3 Reasons Why Ethnic Advertising Will Improve in the Trump Era

The recent events in Charlottesville have most Americans holding their collective breaths in disbelief. Not only at the carnage that took place with the death of one person and the level of violence perpetrated by Nazi's, affiliates and sympathizers, and the Presidents initial and subsequent responses. This isn't necessarily a revisiting of those events but more so an effort to point out how these events those in the past and perhaps future events will pour down into our society and create a sentiment that will reflect in many different outlets and mediums including Ethnic Advertising. There are many reasons this will happen but here we'll discuss 3 main reasons ethnic advertising will improve in the Trump era, including the fact brands, want to be on the right side of history, the commodification of the struggle is very en Vogue, backlash and attention hurts the bottom line.

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The Right Side of History

There's no doubt in my mind that when we look back at this moment in history entities and individuals will be judged on the stances they took to stand up to oppression and bigotry. Brands recognize this fact as manifested in the form of the presidents business council losing all of its members in response to the President's comments about the mayhem in Charlottesville. We'll see this attitude trickle down to the advertising brands pursue, making it known that the brand doesn't stand for or represent racism, or hatred but are inclusive. This is where the majority of people are brands do not want to be on the outside looking in, this can have long-term repercussions. To a certain extent, ad copy and placements are bookmarks of history as to where the brand is positioned when important social crises are taking place.

Commodification of the Struggle

We've addressed this prior, but the fact of the matter is "The Struggle" as a brand is hot right now. Protests, calls for equality, boycotts, talking heads and the amplification of these things via outlets like social media increasing represent a larger amount of bandwidth dedication in our collective lives. Brands are beginning to understand this truth and because a significant portion of this strife is represented in the Ethnic market the messaging coming from these Brands are going to reflect that. Large and Small whether you feel the copy worked or not companies like Pepsi and P&G align themselves with "The Struggle" and wish to capture affinity form the Ethnic audience by doing so and push product/service. One viewpoint see's this as exploitative while others argue corporate recognition and images seen in ads every day can have positive effects on policy and be a catalyst for change.

The Bottomline

Continuing the theme of Commodification and being on the right side of history Brands are not in the business of taking positions that negatively affect the bottom line. Ethnic advertising can act as a hedge against any claims that the brand is not supportive of ethnic demographics and the fear and isolation they may be feeling at this moment in history. As we see with the current administration taking adverse positions of populism and isolationism at a basic level keep you on the defensive and creates an inability to move forward with items on your agenda. Now replace the administration with marketing and brand managers and you could easily see how being in a negative light on these issues could significantly negatively impact the bottom line. This is something brands want no part of.

The bottom-line and opportunity for gained revenue and or market share through "Struggle Commodification", and being on the right side of history are just some of the reason will see a rise in ethnic advertising. Despite the Presidents current positions and rhetoric for brands the sentiment and demographics along with general decency for fellow human beings dictate that this is not only a smart but the right position to take. Are there reasons not mentioned here you think ethnic advertising will increase? Feel free to leave a comment in the section below we love getting feedback from you.