Companies are increasingly emphasizing their support for diversity, but this could backfire if consumers feel it’s symbolic politics, a current evaluation found by my team.
I’m a Assistant Professor of Marketing specializing in digital platforms and consumer behavior. My current research focuses on brands' DEI initiatives on social media. I’m particularly thinking about how brands leverage influencers and minority representation.
An influencer is someone who large fan base on social media and may influence the opinions or behavior of their audience. Influencer marketing is when brands work with these individuals to advertise their services or products to the influencers' online followers.
An example of influencer marketing will be present in this text by Influence on the Thamarr Warrior Advertisement for Old Navy:
Influencer marketing has change into one of the necessary channels for interaction between brands and consumers, and minority representation amongst influencers is a technique for an organization to reveal its commitment to DEI.
To understand how consumers are responding to this trend, my colleagues Amy Pei And Zhao faucet and I collected data from Platform X, formerly referred to as Twitter. Our unique dataset included sponsored content from around 150 brands between 2018 and 2022, in addition to details on influencers and consumer reactions.
We found that brands with either very low or very high percentages of minority influencers saw higher consumer engagement, while brands with moderate percentages of minority influencers saw a decline in engagement. These effects were particularly pronounced for giant firms and those who had previously demonstrated a big commitment to DEI initiatives.
In other words, we found a U-shaped relationship: low levels are accepted, medium levels can backfire, and high levels are well received. We consider this will likely be resulting from consumers' perception that medium levels are only token politics.
In contrast, we found that a high proportion of minorities convinces consumers of a brand's real commitment and dedication.
Why it’s important
When brands show their support for diversity initiatives on social media, it doesn’t at all times persuade consumers. In fact, DEI policies are a source of controversy for a lot of brands, including Chick-fil-A, Disney And Bud Light.
Because brands' DEI initiatives often generate mixed reactions from consumers, it's necessary to grasp why. Our research offers a clue.
DEI is a sensitive topic and consumers value real engagement. Our work suggests that brands – especially larger ones – should avoid moderate stances and as a substitute take a transparent position.
We also found that customers responded more strongly to brands' diversity efforts when those brands had previously expressed strong support for DEI, suggesting that brands must be cautious of over-promoting public signals in the event that they don't plan to back them up with motion.
What will not be yet known
Further research is required to grasp how consumers reply to brands’ diversity messages. For example, previous work has shown that consumer boycotts often of short durationBut the Bud Light boycott, sparked by means of a transgender influencer to advertise the brand, lasted eight months.
Several things could explain the discrepancy, including the political polarization amongst Bud Light consumers and the incontrovertible fact that there are a lot of light beers in the marketplace.
Another necessary factor seems to have been the visibility of consumption: people often drink beer in social contexts, which allowed boycotting consumers to publicly signal their stance and further strengthen the movement. These and other aspects require further investigation.
The Research Brief is a summary of interesting scientific papers.
image credit : theconversation.com