thecultural values of their ethnic origin, to the other extreme, high acculturation,where they have adopted the cultural values of the dominant culture (Khairullaet al., 1996). Acculturation has been presented in the marketing literature as apotent segmentation variable largely because it affects a variety of marketingbehaviours including consumption and buying patterns and media usage(O’Guinn and Faber, 1986). However, a review of the literature on acculturationreveals that, as yet, no standard measure of acculturation has been developed.

A framework for identifying levels of acculturation and possible variationseven within a subculture is proffered below. It is based upon the AcculturationInfluence Group (AIG) illustration by Segal and Sosa (1983) which espouses thenotion that the key to identifying and understanding ethnic minority groupslies in the degree of acculturation. The framework has four broadclassifications, indicating the influence that the dominant culture exerts on the

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ethnic minority individual. The positioning within the framework is not basedon age but on exposure and adaptation to the dominant Caucasian culture. Thepremiss is that a person of Asian descent, for example, who has lived in Britainall his/her life, is likely to display a higher level of acculturation to theCaucasian culture than one who has only recently arrived. The schema consistsof the following:Cluster one: least acculturated:

• more at ease with items closely related to their own culture;• tend to live in close-knit family groups and ethnic dwelling areas;• low income and blue collar workers;• very limited knowledge of English language;• do not accept the dominant Caucasian culture as relevant to their

lifestyle;• are not motivated to adjust to their new environment;• behaviour heavily influenced by native culture;• poorly educated (Western style); and• dress mainly in their ethnic clothes.

Cluster two: moderately acculturated:• have a working knowledge of English language;• prefer to speak in their native language;• behavioural patterns are predominantly influenced by their subculture’s

values; and• combine some characteristics of groups one and three.

Cluster three: most acculturated:• fluent in both English and their native tongue;• at ease in a predominantly Caucasian environment;• live in areas not predominantly ethnic oriented;• their behavioural patterns are largely driven by the dominant culture; and• have some pride in their ethnic background.

Cluster four: totally acculturated:• fluent only in English;• have little knowledge of their ethnic culture;• likely to be born in the UK;• view themselves as “English” and have patriotic feelings towards

England only; and• ignorant and not motivated to understand their own ethnic background.

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This schema may be useful to marketers in segmenting the ethnic minoritypopulation. However, its main weaknesses are likely to manifest themselves inattempting to work out the finer details regarding, for example, what statisticalmeasurement to use in order to generate a reliable and sensible classification ofindividuals into one of the four clusters. Use of psychometric instruments mayhelp alleviate this difficulty. Once classified, it will then become moremeaningful to apply other segmentation parameters such as age, occupation,marital status, disposable income/consumer spending and employment indeveloping effective ethno-marketing strategies.

Researching the ethnic minority populationFor organisations to target ethnic minorities in a coherent and co-ordinatedmanner, research should be conducted to substantiate the feasibility of ethnicgroupings as viable market segments. It no longer makes sense to talk aboutethnic minorities as a single group because of the growing differences withinand between ethnic minority groups. There may be a wide variation in thecultural norms and values maintained by members of an ethnic groupconsequent upon the differences in acculturation, generation of immigration,social class and regional influences. Ethnic identities are, therefore, not “pure”and static. Rather, they change, to varying degrees, as a result of sharing socialspace with other heritages and influences (Ranger et al., 1996). Thus, conceptualand empirical writings acknowledge that “ethnic identity is a dynamicconstruct that changes over time and context and varies across individuals”(Phinney, 1996a, p. 145). In addition, it may be difficult to assign individualsfrom mixed ethnic backgrounds to a single ethnic group and this has tended toblur the boundaries of ethnic groups. For these reasons, there is limited value inattempting to describe ethnic groups objectively in generalisations assumed toapply to all members of the group (Phinney, 1996b). To be helpful, research onethnic minorities should involve an emphasis on how group membersthemselves understand and interpret their own ethnicity and how this maychange over time. Clearly, this has implications for how people live their lives,interact with people from other groups, view society as a whole and, veryimportantly, for the practice of marketing.

Ethnic research is not a recent phenomenon in the field of consumerbehaviour (Hirschman, 1981). Most of the earlier studies aimed to establish arelationship between ethnicity as an independent variable and consumption asa dependent variable. A major setback in ethnic marketing research is thatoften “culture is implicitly considered to be a constant, and the interpretationand discussion of the studies’ results tend to reflect the dominant norms, values,and processes of the researchers’ origin” (Costa and Bamossy, 1995, p. 20).Venkatesh (1995) criticises ethnic marketing research efforts because of thegeneral tendency to treat ethnicity as an existential condition, and the problemsof the ethnic groups and their coping strategies are seldom invoked. Hence,

the interpretive questions in these studies are necessarily limited because ethnicity is treatedas a scientific construct leading to a reductionism of sorts, and ethnicity is regarded as just

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any other demographic variable, such as disposable income or household size ... The problemwith such a treatment is that ethnicity becomes a faceless variable in research (Venkatesh,1995, pp. 35-6).

Venkatesh (1995, p. 36) goes on to suggest that ethnic research will beprofoundly enriched if researchers attempt to go beyond the over-dependenceon standard positivist research methods “because the epistemological positionof the researcher might become too rigid to capture the existential condition ofthe researched subjects in a meaningful way”. Furthermore, studies by Jain andCosta (1991), Joy and Dholakia (1991), and Mehta and Belk (1991) revealed thecomplexities in conducting ethno-marketing research by illustrating that issuesrelating to ethnicity are part of a cultural condition with attendant implicationsfor the nature and consequences of consumption experience among differentgroups. For these reasons, it may not be useful to treat ethnicity as merelyanother variable but, rather, as a cluster of interrelated variables that accords anidentity to a people. However, recent publications which apply ethnographicperspectives have shed more light on the underlying factors which shapeconsumption behaviour and, in addition, signalled the need to be more criticallythoughtful before imposing theoretical frameworks and constructs from oneculture to another (Phinney, 1996a, b).

At a more practical level, researching ethnic minorities is complicated andposes a number of problems. These problems include (Sills and Desai, 1996;Watson, 1992):

(1) Obtaining reliable universe data: it is often difficult to obtain reliableuniverse data because a significant proportion of immigrant populationsin Britain are either not registered as bona fide residents (on account ofimmigration difficulties) and/or many of those who are entitled to voteare not on the electoral register. Although this situation has improvedover the years, work by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) foundthat between 20 and 30 per cent of ethnic groups were consistentlyunregistered. Therefore, identifying and sampling ethnic minoritiesusing conventional methods may prove to be impractical and pastattempts have revealed several methodological weaknesses (Watson,1992). To overcome this, it may be sensible to use a focused enumerationapproach to select areas of high known ethnic concentration. Withinthese areas, broad quota controls can be set on sex and age, as well asethnic origin.

(2) Interviewing: the process of interviewing presents another practicalproblem, especially in selecting who should interview respondents ofethnic origin. When the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention inUSA tested public-service announcements about AIDS through focusedgroups, it found that single-race panels and multicultural panels reacteddifferently (Rabin, 1994). The groups provided important insights onwhich creative strategies were most appropriate for targeted versusbroad audience. In Britain, a similar pattern was observed in the Harris

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Research on employment among young West Indian males (Watson,1992). During the pilot phase, split samples were used – half of thesample was interviewed by White interviewers and the other half byinterviewers from their own ethnic group. When asked what efforts theyhad been making to secure employment, the White interviewers weregiven all sorts of reasons, ranging from the frequent visits to theJobcentre, local job columns scoured, job applications sent out,interviews in the offing, etc. The ethnic interviewers were given acompletely different picture – it was more economically sensible tocontinue to draw benefit than to get a job. This clearly illustrates thatbias can be induced by unsuitable interviewers.

(3) Language: difficulties often arise as a result of language barriers – aproblem fully highlighted in the fourth national survey of ethnicminorities in Britain by the Policy Studies Institute. English is widelyspoken by the Black population (African and Caribbean) but dealingwith the largest ethnic group, Asians, presents a challenge. Researchprojects involving older Asians often require translation into one or moreof the major Asian languages; Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati orChinese. Bilingualism is a critical success factor in the interviewingprocess. Whilst Sills and Desai (1996) argue that mother tonguemoderation in focus group discussions delivers higher quality data thanusing interpreters, it is important to bear in mind that the use of localdialects may prove to be counter-productive, if not well thought-through,because of rivalries/animosities which may have historically existed inoriginal home countries.

(4) Gender matching: among many Asian groups, and principally Moslems,gender matching is crucially important in face-to-face communication.For example, in orthodox Moslem settings, it is generally unacceptablefor females (especially the unmarried ones) to be interviewed by males.Conversely, conservative Moslem males may find it insulting to beconfronted with a female interviewer who is not “appropriately” dressed.

(5) Ethnic matching: ethnic matching may be important in a groupdiscussion – particularly if the subject-matter is ethnically sensitive. Inqualitative research involving people from different communities, Sillsand Desai (1996) found that respondents may be reluctant to discussissues which are controversial within their own communities.Respondents often feel an obligation to present a positive image of theircommunity and this leads them to evade certain subjects or giveincongruous replies to research questions. A particularly carefulscreening process is needed to get a balanced group with similarcharacteristics. Hence, “there is no such thing as an ‘Asian’ groupdiscussion. A group of three Hindus, two Sikhs, two Moslems and aChristian is asking for problems” (Watson, 1992, p. 341).

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(5) Cultural barriers: the high-context culture of many ethnic minoritygroups means that there are often protective walls against being“probed” or seen to be too “revealing” to “outsiders”. Consequently,postal surveys have been known to attract extremely low response rates,unless the issue is directly relevant to the focal ethnic group. The normalsemantic agree-disagree scales may not produce credible results. Forexample, scales of five, seven, nine inevitably attract the central, neutralresponse among older Asian respondents, owing to a desire not to causeany offence. Four point scales may be preferable. In face-to-face surveys,recruitment of field researchers using community networks can be morebeneficial than in-street recruiting or door knocking (Sills and Desai,1996).

Factors to consider in developing the ethno-marketing mixAll aspects of the marketing mix qualify for a thorough review. However, oneaspect, the promotional mix and, in particular, advertising is singled outbecause most of the goings-on in ethnic marketing revolve around it (Nwankwoet al., 1997).

Promotion: until recently, the largely “all-white” general media advertisingseemed to draw conceptual support from the melting-pot theory (Glazer andMoynihan, 1968). Traditionally, such mass-audience-oriented advertisementsassumed that ethnic populations, through the acculturation process, wouldeventually become “British-like” and assimilate into the larger host society(Gordon, 1964). Currently, however, alternative approaches have beensuggested, ranging from “equal but different” – that is, segment-specificadvertising – to “integrated advertising” which is based on the culturalpluralism model (Kinra, 1997). Despite the apparent shifts in orientation, theprevalent view in the literature is that a significant proportion of advertisingcampaigns largely fail to connect fully with ethnic audiences (Dwek, 1997).

Ethnic minorities have in the past been presented in a stereotypical andunflattering manner in advertising (Stevenson, 1991). Recent examples ofadvertisements which have caused offence among ethnic minorities includeFord Motors (the deliberate erasure of black faces from a version of thecompany’s advertisement); a Persil TV commercial in which a black and white-spotted dog was seen shaking off its black spots in a bid to demonstrate theeffectiveness of the detergent; and the crass ignorance of multiculturalismrevealed in the Vauxhall advertisement featuring babies supposedly reflectingthe wider British society but, ironically, not a single one of them was black.Offending potential ethnic customers could do more than just give a firm a badname – it could cause serious bottom-line damage as well. Ethnic marketersreally need to study the particular culture in which they are interested, to knowhow to avoid blatantly offensive stereotypes – some of these may be lessobvious to members of other cultures. Without a knowledge of current trendsand thinking in a particular culture, there is a risk of accidentally pushing oneof the hot buttons which could becloud a company’s strategic intent.

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An effective marketing promotion strategy should consider the following:

(1) Stereotypes: ethnic stereotypes may reinforce obvious culturaldifferences and racist views. The significance of stereotypes is to be seenin the wider context on the debate concerning advertising (Stevenson,1991). Should advertising shape a society’s values or merely reflect thosevalues? If advertising influences a society’s values and beliefs, then it isimportant to consider how people are presented in advertisingcampaigns.

Whether stereotypes are relevant or not in promotional campaignsmay depend on the context. For example, the Metropolitan Police Forcedeliberately used the issue of stereotyping in their recruitment drive forethnic minorities. One of their advertisements featured a black manbeing chased by a policeman with the caption “Another example ofpolice prejudice? Or another example of yours?” A closer inspection ofthe advertisement revealed that the person being chased was a blackpoliceman, out of uniform, chasing an unseen third party. Thiscampaign relied on stereotype to present an effective message.

(2) Condescending: understanding the culture of the target market andavoiding predictability in the message and the method of presentationwill prevent marketing communication from being condescending. TheMetropolitan Police advertisement avoided being condescending bycarrying an honest message which did not insult the individuals and didnot trivialise the subject matter.

(3) Culture: presentation of some ethnic groups in advertisements presentsproblems due to religious and cultural beliefs. The Muslim religionprescribes a strict dress code for women while some other Asian culturesmay perceive the use of women to promote a product as derogatory. The“Miss Asia United Kingdom” contest was cancelled due to Indianpressure groups perceiving the event to be degrading to their womenand community. When Phileas Fogg launched the “Pakora” snack in1993, it featured the Karma Sutra on the packaging as a means ofconveying the product’s distinctive characteristics. The advertisementwas severely criticised by Asians for its bad taste in likening cheapsnacks to part of their cultural heritage.

(4) Intentional and unintentional racism: racism is a highly sensitive topic inBritain and issues appertaining thereto should be handled cautiously.One of the main reasons why many organisations are not overly-enthusiastic about ethnic marketing is the fear of unwittingly gettingembroiled in a racial furore – with all the attendant bad publicity. Ideally,promotional campaigns focusing on the ethnic minority populationshould be checked out with the Commission for Racial Equality, foradvice and guidance. Paradoxically, using racism as a creative approach

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can help achieve remarkable rewards. Fuji films and Benetton have usedthis approach successfully.

(5) Celebrities: relative to their population, ethnic minority groups aregrossly under-represented in advertising campaigns in Britain.Advertisers have continued to play down the fact that ethnicconsumers have been proved to show a preference for spokespersons oftheir own groups. Ethnic celebrities may prove more effective thanthose from the mainstream culture in marketing communicationdirected at ethnic consumers. It might be the case that the use of ethniccelebrities may become so important in marketing communication asto determine which company(ies) wins in the ethnic segment of theconsumer market.

A classic example of a successful use of celebrities in reaching ethnicminorities is the breast cancer campaign. The campaign targeted blackwomen at high risk of breast cancer without implying that the problemis limited to this ethnic group. The solution was to recruit a blackrecording artist who told a personal story about her family’s experiencewith cancer. Some organisations (mainly in sectors such as food,drinks, clothing, detergent and children’s toys) are now beginning tobrace up to the need to use more celebrities from the ethnic minoritypopulation.

(6) Permission: messages may or may not be controversial in themselves,but the chance of controversy increases greatly if permission is notobtained to relay a message to a particular ethnic group. In manyminority cultures, marketers must win the support, respect andinvitation of community leaders before they can open an effective line ofcommunication with their members. The more controversial a product orissue, the more essential it is to seek permission first.

The successful campaign by the Health Education Authority (HEA) toincrease AIDS awareness among ethnic minorities clearly illustrates thispoint. The initial campaign was a disaster. The fact that AIDS could besexually transmitted challenged many ethnic taken-for-granted culturaland religious beliefs; for example, entering into sexual relationshipsbefore marriage, extra-marital and homosexual relationships. Ethnicmedia channels were even reluctant to accept HEA’s advertisement at theoutset. However, by building bridges with community and opinionleaders, HEA eventually managed to get its message through.

ConclusionsMarketers face an exciting challenge in reaching a multi-ethnic Britain. Theyalso face enormous responsibilities. There should be no doubt that, potentially,ethnic marketing could further divide the nation if it reinforces racial and ethnicstereotypes. If perceptively practised, it could develop new approaches thatrespect Britain’s diversities while celebrating their similarities. While “one size

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fits all” might still be a viable marketing strategy for jeans and T-shirts,customised cultural and ethnic appeals are gaining momentum with a numberof firms providing consumer goods and services. According to those who workin the field, firms that specialise in ethnic marketing are finding daily newcustomers for their services. As Pine et al. (1995) aptly observed, in today’sfragmented and increasingly turbulent markets, customers do not want morechoices. Rather, they want exactly what they want, when, where, and how theywant it. The irony is that most marketing managers continue to view the worldthrough the twin lenses of cultural syncretism and mass marketing. As Pine etal. (1995, p. 103) state, “a company that aspires to give customers exactly whatthey want must look at the world through new lenses”.

It is clear that ethnic marketing cannot be successful unless it is strategicallydriven. Showing a few faces from the ethnic minority population on productpackages or television advertisements will not suffice. Companies targetingethnic minorities must start to build an ongoing relationship with them.Penetration of ethnic markets needs long-term commitments. Loyalty and trustare important success prerequisites and need to be established first. Marketing,after all, is not a short-term, formula-driven discipline. In a way, marketing is“part anthropology” – a recognition that subcultural membership is veryimportant in shaping people’s needs and wants and, therefore, should be takeninto consideration when formulating marketing strategies (West and Bahtka,1996). While it is impossible to develop separate marketing strategy for eachethnic group, an acknowledgement of relevant ethnic characteristics inmarketing campaigns can nevertheless enhance a firm’s credibility and promotea more positive brand attitude within a target ethnic market. Ethnic marketingmay thus prove to be the dominant paradigm for seeking competitiveadvantage in niche or saturated markets and/or for developing customerintimacy in new markets. This makes sense, given the rapidly growingpopulation of ethnic minorities, and the diversity and heterogeneity ofmarketplaces in Britain. In the words of Mr Adeniran, Director of London-basedHothouse Marketing & PR company, “Britain’s unique multicultural consumerbase offers a wonderful test site for global competitiveness. If a business cannotmarket to multicultural Britain ..., it should seriously query its ability to marketglobally to a myriad cultures”.

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