Minorities In Advertising

Past literature regarding the portrayal of minorities in television commercials indicate that both psychological and interpersonal communication contribute to the main objective of finding how minorities are portrayed differently than their non-minority counterparts, and also what effects this has on individuals’ perception of minorities. There have been two studies done that have included either social influence or media influence in their study regarding the effects of media on individuals. The first study was based on election debates that were televised and how that would affect television viewer’s favoritism towards a specific candidate using the “worm” (Davis, Bowers, & Memon, 2011). This so called “worm” was a type of response measure
There are different parts which make up social influence, one being “social influence in which individuals change their personal attitude or behavior in order to adhere to existing social norms (Mazzitello, Candia, & V.D., 2007). Another part of social influence involves any direct requests that are made from one person to another (2007). And the last part is when people obey direct orders that are made from others in order to perform some type of action (2007). In this particular study, only one type of social influence will be analyzed which is the first part of social influence, which involves individuals changing their personal attitudes or behavior in order to adhere to social norms. When individuals watch television advertisements, their perception of minorities could be influenced by the portrayal of minorities in any given television advertisement, which is what this study will be analyzing. Social influence is generally accepted in this type of study, as it can prove to have direct effects on individuals’ perceptions on
The timeline will include data gathered during prime time television which will range between 6 PM and 9 PM. This time was specifically chosen because this is when television networks have the most viewers, which typically will target a specific group of people being those who are part of both the generation x and y. Additionally, advertisers tend to choose this time frame to display their prime advertisements because of the high volume of viewers. Usually, advertisers may choose this time frame to display advertisements which are sure grab viewer’s attention through provocative advertisements. The data will be collected in an excel spreadsheet and will be categorized by television network and time (by hour). Furthermore, the data that will be collected will be both quantitative and qualitative, which will then be represented in a graph. The data that will be gathered will be based on the frequency that minorities are represented in the advertisements as well as non-minorities. The data will also be categorized in terms of the individuals’ race, and also what role the individual plays in the advertisement (whether it be a background role or a main role). Once the data has been collected it will be turned into a graph, which will detail any possible trend based on the results gathered. Descriptive analysis will also be used as it will show any