A Tale of Two Cities: Distinctiveness Theory and Advertising Effectiveness

The authors conducted an empirical study to test McGuire's (1984) distinctiveness theory within an advertising context. First, following the distinctiveness theory postulate, they found that members of minority groups were more likely than majority groups to have their ethnicity salient. Furthermore, in applying distinctiveness theory to persuasion, they found that members of minority (versus majority) groups find an ad spokesperson from their own ethnic group to be more trustworthy and that increased trustworthiness led to more positive attitudes toward the brand being advertised. The authors draw implications for both advertising to ethnic/minority groups as well as for further research applications of distinctiveness theory.