Our country truly is a “melting pot” of people who belong to many different racial and ethnic subcultures

The ethnic consumer tends to set trends. So they help set the tone for how we enter the marketplace.

Symbols and gestures, rather than words, carry much of the weight of the message

In contrast, people who belong to a low-context culture are more literal.

Compared to Anglos (who tend to be low-context), many minority cultures are high context and have strong oral traditions, so consumers are more sensitive to nuances in advertisements that go beyond the message copy.

Many users complained that this image is highly offensive to African

The company claimed the design had nothing to do with these issues, but the damage was done.

Frito-Lay responded to protests by the Hispanic community and stopped using the Frito Bandito character in 1971, and Quaker Foods gave Aunt Jemima a makeover in 1989.

The 3M company uses Scottish imagery to denote value (e.g., Scotch tape)

as does Scotch Inns, a motel chain that offers inexpensive lodging. However, the Scottish “personality” might carry quite different connotations to the British or Irish.

example, that members of minority groups find an advertising spokesperson from their own group more trustworthy, and this enhanced credibility in turn translates into more positive brand attitudes

marketers need to avoid the temptation to paint all members of an ethnic or racial group with the same brush; not only are these generalizations inaccurate, but they also are likely to turn off the very people a company wants to reach.

the reality is that these subcultural memberships do shape many needs and wants

people and institutions that teach the ways of a culture—are also crucial.

the process of movement and adaptation to one country’s cultural environment by a person from another country.

This is an important issue for marketers due to our increasingly global society

They have a more negative attitude toward business in general (probably caused by frustration because of relatively low income levels).

hey are more likely to buy brands that specifically advertise to their ethnic group

what happened as they tried to turn a cold and unfamiliar house into a home that is güzel (“beautiful and good,” “modern and warm”).

when a product we link to a specific ethnic group detaches itself from its roots and appeals to other groups as well

the largest ethnic subculture

though much smaller in absolute numbers, are the fastest-growing racial group

the huge impact of this racial subculture and work hard to identify products and services that will appeal to these consumers.

The toy market is no exception

“almost half of African American women say their skin tells a story of who they are and identifies them.”

now the nation’s second-largest consumer market after white non-Hispanic

they more often live in large, traditional, married-with-children families where grandparents log a lot of time

Coors beer’s slogan to “get loose with Coors” appeared in Spanish as “get the runs with Coors.”

Braniff (now defunct) promoted the comfortable leather seats on its airplanes with the headline, Sentado en cuero, which translates as “Sit naked.”

many Hispanics don’t think of themselves as distinctly Latino or American, but rather somewhere in the middle or ambicultural

the most affluent, best educated, and most likely to hold technology jobs of any ethnic subculture

the “swayable shopaholics,” who are the most active and impulsive buyers in the country

Chinese being the largest and Filipino and Japanese second and third, respectively

Filipinos are the only Asians who speak English predominantly among themselves; like Hispanics, most Asians prefer media in their own languages

Consumers in this age subculture have a number of needs such as experimentation, belonging, independence, responsibility, and approval from others.

Teenagers in every culture grapple with fundamental developmental issues when they transition from childhood to adult.

Gen Z describes kids who were born in the late 1990s to early 2000s, so they will start entering college in just a few years.

55 percent are Caucasian, 24 percent
are Hispanic, 14 percent are African American and 4 percent are Asian.

Marketers are just starting to figure out what this new group of young consumers will ook like.

A brand overhaul by Pepsi that included its new smiley-face logo had the so-called Gen Y age segment squarely in its sights

Gen Yers were born between 1986 and 2002. They already make up nearly one-third of the U.S. population, and they spend $170 billion a year of their own and their parents’ money

Gen Yers love brands like Sony, Patagonia, Gap, Aveda, and Apple.

A research firm analyzed data from several million Millennials and concluded that three major forces have shaped their experience:

Globalization: Millennials are eager to experience other cultures, but they do this in different ways.

Social media: Gen Y is constantly open to public observation because every new post or status update reveals something about themselves.

Economy: The company identified a subgroup of ambitious go-getters.

Unlike their parents or older siblings, Gen Yers tend to hold relatively traditional values and they prefer to fit in rather than rebel.

The Gen X age subculture consists of 46 million Americans who were born between 1965 and 1985.

Today, Gen Xers have grown up, and in fact members of this generation are responsible for many culture-changing products and companies such as Google, YouTube, and Amazon.

The Baby Boomer age subculture consists of people whose parents established families following the end of World War II and during the 1950s when the peacetime economy was strong and stable.

“Trailing-edge” boomers, who were born between 1956 and 1964, came of age after Vietnam and the Watergate scandal.

“Leading-edge” boomers, born between 1946 and 1955, grew up during the Vietnam War and Civil Rights eras.