Graduation Year

2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Marketing

Major Professor

Anand Kumar, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Dipayan Biswas, Ph.D.

Committee Member

David Crockett, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Timothy Heath, Ph.D.

Keywords

Color-Blind Racial Attitudes, Race in Marketing, Inclusive Consumer, Stereotypes

Abstract

The Covid-19 crisis that began in 2020 brought to light many societal issues as people had time to sit and reflect. One of these issues is the systemic injustices against African Americans, which were highlighted after the death of George Floyd. This event re-ignited the Black Lives Matter movement amongst U.S. citizens of all races and within corporations. While some companies pledged to donate to various Black causes, others opted to empower Black businesses economically by supporting the Buy-Black Movement. One of the ways they are accomplishing this goal is by adding a Black-owned label to products and businesses. While this is seen as a way to empower Black businesses and correct past injustices, whether this is actually helpful or harmful, and why, has not been studied.Prior literature on consumer racism has found that the stereotypes of a particular race can influence the perception of products associated with that group as they become a symbol of the group. No racial group in the United States carries more negative stereotypes than Black people. This study analyzes the effects of identifying products with a Black-owned label on Black and non-Black consumers through an exploratory focus group and several empirical experiments. The author tests whether a Black-owned label affects consumers’ product choice and quality judgments. In addition, the moderating relationships of identity salience, the product's category type, consumer's color-blind racial attitudes, and consumer's levels of empathy towards racism are investigated.

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