We've all heard that that the population of whites in the U.S. will be surpassed by non-white minorities in the not-so-distant future.1 Advertisers have adjusted to the demographic growth and shift by creating multicultural campaigns, and that's great - if you're targeting a particular group.
But what about when we reach the tipping point, when Hispanics and Asians and African-Americans and Caucasians and all sorts of folks make up the population without one being so dominant - there's a 'general' marketplace? Do you continue to market to each ethnic group separately, or do you just make one big ad that appeals across the board?
An example of an ad campaign targeting specific ethnic groups that did NOT work follows. As Stephen Colbert says, be warned that what you're about to see, you can't un-see. I'd still watch it, as it's so horrifically bad as to be hilarious (and Colbert's parody is hysterical). And watch it before all the videos are gone from the InterGoogle.2
Watch this quick overview of the ads from ABC News...and then check out Stephen Colbert's parody of the ads below.
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1 Nielsen says over 50% of the U.S. population will be non-white by 2050.
2 You'd think after the disastrous 2010 campaign about women's role in the workplace and promotion-worthiness based purely on cleanliness 'down there,' they'd have been a little more circumspect this time. Apparently they have a bunch of douches making advertising decisions over there.
