M.A. / The objective of the study was to determine the influence of African-American culture and the impact of African-American advertisements within a South African advertising communications context. The study focused on the urban black South African youth for two reasons: the first is that most of the African-American advertisements are targeted at them. The second reason is that they can be considered innovators when it comes to adopting new attitudes and trends. Before the evaluation could be completed, the singular definitions for the terms African-American, Eurocentric and Afrocentric were compiled with input from people in the advertising industry. The relevance of this study is that the black South African youth are incessantly being exposed to the African-American culture through advertisements and the media. By implication they will increasingly be able to relate to the African-American ideals, values and norms as reflected in the afore-mentioned and they will potentially start to neglect and eventually abandon their own cultural heritage. The issue that was raised was that marketers and advertisers should be adopting the philosophy of "mashakane" and be aiding nation building in South Africa, not encouraging the fragmentation of it. The other concern that was raised was that in South Africa, whites are creating advertisements for blacks. There are cultural differences between the two and therefore inter-cultural communication is occurring. A literature study on inter-cultural communication revealed the similarities and the differences between white and black South Africans. In general terms with the primary difference being that whites can be classified as individualistic and by implication a low-context communication culture. Blacks on the other hand are collectivistic which means that they are a high-context communication culture. On the macro level, the South African socio-economic environment in which the black South African youth are growing up in, was analysed as it will impact directly on them as receptors .of advertising communication. The study then concentrated on the evolution of black market segmentation in South Africa. The future trends that are emerging in the black market, which will assist in advertising positioning strategies, were also briefly discussed. The black South African youth market was analysed in detail particularly from an advertising and consumer point of view. Advertising's psychological implications on them were also discussed. Furthermore a demographic and sociographic profile of the black South African youth market was completed. This demographic and sociographic analysis was based on the results of the 1994 "Youth Survey" conducted by Mkhasibe (1995). The research that was conducted for this study evaluated the shift in the trends (from 1994-1996) influencing the black South African youth (this included their media consumption, their role models and the country they would most like to visit). Furthermore the aspirational appeal that America holds for them versus South Africa was examined. Finally the likabilty of certain African-American advertisements versus Eurocentric and Afrocentric advertisements was determined to assess the effectiveness of African-American advertisements for this target market. From the study it is evident that fashion, movies and music are important to the black South African youth. They also prefer examples of the above-mentioned that are African-American. Fashion is the only exception where Italy and France (specifically Paris) are appealing to them. It is also evident from the study that their Africaness is important to them and they criticise those who have adopted the African-American culture in its entirety. They are considered sell-outs. There is value in advertisers utilising an African-American positioning for advertisements targeted at the black South African youth. However advertisers should be aware that their Africaness should not be ignored and should be incorporated into the advertisements. Therefore by procuring the African-Americans positioning the advertisement retains desirability and by embodying an Afrocentric aspect the identification with the advertisement by the black South African youth is much stronger.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Although there has been much research regarding the portrayals of African Americans in Advertising, the central focus has been on categorizing this race as a physiologically homogeneous group. In other fields of research such as, psychology and sociology, there is a stream of study that investigates differentiations in how Blacks are perceived by others based on variations in skin tone within the spectrum of this race. This research suggests that examining skin tone within race may provide a more accurate insight into the effect that ethnicity plays on interacting factors. The focus of this dissertation, therefore, is to extend this research focus on skin tone to the field of Advertising. Specifically, this study examines whether the skin tone of a Black model in an advertisement affects specific outcome measures of advertising: attitude towards the ad (Aad), attitude towards the product (Aprod), attitude towards the model (Amod), and purchase intent (PI). In order to formulate predictions and explain the possible findings of this study, two competing frameworks, hegemony and ethnic identity, were examined. According to the framework of hegemony, people adopt the social standard set by the dominant group and in this case would, in turn, prefer a "lighter" Black model. However, according to research on ethnic identity, a person's level of ethnic identity dictates preference for members of their group. In other words, not all members of a group would necessarily prefer the "light" Black model. Specifically for African Americans, preference would hinge on their level of ethnic identity. This study employed three independent variables and four dependent variables. Skin tone served as the main independent variable of interest in this analysis. It was manipulated for the purposes of this study by featuring a Black model in an ad whose skin tone was altered to produce a "light" and a "dark" version of the same model. The products used in the advertisements were based upon the other two independent variables, realm of consumption and cultural relevance. These variables, which will be explained in further detail in this manuscript, provided a basis for understanding the role that reference group effect has on the resulting outcomes. The four dependent variables that were observed in this study were the advertising outcome measures. To determine if differences existed among the treatment groups, a two-way ANOVA was conducted, with eight condition groups in the 2x2x2 design. Approximately 480 subjects from two southwestern universities took a web based survey that was designed to gather the data analyzed in this study. The results of the study found a significant relationship between skin tone and attitude towards the model. According to the study, more favorable attitudes were formed when the Black model's skin tone was "light" as opposed to when the Black model's skin tone was "dark." In terms of the competing theoretical models presented, generally, people felt more favorable towards the "light" model, suggesting that hegemony dictates consumer attitude formation. Ethnic identity did, however, play a significant role in the attitude towards the Black model with Black participants, with strong ethnic identifiers feeling more positively towards the dark model than those Black participants lower in ethnic identification. / text

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