Mirror, mirror...

As a recent Yahoo!, Mind Share and
Added Value study points out, people from a wide variety of ethnicities (basically, everyone who is not white) do not "see themselves" in advertising or digital content.  Having worked with many a client and creative team, I can assure you that hours are spent trying to address the issue of diversity.  Most major brands have strong policies that demand ethnic balance.  Why is this effort not perceived as effective?

In creative research projects, I have nearly always heard one primary objection to images of the consumers used in ads:  "that's not me."  This objection could arise because of choices made about a model's age, gender, even style of dress--not necessarily race or ethnicity.

Small wonder, then, that ethnicity is difficult to reflect.  If you so much as put a shirt on the model that just feels wrong for their culture, the respondents will not perceive themselves in the ad.  Once you add factors like age, gender, and region, reflecting diversity becomes a painful struggle.  No wonder, then, that so many advertisers just select a model from a particular group, put him or her in June Cleaver's world, and declare the job well done.

But it's wrong to complain about how much consumers demand to see "me" in our ads.  In fact, it's a compliment.  As we've discussed before, people really want to believe that the brands they buy understand them and care enough to show it. They want to see themselves in your world--is that really so bad?

User created content is one way to address this problem, but only one.  My primary advice is to use ethnography to create more realistic environments to show your brand in use.  Don't fear your customers' reality, but embrace it.  The better you mirror their world, the more they will love your brand.