JOURNAL OF MARKETING DEVELOPMENT AND COMPETITIVENESS
How Can You Activate ‘Incongruence’ in ‘Customized Communications’
Through African-American Stereotypes? Measuring ‘Customized
Communication Incongruity’ in Advertising
Author(s): Anshu Saxena Arora, Jun Wu
Citation: Anshu Saxena Arora, Jun Wu, (2012) "How Can You Activate ‘Incongruence’ in ‘Customized Communications’ Through African-American Stereotypes? Measuring ‘Customized
Communication Incongruity’ in Advertising," Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, Vol. 6, Iss. 5, pp. 83 - 106
Article Type: Research paper
Publisher: North American Business Press
Abstract:
There has been a growing stream of research on advertising incongruity when targeting different cultures
and stereotypes. We conceptualize that stereotypical activation through print advertisements generates
Customized Communication Incongruity (CCI), leading to both positive and negative impacts on ad-
evoked feelings and overall brand equity. The research proposes and measures Customized
Communication Incongruity (CCI) between the ad-message and commonly known African-American
cultural stereotypes through ‘STAR’ framework [Stereotypes (S), Theme (T), Agreement (A) and
Relevance (R)], which makes our research ‘first’ in the field of measuring advertising incongruity
through stereotypes. We implement Structural Equation Modeling to examine the hypothesis measuring
CCI and its effects on ad-evoked feelings and consumer-based brand equity. The research has strong
academic and practical implications for researchers, academicians and practitioners as both positive and
negative stereotypes were found to significantly impact ad-evoked feelings and brand equity.