The Model Family: The Effect of Multiracial Families in Advertising on Emerging Adult Consumers’ Attitudes and Intentions

ABSTRACT

This experimental study tested the effect of advertisements featuring a multiracial family on emerging adult consumers’ responses. Participants (N = 225) had more favorable attitudes toward multiracial family ads (versus same-race, White family ads), and a serial mediation model revealed an indirect effect of model family racial composition on purchase intention via the mediators of attitudes toward the ad and toward the brand. Surprisingly, neither personal nor parental attitudes toward interracial relationships and multiracial families moderated the advertisements’ effects on outcomes. Theoretical implications of findings and practical insights for advertisers are presented.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Open scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open Science badge for Open Materials. The materials are openly accessible at https://osf.io/prwg2/?view_only=7ea06a5c4a204d8bad7c808c36f96909.

Notes

¹ Though technically Cheerios tops the list (Kunst, 2020), we avoided this product as a Cheerios commercial featuring a multiracial family was a chief exemplar of the use of multiracial families in advertising and sparked controversy (Zmuda, 2014).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chelsea E. Moss

Chelsea E. Moss is a doctoral candidate in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. Her research interests are at the intersection of family communication and entertainment media, including work on media portrayals of family and family navigation of media use.

Spiro K. Kiousis

Spiro K. Kiousis is executive associate dean for the College of Journalism and Communications and is a professor of public relations at the University of Florida. His current research interests include political public relations, political communication, and digital communication. Specifically, this interdisciplinary research explores the interplay among political public relations efforts, news media content, and public opinion in traditional and interactive mass mediated contexts.