Testing the effect of consumer-model racial congruency on consumer behavior

Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) models continue to be underrepresented in advertising within the fashion and beauty industry. The present research project aims to evaluate the impact of same-raced model adverts on consumer behavior as well as testing consumer-model racial congruence with a specific focus on Black models and consumers, the latter of whom feel especially underrepresented in advertising campaigns. Two studies were conducted. In Study 1, 120 female participants (38 Black, 82 Caucasian) viewed 28 perfume advertisements featuring 14 Black and 14 Caucasian models. Participants rated their likelihood of purchasing the perfume and how much money they would be willing to spend. In Study 2, 99 female participants (34 Black, 65 Caucasian) made the same ratings in Study 1, but this time they rated images fragrances without any models present. Participants were divided into three conditions: (1) participants who received no priming, (2) participants were primed with images of Black models, and (3) participants were primed with images of Caucasian models. Both studies highlighted that Black participants showed an increased intention of buying as well as a willingness to spend a higher amount of money when the product advertised is accompanied by images of Black models. Consumer-model racial congruence was not supported for Caucasian participants. This article highlights a participant-model racial congruence for Black participants and underlines the positive impact of inclusive fashion on BAME consumers.

School personnel-student racial congruence and the achievement gap

Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationship between student achievement and racial congruence of school personnel and students to help educators and policy makers narrow the achievement gap. Design/methodology/approach This quasi-experimental, correlational study used publicly available data from 158 elementary schools in the Houston Independent School District. The authors analyzed the level of congruence of school personnel and students in relation to reading, math and science scores with the fifth-grade students. Findings Controlling for the percentage of economically disadvantaged students, separate univariate ANCOVAs on the outcome variables revealed significant effects of racial congruence levels on reading scores, F(2, 153) = 3.73, p = 0.026 and math scores, F(2, 153) = 3.977, p = 0.02. Research limitations/implications The operationalization of racial congruence had not been previously used. African-Americans and Hispanics were labeled as non-white, Asian-Americans (who do not show the achievement gap) were grouped with white students, and other minority groups were excluded. The study was a natural experiment without randomization or intervention. Practical implications Findings can be used to narrow the achievement gap by encouraging recruitment of Hispanics and African-Americans educators and influencing administrators as they decide where to place hired personnel. Originality/Value Using a much larger sample size than previous studies, this study found a factor to narrow the achievement gap.