There is a major research program on the portrayal of ethnic minorities in ads being administered right now. Advertisers and agencies are being encouraged to release all the material they hold on ads featuring nonwhite people even though much of it would be considered offensive and potentially controversial by today's standards (Tylee, 2001). .
Some companies have made the correct and right decisions with ethnic marketing. For example Sears most profitable stores are the ones near Hispanic neighborhoods that carry clothing and cosmetics specially designed for Hispanics (Business Week, 2001). Bank of America has prospered by targeting Asians in San Francisco with separate TV campaigns at Chinese, Koreans and Vietnamese (Business Week, 2001). But for many marketers, such an effort would require them to move outside their comfort zone dealing with white, English speaking Americans. Many simply have not caught on that these fast-growing groups have similar aspirations to other Americans and the money to achieve these goals.
Companies target ethnic groups to try to increase the company's sales. Different ethnic groups like different products, so companies try to find something that appeals to that ethnic group. Companies use different sources to try to appeal to ethnic groups. Two of the major sources are the media and reference groups. Television and radio have been known as the best mass media to reach Americans, whereas print media have not been an effective communication tool for them (Fisher, 1996). Blacks have been found to watch 48 percent more of TV than Whites (Kang). Hispanics also appear to rely heavily on commercials of information such as TV and radio but less on print media such as Newspapers and magazines (O"guinn and Meyer, 1983). There was a study done in the United states with ethnic groups and their media usage, based on the primary data TV, radio, and magazines were preferred by blacks with newspapers preferred by Whites (Delener and Neelankavil, 1990).