Adolescent Perceptions of Black-Oriented Media: The Day Beyoncé Turned Black

摘要

Black-oriented media, content with predominately Black casts and/or racial themes, is marketed primarily toward Black audiences. However, how audiences perceive such targeting is unclear. To investigate this, Black and White adolescents (n=1,990) identified the perceived target audiences of 15 movies (12 Black-oriented). Results from Item Response Theory and multiple regression suggest that Black adolescents, especially those with strong ethnic identity, differentiate Black-oriented from mainstream movies. Black adolescents report higher exposure to Black-oriented films, particularly if they perceive such films as targeted to Black audiences. White adolescents find it more difficult to identify Black-oriented films. This suggests that Black-oriented films might be successfully marketed beyond Black audiences.Management slant class="unordered" style="list-style-type:disc" id="L1">Black adolescent audiences perceive Black-oriented media tobe targeted toward them, especially those who have strong ethnicidentity.White adolescent audiences generally perceive Black-orientedmedia to be targeted toward anyone.Black-oriented content may find greater mainstream marketingsuccess if advertisers target both Black and White audiences. class="kwd-title">Keywords: film, identity, marketing, targeting, race, adolescentsWhen Beyoncé released her hit single and related video“Formation” and performed the song at the 2016 Super Bowl, somecontroversy arose because of the way the song, video, and performance highlightedBeyoncé’s Black heritage (, February 8; href="#R40" rid="R40" class=" bibr popnode">Robinson,2016, February 8). Some reactions seemed to imply that the audience hadforgotten that Beyoncé is, in fact, Black. Shortly after the Super Bowl,Saturday Night Live aired a skit called “The DayBeyoncé Turned Black” (href="#R4" rid="R4" class=" bibr popnode">Anderson,2016, February 14; ,February 15). The most relevant segment of the skit is when a White character says,“Maybe this song isn’t for us?” and another replies in apanic, “But usually everything is!” Thesong and video – and the reactions to them – highlighted an aspectof popular culture that is not often scrutinized: the idea that there is contentmade for mainstream audiences and content targeted toward smaller audience segments.However, audiences may not agree about the target of certain media content and thismay impact that content’s popularity and financial success.One demographic whose perceptions may be both highly important and fairlyfluid in nature is that of adolescents. Adolescents spend approximately three hoursper day watching film and television (href="#R39" rid="R39" class=" bibr popnode">Rideout,2015). They watch an average of 31 films per year (), 6 of those in the theater (), and they comprise 15% of“frequent moviegoers” while representing 8% of thepopulation (). Adolescentsrepresent a large market for film and television and whether they perceive contentto be targeted towards them, and their likelihood of selecting that content, isimportant for media producers and marketers to know. In particular, racial diversitymay be an important factor in adolescent perceptions about film and televisioncontent.Black adolescents spend more time using media than White and Hispanicadolescents (;; ). One explanation for this difference isthat Black adolescents select both mainstream content and content that includes moreBlack characters (href="#R18" rid="R18" class=" bibr popnode tag_hotlink tag_tooltip" id="__tag_792050695">Ellithorpe & Bleakley,2016). The latter is often referred to as“Black-oriented” and tends to be defined in the academic literatureand the popular press as content with predominately Black casts and/or that directlyaddresses racial themes (href="#R3" rid="R3" class=" bibr popnode">Allen, Dawson, & Brown,1989; href="#R12" rid="R12" class=" bibr popnode tag_hotlink tag_tooltip" id="__tag_792050697">Dal Cin, Stoolmiller, &Sargent, 2013; ; ; ; ). As the name suggests, Black-orientedcontent tends to be marketed primarily to Black audiences (; ).The Current Study and HypothesesIt is unknown if academic definitions of “Black-oriented”correspond with audience perceptions. Do adolescents differentiate betweenBlack-oriented and mainstream media content? Are these perceptions associatedwith exposure to that content? These issues have implications for perceivedrepresentation and diversity in media which is an important and timely topic inpopular culture (, January14). They also have implications for the way movies are marketed. If“Black-oriented” is not a classification that adolescents– the largest share of moviegoers – recognize, the more broadlysuch content could be marketed. Ethnic diversity in Hollywood is currently on anerratic but upward trajectory (href="#R23" rid="R23" class=" bibr popnode">Hunt, Ramon,& Price, 2014; href="#R51" rid="R51" class=" bibr popnode">Tukachinsky,Mastro, & Yarchi, 2015), and knowledge about how and to whomcontent with diverse casts should be marketed will be important for continuingthat trend.A character’s race can impact the way audience members identifywith and evaluate that character, with Blacks reporting higher identificationwith and liking for Black characters than for White characters (, href="#R6" rid="R6" class=" bibr popnode">2001b, href="#R7" rid="R7" class=" bibr popnode">2002). Whites, on theother hand, seem to respond to Black and White characters relatively equally(href="#R5" rid="R5" class=" bibr popnode">Appiah, 2001a, href="#R6" rid="R6" class=" bibr popnode">2001b, href="#R7" rid="R7" class=" bibr popnode">2002).This is also the case with targeted website content, such that Blacks spend moretime with and have better recall for Black targeted websites as opposed to Whitetargeted ones, while White respondents demonstrate no difference by targeting(href="#R8" rid="R8" class=" bibr popnode">Appiah, 2003). Blacks perceive Blackspokespeople to be more trustworthy (href="#R16" rid="R16" class=" bibr popnode">Deshpandé & Stayman, 1994) and marketing effects arestronger with targeted advertisements to Blacks (href="#R1" rid="R1" class=" bibr popnode">Aaker, Brumbaugh, & Grier, 2000). There is also evidence thatBlack adolescents report stronger media effects for Black-oriented media thanfor mainstream media while White adolescents report no difference in effect(href="#R12" rid="R12" class=" bibr popnode tag_hotlink tag_tooltip" id="__tag_792050687">Dal Cin et al., 2013; href="#R42" rid="R42" class=" bibr popnode">Schooler et al., 2004). Based on these fewstudies, there is a pattern where Black adolescents are likely to seek out,enjoy, and experience stronger influence from media content with Blackcharacters. White adolescents, however, seem to respond to mainstream andBlack-oriented media and to White and Black characters in largely the sameway.A possible explanation for this difference in responses to race in mediais distinctiveness theory (href="#R29" rid="R29" class=" bibr popnode tag_hotlink tag_tooltip" id="__tag_792050700">McGuire, McGuire,Child, & Fujioka, 1978). Distinctiveness theory is the idea thatidentity is multifaceted (e.g., one can identify as female, Asian, a parent, awriter, etc.). Which parts of one’s identity that are salient and thusimpact perception at any given time will be a function of which aspects arecontextually relevant. One context for one identity to be more salient thanothers is that it is distinct from other groups (href="#R29" rid="R29" class=" bibr popnode tag_hotlink tag_tooltip" id="__tag_792050691">McGuire et al., 1978). Specifically, those in the minority willreport higher salience of their minority identity group status than those in themajority (href="#R11" rid="R11" class=" bibr popnode">Cota & Dion, 1986; href="#R29" rid="R29" class=" bibr popnode tag_hotlink tag_tooltip" id="__tag_792050701">McGuire et al., 1978). The relevantidentity group for the present study is Black Americans. Their numericalminority status in the U.S. means that Blacks’ racial group can becomeconsistently accessible and important. Whites, however, should not feel thattheir identity as White is important until something makes them aware of it,such as if they walked into a room full of non-White people (href="#R36" rid="R36" class=" bibr popnode">Phinney, 1992).Based on research on distinctiveness theory and Black and Whiteadolescents’ responses to media characters, we predict that Blackadolescents will be more likely to identify Black-oriented media as beingtargeted toward Black audiences, and White adolescents will report lessdistinction on perceived target audience between Black-oriented and mainstreamcontent.

>H1: Black adolescents will more easily distinguishbetween Black-oriented media content and mainstream media content thanWhite adolescents.

Adolescence is a critical life stage for identity processes because itis a time of identity formation (href="#R19" rid="R19" class=" bibr popnode tag_hotlink tag_tooltip" id="__tag_792050706">French,Seidman, Allen, & Aber, 2006; href="#R27" rid="R27" class=" bibr popnode tag_hotlink tag_tooltip" id="__tag_792050709">Kroger, Martinussen, & Marcia, 2010; href="#R34" rid="R34" class=" bibr popnode">Phinney, 1989, href="#R35" rid="R35" class=" bibr popnode tag_hotlink tag_tooltip" id="__tag_792050696">1990). Adolescents will often go through a period of identityquestioning, evaluation, and definition. This may involve trying out variousidentities and negotiating the importance and meaning of group memberships(href="#R19" rid="R19" class=" bibr popnode tag_hotlink tag_tooltip" id="__tag_792050710">French et al., 2006; href="#R30" rid="R30" class=" bibr popnode">Moshman, 2005). Research with Black adolescentssuggests that at any given point roughly half of them are not currently and havenot yet begun to question or search for ethnic identity, one quarter areactively assessing their ethnic identity, and the remaining quarter haveachieved a stable ethnic identity after a period of questioning, with thelikelihood of ethnic identity achievement increasing with age (href="#R35" rid="R35" class=" bibr popnode tag_hotlink tag_tooltip" id="__tag_792050689">Phinney, 1990; href="#R43" rid="R43" class=" bibr popnode tag_hotlink tag_tooltip" id="__tag_792050707">Seaton, Scottham, & Sellers, 2006). Therefore, althoughdistinctiveness theory predicts that being a member of a salient minority groupwill influence group distinctiveness and thus perceptions of marketing should bebased on that group membership, Black adolescents with weak or undefined ethnicidentities may not show this effect to the same extent. Black adult respondentswith stronger ethnic identity had more positive evaluations of advertisementsthat featured Black actors in dominant positions (href="#R20" rid="R20" class=" bibr popnode">Green, 1999). Similarly, another study found thatAsian American adolescents lacking strong ethnic identities were less likely toselect Asian-language films, music, and cultural performances (href="#R52" rid="R52" class=" bibr popnode">Xu, Shim, Lotz, & Almeida, 2004). We expect asimilar pattern for Black adolescents. There is not, however, a stance fromdistinctiveness theory suggesting that ethnic identity should matter for Whiteadolescents. As the majority ethnic group their identities should not be salientnor factor into their perceptions.

>H2: Ethnic identity will moderate the extent towhich Black adolescents distinguish between the perceived targetaudiences for Black-oriented and mainstream media content, such thatstronger identity will be associated with greater distinction betweenthe types of content.

id="P15" class="p p-last">In addition to perceptions of the intended target of media content,adolescents’ exposure to that content is also important. Blackadolescents’ exposure to Black characters has been associated with avariety of outcomes, including liking and enjoyment (href="#R2" rid="R2" class=" bibr popnode">Abrams & Giles, 2007; href="#R7" rid="R7" class=" bibr popnode">Appiah, 2002), identity building (href="#R9" rid="R9" class=" bibr popnode">Arnett, 1995; href="#R18" rid="R18" class=" bibr popnode tag_hotlink tag_tooltip" id="__tag_792050699">Ellithorpe & Bleakley, 2016), and stronger media effects (href="#R12" rid="R12" class=" bibr popnode tag_hotlink tag_tooltip" id="__tag_792050704">Dal Cin et al., 2013; href="#R42" rid="R42" class=" bibr popnode">Schooler et al., 2004). As mentioned, Blackadolescents watch more television and movies than White adolescents (href="#R26" rid="R26" class=" bibr popnode">Jordan et al., 2010), possibly in part toinclude more content with Black characters (href="#R18" rid="R18" class=" bibr popnode tag_hotlink tag_tooltip" id="__tag_792050693">Ellithorpe & Bleakley, 2016). There is also evidence that Blackpeople will seek out content that they expect will portray Black characterspositively and avoid content that they believe will portray Black charactersnegatively (href="#R2" rid="R2" class=" bibr popnode">Abrams & Giles, 2007),something that may be influenced by perceived targeting. Therefore, we expectthat Black adolescents will be more likely to expose themselves toBlack-oriented media content, and that this will be moderated by the extent towhich they see such content as targeted toward them.

id="P16">>H3: Black adolescents will report higher exposureto Black-oriented media content than White adolescents.

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id="P17">>H4: Black respondents’ exposure toBlack-oriented media will be moderated by their perceptions of whetherthe media is targeted to Black audiences, such that greater perceivedtargeting will be associated with more exposure.

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id="P18">>H5: Ethnic identity will moderate the extent towhich Black adolescents report exposure to Black-oriented and mainstreammedia content, such that stronger identity will be associated withgreater exposure to Black-oriented content.

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