ABSTRACT
Avatars and anthropomorphic characters have become commonplace on commercial websites but few studies have examined their impact on black consumers. Moreover, a recent trend among marketers has been to use ethnically ambiguous characters racially neutral characters or characters whose race or ethnicity are unidentifiable in advertisements to appeal to a broader consumer segment. The latest cultural trend among US marketers is to use ethnically ambiguous models in advertising to appeal to ethnic specific consumer segments. Ethnic identity is a subjective orientation that captures one's attitudes toward his/her ethnic membership. Phinney defined ethnic identity as a self-constructed understanding of oneself in terms of ones cultural and ethnic background and the attitudes and feelings associated with that background. A positive ethnic identity entails affirmation of ones ethnic membership and an occurrence of positive attitudes such as pride and happiness. The distinctiveness principle should provide a better understanding of how audiences process information from both ethnically ambiguous and unambiguous sources.
