COI Common Good Research: Fresh Insight into Hard to Reach Audiences

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Black / Minority Ethnic Communities

Introduction

This section describes findings from a comprehensive programme of research with a range of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Communities.

Qualitative research was conducted for COI by two specialist research agencies: Turnstone (who also conducted a desk research phase) and Connect. The objective was to provide strategic guidance on the best ways to communicate with people from these communities and included an exploration of:

  • Lifestyles and cultural identities;
  • Media consumption and attitudes to mainstream media and specialist channels;
  • Attitudes to advertising and different ways of including ethnic minority people in communications.
Some of the key points from this BME research are summarised below. To explore the detailed findings please use the left hand menu options. Please note that to access the full content you need to be registered and login to the site.

Quick Facts

  • Hybrid identities are common among the second and third generations and they may switch between identities in different contexts.
  • The older generation worried about the younger generation losing their cultural and ethnic identity. Parents strived to instil traditional values from their country of origin in their British born children.
  • British youth culture is largely multicultural. Young people from all ethnic groups had common interests, such as a love of "urban" music, new technology and keeping up to date with celebrity news.
  • Women were usually responsible for domestic duties such as cooking, housework and childcare. These activities were time consuming, leaving them little time for themselves and little opportunity to consume media.
  • Religion plays an important role in the lives of elders from all communities. Consumption of religious media - including religious TV and radio and specialist audio and video tapes - is widespread.
  • Media clutter and fragmentation may be devaluing above-the-line media and increasing the need for niche targeting and below-the-line approaches. People tune in and out of different media rather than turning them off, and are often exposed to several different media at the same time.
  • Mainstream media can effectively access the Indian and Black communities and the younger generation within all communities.
  • Specialist ethnic media are particularly important for older Asian and Chinese people, and for those who speak little or no English.
  • The Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities are best catered for in terms of specialist ethnic media in the UK. The Chinese and Black communities have least access to specialist ethnic media.
  • Ethnic minority people want to see characters from their communities playing "normal", positive mainstream roles in mainstream advertising.
  • Community centres should be seen as a target audience as well as a distribution channel.