Black Americans want positive cultural images, want to support black-owned businesses, and value seeing more African-American faces in advertising and celebrity brand endorsements, according to a Nielsen report released Friday on black spending power.
The market research company, whose regional headquarters is based in Schaumburg, undertook the survey in conjunction with Essence Communications, publisher of Essence magazine, a publication targeting African-American women.
The report, Nielsen’s fourth on the spending habits of African-Americans, comes in the midst of the company’s Conscious Consumer campaign launched this year to encourage multicultural groups to evaluate businesses’ effects on their communities before patronizing them.
Black Americans spend about $1 trillion a year, according to Nielsen. That’s expected to rise to $1.3 trillion by 2017.
“We got excited about the conscious consumer, which we define as a responsible shopper who understands her influence, is willing to be a social change agent to better their communities and is researching companies they financially support,” said Cheryl Pearson-McNeil, senior vice president for U.S. Strategic Community Alliances and Consumer Engagement at Nielsen.
The campaign, shared on Nielsen microsites and social media channels, urges consumers to consider:
* Are there people who look like them in the advertising of a company you’re about to do business with?
* Can they find this product in their neighborhood?
* Are the businesses supporting events and causes that are important to them and their community?
* Do they see people who look like them working in these businesses?
“We’re not telling them whether they should or shouldn’t be buying from these companies, but to ask, ‘Why am I doing business with a company that is not giving back to me?'” Pearson-McNeil said.
In other findings, the report noted that spending on African-American-focused media was up by 7 percent in 2013, to $2.6 billion, but still only small percentage of the $69.3 billion companies spent on advertising last year.
“So often what clients are doing is looking to the emerging companies when, I think, there are plenty of opportunities right here in the U.S. to start looking at multicultural consumers,” Pearson-McNeil said.
