3. Fair Housing Act
-Created in 1968 under the US Department of Housing and
Urban Development
-According to the act “no one may take any of the following
actions based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex,
familial status or handicap: Refuse to rent or sell housing
Refuse to negotiate for housing
Make housing unavailable
Deny a dwelling
Set different terms, conditions or privileges for sale or rental
Provide different housing services or facilities
Falsely deny that housing is available for inspection, sale, or rental
For profit, persuade owners to sell or rent (blockbusting) or
Deny anyone access to or membership in a facility or service (such
as a multiple listing service) related to the sale or rental of housing.”
4. Housing Act and Advertising
-In 1980, HUD reissued guidelines for real estate
advertisements
-They required models used in display advertising
campaigns to be clearly definable as reasonable
representing majority and minority groups in the
metropolitan area in which the advertising campaign
is targeted
-Discriminatory advertising may have the potential to
dissuade minority residents from applying for housing
in certain neighborhoods or buildings. It also sends a
discriminatory message which violates the fair
housing act
5. Overview of Research
1. Does racially exclusive advertising signal
racially exclusive messages?
2. Do differences in ethnic identification
affect African American’s perceptions of
models in racially exclusive real estate
advertising?
3. Have fair housing legislation and recent
court decisions, with the aim of preventing
discriminatory advertising, affected with
racial composition of real estate advertising?
6. Research Methodology
-There were two levels of viewers (black and white), two levels of models (all-
white and integrated), and two levels of strength of ethnic identification
-Sample: mail survey of black and white households generally in a middle
income bracket or higher
-The dependent variables were measured by scale: advertising campaign:
appealing not appealing; message: believable/not believable; product:
prestigious/not prestigious; behavioral intentions: likely to visit/not likely to
visit; models: likeable/not likeable
-The survey also included demographic questions including income, education,
occupation, ethnic background, and level of ethnic identification
7. Advertisements
-Respondents were
also asked to evaluate
three advertisments
-Each advertisement
had three photographs
with people doing
various activities in
each
-The advertisements
were either all white
models or integrated
8. Findings of Research
- Overall, it was found that a large percentage of both black and white groups
found that factors such as safe neighborhoods, good school districts and
proximity to shopping centers was very important.
- However, there was a higher percentage of African Americans who also
considered access to public transportation to be an important factor when
seeking out new places to live
- The results generally showed that both racial groups viewed the integrated
advertisement as more favorable than the advertisement that showed
strictly caucasian people
9. Findings of Research Cont’d.
-There was a percentage of African Americans that were sensitive to the racial
exclusiveness of the all-white ad however,and they responded negatively to the
ad.
-Many blacks, are in fact sensitive to racial exclusiveness in advertising, and
tend to notice when ads don’t include models of the same ethnic background
-But, for the most part, African americans were not influenced by the all white
ad unless they were consciously identifying with the fact that they were racially
exclusive.
-The results of this study showed that there were flaws in the methodologies of
real estate advertisements, however we did not find evidence that these
advertisements actually dissuade African Americans from seeking out housing
in said areas.
10. Updates
-Chilling effect: rather than all-white
ads being replaced by multiracial ads,
they might be replaced by ads that have
no models at all
11. Discussion
-Since the models in advertisements only affect a small portion of the decision
making process in regards to housing, should they even be used?
-This article only mentions the effects of racially exclusive vs racially inclusive
ads for African Americans, do you think that this needs to be addressed for
other minorities as well? What are some methods of marketing/advertising that
Real Estate agencies can use to appeal to a broader spectrum?
-How much do you think segregation in housing has changed?
-Because there are a range of factors people are looking for with housing, do
you think models have a huge affect on their decision?
13. Background
- Previous studies had shown that unhealthy products are disproportionately
advertised to African-Americans and Latinos via television, magazines, and
point-of-sale advertising
- Latinos and African-Americans are already at higher risk for diseases like
diabetes, kidney failure, stroke, congestive heart failure, and alcoholism
- Searching for ways to curb the new obesity epidemic
- In California, tobacco-related diseases declined significantly since
controlling ads
14.
15. Overview of Research
- Study conducted in 2009
- 4 cities: Los Angeles, Austin, NYC, Philadelphia
- To examine whether African-Americans, Latinos,
and people living in low-income neighborhoods
are disproportionately exposed to advertisements
for unhealthy foods and sedentary activities
- Compared outdoor advertising content to area
income and ethnicity in each city
16. Research Methods
- Zip codes were to contrast race/ethnicity (predominantly African-American, Latino, and white)
and household income
- Used GPS receivers and digital cameras to record the outdoor advertising
- Included ads that could be seen from the street or sidewalks
- Billboards, bus benches, sidewalk “sandwich” signs, murals on buildings, window posters
- Collected data on types of ads, number of ads, size of ads
- Detailed assessment of each zip code’s ads
- Coding based on type of product/service in ad, and also other visual or text information
- Two different measures to assess ad coverage:
- Number of ads
- Sheetspace
17. Findings of Research
● Low income areas had twice as many ads as did high income
areas and three times as much sheet-space
● Low-income Latino zip codes had the highest prevalence of
advertisements featuring high-calorie/low-nutrition products
● Ads related to sedentary behaviors were most prevalent in
low-income Latino and white zip codes
● Ads featuring physical activity were most common in high-
income white neighborhoods and low-income Latino
neighborhoods
● Only 9 ads featuring fresh fruit and salads were observed
20. Discussion
What are the ethical implications of
marketing unhealthy products to a certain
group?
Is this any different than marketing these
products to the general population?
