Effects of race and ethnic identity on audience evaluation of HIV public service announcements

Consumer research from as early as the 1970s indicates that consumers who belong to a racial minority may prefer advertisements using models or spokespersons of their own race, whereas more recent research suggests that the pattern might hold true only for those with high levels of ethnic identity. The current study examined the effects of using HIV public service announcements (PSAs) from spokespersons that either matched or did not match participants' race and included a measure of ethnic identity to examine the extent to which identity influenced preferences for same-race spokespersons. Overall, African American participants responded more favorably to Black spokespersons and to PSAs using Black (as opposed to White) spokespersons, regardless of the strength of their ethnic identity. Spokespersons' race was a more powerful predictor of PSA evaluation among African American participants than was spokespersons' expertise. White participants rated Black and White spokespersons, as well as the PSAs including those spokespersons, equivalently, but preferred expert spokespersons to non-experts. Implications for health campaigns targeted to racial minorities are discussed.