This article looks into the way in which public-service as well as commercial TV stations in the Netherlands assume their social responsibility towards a pluralist society. After all, television channels are expected to be ‘mirrors of society’; the key question is then how successful their programs are in conveying a well-balanced representation of all groups in society. By means of a quantitative analysis, the Diversity Monitor charts the presentation of different groups, with a particular focus on gender, age, and ethnicity. (...) Apart from diversity, and as a subcomponent of the Quality Card, the Monitor also reviews innovation as an indicator of program quality. The results reveal a wide diversity of TV programs in the Netherlands, but diversity as such is no guarantee of a balanced presentation of society at large. Due to selection mechanisms on the side of the broadcaster and the public, what the viewer eventually gets is at the most a mirror of his or her own group. (shrink)

Advertisers in the Netherlands and Flanders are discovering marketing opportunities to market to specific target groups such as children and adolescents, and their growing numbers in the ethnic minority population. There have been relatively few empirical studies on the portrayal of these audience segments. In light of the first steps in ethnic marketing theory and practice in the Netherlands and Flanders, this study questions how advertising campaigns actually deal with ethnicity and the multicultural market. This issue is tackled by means (...) of a quantitative and comparative content analysis of Dutch, Flemish, American, Turkish, and Chinese television commercials. The first section of this article sketches a theoretical framework for the measurement of cultural values and the representation of ethnic minorities in commercials. On the one hand it draws on previous cross-cultural research examining the individualism/collectivism dimension of culture and on the other hand on advertising research concerned with both content-related, and style characteristics of commercials. In the second section, the methodology is discussed through an examination of the sample and coding instrument. The results section reveals both similarities and differences in the use of values and communication styles in commercials from individualistic as well as collectivistic cultures. Finally, the conclusions of this study are discussed and recommendations for further research are presented. (shrink)

Considering the growing interest of marketers to communicate with ethnic minority groups in an increasingly more diverse society and the limited empirical work on ethnic minorities as consumers, this study aims to explore the way in which ethnic marketing practices are perceived by both practitioners and ethnic minority consumers in Flanders. By means of structured in-depth interviews the opportunities and limitations of ethnic marketing in a small, though multi-ethnic, society are evaluated. On the one hand, the study shows that young (...) adults with ethnic origins feel particularly positive about their recognition and inclusion as a ‘new’ target group in the market. On the other, both practitioners and ethnic minority consumers articulate their reservations about the economic benefits, the social impact and desirability of adjustments in advertising messages in order to target ethnic minority consumers. (shrink)