Multi-ethnic vs. mono-ethnic cosmetics ads: The influence of social identity on diversity & inclusion make-up advertisements and advertising effects.

Diversity and inclusion in advertisements has become increasingly important in the last decades, especially in the cosmetics industry. Throughout the past years more brands started diversifying their foundation lines and communicating this through their advertisements by featuring multiple models of different ethnicities (i.e., multi-ethnic ads). It was common for marketeers to utilize the notion of “race matching”, matching the model’s race with the brand’s target audience, and therefore creating ethnically congruent ads (i.e., mono-ethnic ads). However, as the younger generations (Millennials and Gen Z) become more racially diverse, the concept of social identity should be considered when determining advertising effects. Social identity can help explain consumers’ attitudes and intentions towards diversity and inclusion ads. To analyse this, the following research question was posed: to what extent is diversity and inclusion advertising type (mono-ethnic vs. multi-ethnic) associated with advertising effects (i.e., attitude towards the ad, attitude towards the brand, and purchase intention) and to what extent is the relationship between diversity and inclusion advertising type and advertising effects moderated by the three dimensions of the concept of social identity (i.e., belief congruence, diversity ad sentiment, and social connectedness). To answer this, a single factorial between-subjects experimental design with three conditions (multi-ethnic ad, mono-ethnic ad, and control ad) was conducted. The sample consists of 94 participants (n = 94), for which one-way ANOVA analysis and moderated multiple regression analyses were conducted. These analyses found that Millennials and Gen Z who saw the mono-ethnic had a significantly less favourable attitudes and weaker purchase intention compared to those who saw the multi-ethnic ad. Furthermore, the three subdimensions of social identity, belief congruence, diversity ad sentiment, and social connectedness, are significantly and positively associated with advertising effects. However, they do not moderate the relationship between diversity and inclusion advertising type and advertising effects. These findings suggest that besides race matching or creating ethnically congruent ads, marketeers can utilize social identity to target its consumers. Having said that, social identity is a complex concept for which several factors such as the consumers’ self-concept, identity priming, social distinctiveness, and social identity complexity should be considered. Hence, future research should consider including these factors when further determining different elements of diversity and inclusion advertisements, such as physical characteristics, religion, and origin.