Marketing Race in Post-Affirmative Action Contexts

Abstract

While there have been multiple instances of digital manipulation and mishandling of images of racially minoritized individuals by college and universities, most of the literature on higher education marketing is limited to the study of the images themselves. In this comparative case study, I consider both the racial representations found in the undergraduate recruitment materials of four selective, public institutions restricted by their use of race in admissions, as well as how marketing and communications professionals create and understand these representations in a post-affirmative action context.

A theoretical framework that engages racial capitalism, power, and the critical race theory tenets of color-evasiveness, interest convergence, and Whiteness as property, guides this dissertation. Using content and social semiotics analysis, I examined how racially minoritized individuals are represented compared to their White counterparts in 872 images gathered from print and digital recruitment materials. I also conducted interviews with 45 marketing and communications professionals to understand how they approach race in the materials they produce and whether their campuses’ limited use of affirmative action influenced their work.

Regarding the representations of BIPOC and White individuals in recruitment materials, I found each institution overrepresented the racial diversity on their campus with one institution overrepresenting their racial diversity by 29 percent. Photos of BIPOC and White individuals pictured along the horizontal axis drew viewers’ attention to BIPOC individuals and away from their White counterparts. In contrast, White individuals in the photography of three out of the four institutions were pictured in a greater number of roles than their BIPOC counterparts.

In terms of how marketing professionals create these racial portrayals, I found marketing professionals embraced two types of design processes and four considerations for the visual representation of racially diverse individuals: style, content, source, and use. Some participants sensitive to race and racism felt responsible for educating colleagues and guiding creative decisions on the visual representation of racially minoritized individuals, while many managers of BIPOC employees appreciated turning to them when issues regarding race arose. Overall, two thirds of participants did not view their work as being influenced by the affirmative action ban.

Given these findings, I conclude that there has been a re-evaluation of race, whereby racially minoritized individuals are prized in marketing as shown by their overrepresentation. The images of racial diversity promoted are at times stereotypical and at times models of the inclusive marketing style that seeks to reverse negative stereotypes. Moreover, the design process behind these materials revealed an imbalance in power that often centers and privileges Whiteness. As higher education institutions strive to diversify amidst a changing legal and demographic landscape, they must be more critical of how they represent themselves to prospective students while simultaneously addressing what happens once a student sets foot on campus.