Volume 10 (2026)

As the US marketplace becomes increasingly diverse, understanding how intergroup contact shapes consumer attitudes is essential for inclusive and effective marketing. Drawing from Berry’s bidimensional model of acculturation and intergroup contact theory, this paper examines how the quality and frequency of intergroup interactions influence diversity-related attitudes. While most acculturation research treats ‘interaction’ as a generalised process between groups, this study disaggregates contact experiences by race and ethnicity, revealing important group-specific dynamics. Findings from a national sample of 1,153 White, African-American and Hispanic respondents show that high-quality intergroup contact is a stronger predictor of diversity-related attitudes than contact frequency, particularly among multicultural participants. These results underscore the importance of two-way acculturation in an increasingly pluralistic society, where consumer interaction is mutual and shaped by lived intergroup experiences. Theoretically, this study advances Berry’s model by dimensionalising interaction between minority and majority consumers, demonstrating that the quality of contact, not merely its presence, plays an important role in shaping consumer attitudes. For marketers, the nature of interpersonal interactions in a demographically diverse marketplace significantly influences a number of diversity-related attitudes. Therefore, brands should move beyond demographic proxies of acculturation and recognise the psychosocial dimensions of cultural contact that shape consumer perceptions, attitudes and marketing outcomes that help drive growth in a multicultural America.
Keywords: two-way acculturation; contact hypothesis; intergroup contact; cultural diversity; multicultural marketing; mediation

To clarify the relationships between marketing strategy messages and customer engagement, this paper proposes and tests a holistic framework, including a typology of message categories (functional versus emotional), and examines how product type (utilitarian versus hedonic) and firm type (business-to-consumer versus business-to-business) affect digital user engagement. The paper analyses 103 brands collected from the Twitter (now X) social media posts. Using the official Twitter application programming interface and specific filtering criteria, the authors obtain tweets related to each brand, including original tweets, retweets, quotes and replies. The results show that advertising message types exert different effects on customer engagement on social media. In particular, the impact of functional messages on customer engagement is more significant for utilitarian products than hedonic products. This paper offers essential managerial guidance and recommended practices for effective social media marketing strategies on platforms such as Twitter. The paper also provides novel, practical insights into enhancing customer engagement in the social media context.
Keywords: message types; firm types; product types; customer engagement; Twitter

This paper analyses how LGBTQIA+ inclusive advertisements affect consumer perceptions, attitudes and behaviours in Iloilo City, Philippines. Though media has become more visible and inclusive, advertisers face challenges in developing genuine advertising campaigns that represent the diverse experiences of LGBTQIA+ individuals. The research study used a mixed-method approach to analyse 160 survey participants who viewed a local brand advertisement. The research team applied statistical methods, including chi-square test, t-test and analysis of variance to analyse quantitative data while extracting qualitative findings from open-ended responses. The research showed that gender acts as a determining factor in shaping how consumers view and respond to LGBTQIA+ inclusive adverts, which subsequently influences their purchasing decisions. The study shows that consumers have greater enthusiasm when advertisements present authentic narratives and genuine experiences. The research provides valuable guidance to marketers who wish to create effective, inclusive marketing campaigns that target diverse audiences where cultural background and personal beliefs strongly influence consumer actions.
Keywords: LGBTQIA+ representation; media and advertising; attitudes; perception; consumer behaviour

Sport branding for athletes, teams and organisations is expanding rapidly due to the growth of social media. Over the past decade, sports organisations have reaped the benefits of corporate social responsibility and social impact branding through sport-for-development and sport-for-social-change (SFSC), as more consumers share their desire for eco-friendly, socially responsible and equitable brands. This paper addresses the benefits for companies that participate in social impact branding through SFSC, community engagement and social inclusion by examining the cases of Colin Kaepernick, Simone Biles, as well as strategies capitalising on US patriotism in National Football League marketing.
Keywords: corporate social responsibility; CSR; sport-for-social-change; SFSC; sports; social impact

Food consumption and the choices made in restaurants are not matters of simple utility. As research and industry practice have revealed, consumer choices may be influenced by any number of factors. Not least of these is the menu. This paper investigates whether political identity as an aspect of social identity influences consumer behaviour in restaurants. A (3 × 2) multivariate analysis of covariance was employed to understand the relationships between the dependent variables and the three menu treatments. Results indicate a significant interactive effect of political identity and menu verbiage for both liberal and conservative respondents. Conservatives responded more favourably to affective menu verbiage, and liberal respondents responded favourably to sustainable menu verbiage. The paper also considers the covariance of identity importance and strength in the overall analysis. The results can inform restaurant operators as to two crucial needs of the consumer (ie menu quality and the ability to express one’s identity), which must be satisfied to influence consumer purchase behaviour.
Keywords: menu claims; food choice; political identity; identity marketing; sustainable; menu quality