Using Paid Advertising to Modify Racial Stereotype Beliefs

Abstract

This is a pilot study to determine the feasibility of using mass media to modify beliefs underlying discrimination against Aborigines in a small country town in Australia. A mass media campaign was developed utilizing primarily paid advertising. The 2-week campaign centered around the concept of an Aboriginal employment week, ostensibly designed to encourage Aborigines to seek employment and, at the same time, to encourage the community in general (including employers) to give Aborigines seeking employment “a fair go.” However, a major aim of the campaign was an attempt to neutralize some of the negative beliefs about Aborigines and employment. The specific stereotypical beliefs targeted with respect to Aboriginal employment were: (1) very few Aborigines hold jobs; (2) most Aborigines who hold jobs hold them for a very brief period of time; and (3) most Aborigines who do hold jobs hold unskilled rather than semi-skilled or skilled positions. These beliefs were targeted because qualitative research revealed that they formed the basis for the more evaluative beliefs that Aborigines are lazy, irresponsible, and unreliable and that it is these evaluative beliefs that inhibit Aboriginal employment. A pre-post independent samples design was used. The results showed significant changes in beliefs about the proportion of Aborigines in paid employment and in the proportion of employed Aborigines remaining in a job for an extended period of time.