Specific Racial/Ethnic Group: The target audience that I will be researching will be African American women aged 40 and up. This group will benefit our Alzheimer’s campaign by finding out more information about the group of women who may be the caregivers of the main target audience of our campaign.

Demographics:

• In 2019, 46.8 million people in the U.S. identified their race as Black, either alone or as part of a multiracial or ethnic background. (Tamir, 2021).
• Broader analysis shows that 52% of Black U.S. households earn less than $50,000, while 48% make $50,000 or more. Three-in-ten Black households (31%) make $75,000 or more, including 20% that make $100,000 or more. (Moslimani et al, 2023).

Buying Power:

• “Now more than ever, African-American women’s consumer preferences and brand affinities are resonating across the U.S. mainstream, driving total Black spending power toward a record $1.5 trillion by 2021. At 24.3 million strong, Black women account for 14% of all U.S. women and 52% of all African-Americans” (Nielsen, 2022).

Purchasing Habits:

• “Whether they are buying cars, jewelry, smartphones or beauty products, the advice, referrals and feedback they receive from friends and community play an important role in Black women’s purchases” (Brown, 2017).
• “The trend of Black women becoming increasingly educated and driving the buying power of Black households mean that they are making purchase decisions that historically they didn’t make,” said Bianca Blake, a marketing specialist. “Couple that with trends of the millennial generation marrying and starting families later, the Black women becomes an independent decision-maker for much more of her journey through life as opposed to say abiding by decisions made by her parents, husband or heavily influenced by her children” (Brown, 2017).
• “Forty-three percent of Black women say they like to share their opinions about products and services by posting reviews and ratings online and 47 percent agree that people often come to them for advice before making a purchase” (Brown, 2017).
• “Whether they are buying cars, jewelry, smartphones or beauty products, the advice, referrals and feedback they receive from friends and community play an important role in Black women’s purchases” (Brown, 2017).

Aspects of Culture of Group:

• “Protestantism has long dominated the Black American religious landscape, and still does. The survey shows that two-thirds of Black Americans (66%) are Protestant, 6% are Catholic and 3% identify with other Christian faiths – mostly Jehovah’s Witnesses. Another 3% belong to non-Christian faiths, the most common of which is Islam” (Mohamed et al, 2021).
• “Frequent attendance at religious services is much more common among older Black adults than among younger ones, consistent with the pattern among U.S. adults overall. For example, 51% of Black adults in the Silent Generation or older say they attend religious services weekly, compared with about one-quarter of Millennials (23%) and Generation Z (27%)” (Mohamed et al, 2021).

Languages:

• “The vast majority (97%) of the Black population as of 2021 speaks either only English (89%) or, if they speak another language, say they also speak English very well (8%). Besides English, other languages spoken at home by the U.S. Black population ages 5 and older include Spanish (3%), French or Haitian Creole (3%) and Amharic and other Ethiopian languages (1%)” (Moslimani et al, 2023).

Technology and Digital Habits/Consumption:

• 90% of Gen Xers (those ages 39 to 54 this year), 68% of Baby Boomers (ages 55 to 73) and 40% of the Silent Generation (74 to 91) own smartphones (Vogels 2019).

Media Usage, Consumption Levels and Preferences, Digital Habits:

• “Gen Xers now report using Facebook (84% vs. 74%, respectively). Boomers and Silents have both increased their Facebook use by double digits since 2015. In fact, the share of Silents using Facebook has nearly doubled in the past four years, from 22% to 37%” (Vogels 2019).
• “Large shares of Gen Xers (91%) and Boomers (85%) use the internet, compared with just 62% of Silents. When it comes to smartphone-only internet users, 17% of Gen Xers go online primarily via a smartphone, as do 11% of Boomers and 15% of Silents” (Vogels 2019).

 

Stereotypes, Images, and Historical Race Relationships:

• “Nearly half of Black Americans (46%) say that in the past year, people acted as if they were better than them, treated them suspiciously, called them racist names or insulted them, or snubbed them in nonreligious settings” (Mohamed et al, 2021).
• “The majority of Black Americans (70%) believe that racial discrimination is the main reason that many Black people cannot get ahead in society” (Mohamed et al, 2021).

Attitudes on Political Issues:

• “These voters generally consider issues related to health care, the economy and jobs, immigration, public safety, and discrimination to be important national priorities (Solomon and Maxwell, 2019).
• “Black women voters are more likely than any other racial or ethnic group of women to support a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants. Approximately 85 percent of these voters want undocumented immigrants to have a pathway to legal status” (Solomon and Maxwell, 2019).
• “Black women are strong supporters of the landmark Affordable Care Act (ACA), with approximately three-quarters saying that they want to preserve or expand it” (Solomon and Maxwell, 2019).
• “Two-thirds of Black women believe that the economic system does not favor the middle class enough, and 88 percent hold this belief with regards to low-income Americans” (Solomon and Maxwell, 2019).
• “More than 4 in 5 Black women, or 82 percent, think gun laws should be made stricter. More than 9 in 10 Black women who are senior citizens or who have a household income of more than $100,000 hold this belief” (Solomon and Maxwell, 2019).
• “Most Black women also believe the Trump administration has undermined public safety in the United States. For instance, 60 percent of Black women voters think the administration has made the country less safe from terrorism, and 62 percent think it has made the country less safe from crime” (Solomon and Maxwell, 2019).

Common/Core Values

• “Two-thirds of Black Americans say that being Black is a very important part of how they think about themselves. Black Protestants (70%) are somewhat more likely than Catholics (60%) and the religiously unaffiliated (62%) to say that being Black is a very important part of their personal identity, though majorities in all three groups say this” (Mohamed t al, 2021).
• “Black women have strong life-affirming values that spill over into everything they do,” said Cheryl Grace, Nielsen’s senior vice president of U.S. community strategic alliances and consumer engagement. “The celebration of their power and beauty is reflected in what they buy, watch and listen to, and people outside their communities find it inspiring” (Brown, 2017).
• “The African-American woman’s independent mindset is present in her growing confidence, self-awareness and rising income, according to the report. Black women are not only redefining what it means to be a woman for themselves, but are at the vanguard of changing gender roles and unlimited possibilities for American women of all ages and races” (Brown, 2017).

 

References

African-American women: Our science, her Magic. Nielsen. (2022, July 21).

https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2017/african-american-women-our-science-her-magic/#:~:text=Now%20more%20than%20ever%2C%20African,%25%20of%20all%20African%2DAmericans.

Brown, S. M. (2020, October 31). The undeniable spending power of black women. The

Washington Informer. https://www.washingtoninformer.com/the-undeniable-spending-power-of-black-women/

Mitchell, T. (2021, February 16). 4. religious practices. Pew Research Center’s Religion &

Public Life Project. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/02/16/religious-practices/

Mohamed, B. (2021, February 16). Faith among Black Americans. Pew Research Center’s

Religion & Public Life Project. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/02/16/faith-among-black-americans/

Moslimani, M., Tamir, C., Budiman, A., Noe-Bustamante, L., & Mora, L. (n.d.). Facts About the

U.S. Black Population. Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project. Retrieved July 20, 2023, from https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/fact-sheet/facts-about-the-us-black-population/#age-structure

Solomon, D., & Maxwell, C. (2022, October 24). Women of color: A collective powerhouse in

the U.S. electorate. Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/women-color-collective-powerhouse-u-s-electorate/

Tamir, C. (2021, March 25). The growing diversity of Black America. Pew Research Center’s

Social & Demographic Trends Project. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2021/03/25/the-growing-diversity-of-black-america/#:~:text=Together%2C%2035%25%20of%20the%20U.S.,under%20age%2038)%20in%202019.

Vogels, E. A. (2019, September 9). Millennials stand out for their technology use, but older

generations also Embrace Digital Life. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/09/09/us-generations-technology-use/