A Tale of Two Social Contexts: Race-Specific Testimonials on Commercial Web Sites

This two-part study examines the effects of race-specific testimonials on both Black and White consumers and on Black majority and Black minority consumers. Study I demonstrates that Black Internet surfers respond more favorably to testimonial ads that utilize Black character testimonials than they do to testimonials that use White characters. White Internet surfers responded no differently to testimonials based on the race of the product presenter. Study I also indicates that Black and White Web surfers seem to have a slight preference for moderately vivid testimonials versus highly vivid testimonials. Study II indicates that Blacks who represented a numeric minority in their immediate social environment showed more favorability toward ads that use Black characters than Blacks who resided in a social environment wherein they comprised a numeric majority.