When it comes to diversity, should advertising reflect or shape society?

Consumers increasingly expect and demand more diversity in advertising. At the same time, technology is rapidly evolving to allow advertisers to become more experimental in their approach. At this intersection sits a comprehensive need to develop a deeper appreciation of accurate representation in advertising. 

It’s an area that has advanced significantly within recent history. Older generations may still recall the almost complete lack of depiction of women and minority groups in advertising. But with a growing chasm in expectations and sensitivities of consumers, should advertisers be reflecting existing demographics or proactively shaping societal norms?  

New research in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science offers a framework to help clarify this conundrum. The systematic literature review — authored by Colin Campbell (University of San Diego, United States), Sean Sands (Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia), Brent McFerran (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada and Deakin University, Burwood, Australia) and Associate Professor at Esade Alexis Mavrommatis — presents unified insights into this fragmented area, suggests directions for future research and has some important recommendations for advertisers. 

Framing a diverse picture

Accurately representing diversity requires a balance between meaningful change and tokenistic overreach. Crossing this line can backfire spectacularly when brands’ attempts to drive change are not welcomed by consumers. Whether the fallout is due to a resistant market, or otherwise supportive consumers suspicious of attempts at ‘diversity-washing’, the impact can come at a significant cost: Anheuser-Busch reportedly lost $6 billion in market capitalization after a transgender influencer promoted its Bud Light brand. 

A high level of personalization can create an echo chamber that undermines diverse representation

At the same time, the rise in data-driven decision-making and increasing use of generative AI can swiftly alter the visuals in targeted campaigns according to user preference. But rather than increase diverse representation, this level of personalization can create an echo chamber that has the opposite effect. 

In this current climate, developing a deeper understanding of how consumers react to diversity is crucial. To achieve this, the research team conducted a systematic literature review of academic journal articles, using benchmarks including age, beauty, body size, gender, LGBTQIA+, physical and mental ability, race and ethnicity (which they acknowledge is a far from exhaustive list). The resulting framework contains important themes relevant to both academics and practitioners. 

Expand the boundaries

The first theme identifies a strong need to understand diverse representation better. Diversity in advertising tends to focus on visual characteristics such as gender and race, rather than non-visual representations like political leanings, religious ideologies or neurodiversity. It also has a mainly Western perspective, with insights not applicable to other regions. Intersection of diversity is scarce, and there is a lack of focus on indigenous groups, who remain under-represented.  

To aid understanding, the researchers recommend examining how advertisers can incorporate a broader range of non-visual representation into advertising — a difficult aim to achieve in a highly visual medium that relies on making an immediate impact.  

Diversity in advertising tends to focus on visual characteristics, rather than non-visual representations like political leanings or religious ideologies

They also suggest placing a stronger focus on consumers who belong to two or more under-represented groups. To facilitate this, methodologies should be developed that can present a more detailed and accurate picture of intersectional diversity. 

Consumer pushback

A common issue in diversity advertising is the pushback from consumers who object to the representation of other groups. Whether this is due to independent bias or regional laws and cultures, advertisers must walk a very fine line between presenting inclusive representation and respecting dissenting viewpoints. 

The way a message is framed can have a significant impact on how it is received. A technique known as perspective-taking, which allows a person to imagine situations from another’s viewpoint, helps communities in majority groups to learn to tolerate different views and develop empathy for others. Advertisers should be encouraged to explore this technique. 

However, the researchers warn that depicting extreme levels of diversity can result in an avoidant effect. Here, advertisers can learn from the five-factor personality model frequently deployed in organizational structures. This model plays an important role in team diversity and performance; incorporating it into advertising diversity research may reveal new and interesting perspectives on how to avoid extreme reactions. 

Other negative effects of diverse representation that promote stigmas and stereotypes should be examined to identify the prompts for these triggers. Are there specific conditions that result in negative reactions? Are some brands more able than others to align with a particular group? What strategies can be developed to help brands avoid negative connotations? 

Keep it real

One such strategy suggested by the researchers is for practitioners to move towards a more natural allocation of diversity in advertising. Characterizing audience composition and using this to randomly select models can result in a more natural, relevant and less forced campaign.  

Further research into how advertisers can more accurately represent diversity could consider the way multiple meanings can be drawn from messaging. By strategically ensuring ads contain multiple cues and elements, advertisers could reach a cross-section of audiences in a way that will be welcomed and understood by a more diverse range of people. 

Characterizing audience composition and using this to randomly select models can result in a more natural, relevant and less forced campaign

In the meantime, advertising remains largely lacking in diversity. Recent internationally successful award-winning series and films, with casts and plots focused solely on previously under-represented groups (visual and non-visual), show that audiences are open to diverse representation.  

But in a sector where AI plays an increasing role, and campaigns can be manipulated instantly to please the market, could the ads consumers are served become so personalized they see no diversity at all? 

It's a complex picture, as the researchers admit. But by acknowledging and welcoming the progress that has been made, it can be used to drive the research agenda towards a significantly more informed and diverse future in advertising.  

By developing their comprehensive framework, which can be studied in full in the original paper, the authors have handed over the wheel to future researchers to do just that.