Interracial Couples in Ads: Do Consumers' Gender and Racial Differences Affect Their Reactions?

ABSTRACT

Despite an increasing number of interracial marriages and some evidence of improving perceptions of interracial relationships by both the majority white and the minority black populations, this study found that ads depicting black–white couples elicited more negative emotions and less favorable attitude toward the ad and toward the brand than comparable ads with same-race couples. However, subjects' reactions to the interracial couple portrayals were unrelated to their own race and gender.