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Marketing Visuals Has A Powerful Effect on Minority Viewers
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must be symbolic, involve human intervention, and have an audience (Foss, 2005)· Within these criteria, Foss highlights several visual forms that can serve as rhetoric, including dance, sculpture, paintings, and of particular interest for this study, photographs.
In his visual rhetorical study of a virtual university’s promotional efforts, Kenney (2005) Points out that, because of their unavoidably selective nature, all photographs are rhetorical. For universities, the purpose of their use of photography is to give prospective students an idea of what their college experience will be like, depending on what the school offers (Kenney, 2005)· A visual rhetorical analysis o f a school’s visuals takes into account the historical context of the university, the images used, and evaluates the overall perceived effectiveness of those images to produce the desired rhetoric. Pippert, Essenburg, and Matchett (2013) understood how persuasive a university’s rhetoric can be.
As the population of the United States grows increasingly more ethnically diverse, the need to reproduce that diversity in institutions of higher education and ensure that all Americans have equal access to education grows as well. Colleges and universities all over the United States use various marketing devices to recruit more students from diverse backgrounds.
These institutions use visual tactics to display campus diversity, including photographs in admissions materials that overrepresent the campus’s ethnic diversity (Pippert et al., 2013). Some have even gone so far as to digitally alter photographs to include faces of Black or African American students, sparking backlash (Prichep, 2013; Cotovio & Mezzofiore, 2018; Jaschik, 2019).
Mayer (2014) emphasized that, “The development of a strong institutional brand should be of great importance to a school” (p. i), when trying to gain a competitive advantage and recruit more students. A university’s brand, as Mayer defines it, is the set of characteristics that
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define the university and set it apart from the competition. Universities use their unique brand as a tool to recruit students. Not only is a university’s brand formed through the actual characteristics of the school, like a good athletic program, prestigious alumni, and more; but it can also be influenced by the visual images that the university uses to portray itself and tell its story (Mayer, 2014). Branding a university to be appealing toward minority students and their needs, then, requires a purposive selection of images that tell the story of an inclusive and diverse campus.
Studies have shown that presenting ethnic diversity in marketing visuals has a powerful effect on minority viewers while having little effect on White viewers (Licsandru & Cui, 2019).
This can be useful for marketing departments to remember when crafting promotional content that creates an appealing image of diversity to minorities. However, portraying these images without actions behind them can easily backfire on organizations because they are being dishonest about their diversity (Wilton, Bell, Vahradyan, Kaiser, 2020). This dishonesty can lead to mistrust in organizations and reduced desire among students to remain there.
Schools affiliated with Christian groups tend to be unlikely to overwhelmingly overrepresent their ethnic diversity (Hagenbuch, 2012). However, these universities are still susceptible to visual overrepresentation as they work to move past troubled racial pasts and diversify their campuses. Even if these methods are effective in recruiting Black or African American students, retention of these students still remains significantly lower than that of their White counterparts. This suggests that there are additional factors at play that prevent these students from completing their college education.
Among the religious bodies that have established and maintained Christian universities are the churches of Christ. The churches were formed with the desire to “speak where the Bible speaks,
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and be silent where the Bible is silent,” similar to Martin Luther’s Sola Scriptura, or Scripture Only. In the late 19th century, however, divisions began to occur between the religious groups formed after the Restoration Movement. According to Hosman (1970), the early motivation to establish Bible colleges was to combat the rise of Liberalism, which had begun to permeate many different religious bodies during the latter part of the igth century and resulted in doctrinal debates over subjects such as the inclusion of instruments in worship. More conservative believers wanted an institution where leaders could be taught to combat religious liberalism.
This resulted in the foundation of Bible colleges across several denominations. Christian liberal arts universities are distinct from the Bible college because, while they offer degrees that give students the opportunity to enter full-time ministry or mission work, their main focus is teaching the liberal arts “from a Christian perspective,” with a commitment to “integrating faith and learning” while providing vocational degrees (Franklin, 1995). These universities have a unique advantage over Bible colleges because they can recruit students from both religious and secular backgrounds.
The purpose of this study is to understand how predominantly White universities represent their ethnic diversity in marketing visuals and the effect that has on Black student enrollment and retention. The following research question grows out of conclusions gathered from studies by Pippert et al. (2013) and aims to fill a gap in the current body of research.
RQi: How does the visual representation of Black individuals in marketing efforts affect Black student enrollment and retention at a predominantly White, faith-based university?
Although Hagenbuch (2012) found that faith-based universities were not very likely to overrepresent their ethnic diversity in visuals, the
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hypothesis instead follows the findings of Pippert et al. (2013), who found that schools overrepresent ethnic diversity in their marketing visuals. The first hypothesis comes from the aforementioned research.
Hi: Predominantly White, faith-based universities overrepresent Black individuals in marketing visuals.
Based on research by Licsandru and Cui (2019) and observations by Mayer (2014), it is expected that this increased representation has a positive effect on the enrollment numbers of Black students, as they see the school as a place where they will fit in with others.
H:z: The increased visual representation of Black individuals in marketing materials correlates with an increase in Black student enrollment.
After arriving on campus for classes and seeing the school’s demographics in person, however, students may realize that they are still in the minority and that their expectations of campus climate and inclusivity do not match what they saw in the university’s marketing visuals. This could lead to a consistently lower rate of retention among Black students compared to White students. This study follows the framework of previous studies that examined different pieces of the recruitment process for ethnic minorities (Hagenbuch, 2012; Pippert et al.,2013).
H3: The increased visual representation of Black individuals in marketing materials has no effect on Black student retention.
Based on previous studies and a review of relevant literature, the following methods were determined to be effective in testing these hypotheses.
Method
This mixed-method study consists of two parts: a content analysis of university Instagram accounts that seeks to understand what kind of
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ethnic diversity is visually represented by universities, and a comparison of that data to enrollment and retention rates of Black students. The design of this study is based on a previous study by Pippert et al. (2013) that examined the visual representation of ethnic minorities in college admissions materials (Pippert et al., 2013).
Sample
The data that was used to answer the research question was gathered from a convenience sample of predominantly White universities associated with the churches of Christ in the United States. Instagram accounts from these schools were analyzed to gather data about minority representation.
Convenience sampling has its flaws, namely the fact that the data gathered will not be completely representative of the whole population, limiting its generalizability. Despite these limitations, a convenience sample is one of the best methods to employ for this type of study, especially considering the time and resources available. The data collected will still be useful and will give insight into the topic, which will then allow for future research to be done that can either be more generalizable or more in-depth.
Instruments
To understand how predominantly White, faith-based universities in the United States represent their ethnic diversity in marketing visuals, a content analysis method was used to count individuals in photographs on each university’s Instagram account and classify them into an ethnic category. Instagram accounts for each university were accessed through the Instagram website. In order to code individuals as accurately as possible, coding was based on methods used in a previous study by Pippert et al. (2013). Permission was obtained from the author to use this instrument. With this method,
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photographs were carefully coded by counting the prominent figures in each one to get a total ofthe individuals represented visually. Faces that were more than halfway obscured, excessively blurred due to depth of field, extremely small because they were at a distance and/or part of a crowd shot, or those that belonged to musicians who performed at the university were not included in the count, as those were assumed not to add to a viewer’s perception of the campus’s ethnic diversity. Once counted, individuals were then coded by ethnicity-Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, and Other. The classification of Hispanic was used in keeping with how each university classified their students. Because assuming an individual’s race based on a single photograph requires care, it was important to follow the example of Pippert et al. (2013) and avoid personal bias by asking the question, ‘When viewing this photograph, would the average casual observer place the subject into a racial classification, and if so, which category would he or she be placed in?”(p. 269)
A four-year period of examination was chosen for the study, beginning with the first post on each account in August of 2015 and ending with the final post in July of 2019. The assumption was that posts created in the time between August and July were intended to reach students who would enroll the following August (posts between August 2015 and july 2016 would directly affect the incoming class for the fall of 2016, for example).
While it can be argued that an analysis of more current posts is more valuable, these dates were chosen for two reasons. The first was to avoid photos posted during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they would largely contain faces that are obscured by protective face coverings which would make it difficult for both the researcher and usual audiences to identify an individual’s ethnicity. The second was to avoid photos posted during the Black Lives Matter protests that occurred after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery in the summer of 2020. During these protests, many organizations intentionally communicated their stances regarding
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Excellent Quality 95-100%
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Introduction
45-41 points The background and significance of the problem and a clear statement of the research purpose is provided. The search history is mentioned. |
Literature Support 91-84 points The background and significance of the problem and a clear statement of the research purpose is provided. The search history is mentioned. |
Methodology 58-53 points Content is well-organized with headings for each slide and bulleted lists to group related material as needed. Use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance readability and presentation content is excellent. Length requirements of 10 slides/pages or less is met. |
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Average Score 50-85% |
40-38 points More depth/detail for the background and significance is needed, or the research detail is not clear. No search history information is provided. |
83-76 points Review of relevant theoretical literature is evident, but there is little integration of studies into concepts related to problem. Review is partially focused and organized. Supporting and opposing research are included. Summary of information presented is included. Conclusion may not contain a biblical integration. |
52-49 points Content is somewhat organized, but no structure is apparent. The use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. is occasionally detracting to the presentation content. Length requirements may not be met. |
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Poor Quality 0-45% |
37-1 points The background and/or significance are missing. No search history information is provided. |
75-1 points Review of relevant theoretical literature is evident, but there is no integration of studies into concepts related to problem. Review is partially focused and organized. Supporting and opposing research are not included in the summary of information presented. Conclusion does not contain a biblical integration. |
48-1 points There is no clear or logical organizational structure. No logical sequence is apparent. The use of font, color, graphics, effects etc. is often detracting to the presentation content. Length requirements may not be met |
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Marketing Visuals Has A Powerful Effect on Minority Viewers |
Marketing Visuals Has A Powerful Effect on Minority Viewers