Conclusion: Audience Testing

This chapter considers the significance and impact of assemblages of diversity on meanings of race and ethnicity in advertising and society. Especially in light of demographic shifts reported in the 2010 U.S. Census, the notion of a “postracial” America underscored by Obama’s presidency, and an increased emphasis on digital and social media, it considers current debates and future paths for the advertising industry. It analyzes the competing approaches between general market advertising wishing to represent diversity multicultural advertising. The chapter investigates the impact of these activities on mass-mediated representations of race, ethnicity, and language in advertising. The chapter also considers the future of Asian American advertising by looking at how advertising executives regard the viability of reaching “second generation” Asian Americans through multicultural advertising when they are already thought to be effectively reached through general market advertising.