Collateral damage: un-intended brand-association effects of American in-language Hispanic advertising on the non-Spanish speaking consumer

This thesis explores language as an ethnic ad-targeting cue in the context of group categorization. A sample of non-Spanish speaking Americans was exposed to TV advertisements for known American brands. Conditions manipulated ad language (English or Spanish) and the prevalence of language in the ad (High or low prevalence). Results showed that when presented with an ad in Spanish, non-Spanish speaking Americans associated the advertised brand less with the US. Contrary to industry assumptions, this finding supports the notion that when brands increase their likelihood of association to a particular kind of specific consumer group (such as the case of Ethnic advertising), they might be doing so at the cost of partial disassociation to a different kind of consumer. The present study offers important implications to professionals attempting to advertise mainstream brands to ethnic groups and in particular, to professionals advertising American brands to Hispanic consumers.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Advertising

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Carmona Cortes, Enrique

Contributors dc:contributor

• Duff, Brittany

• in-language
• inlanguage
• Advertising
• brand
• brand image
• group categorization
• brand associations
• ethnic advertising
• ethnic targetting
• in-group
• ingroup
• out-group
• outgroup
• country
• multi-cultural
• Spanish
• Latino
• Hispanic
• television advertisements
• Group Theory
• categorization
• language
• language prevalence
• bi-lingual

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2013 Enrique Carmona Cortes

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/44182

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/44182