Racial Differences in Advertisement Engagement; Focus on Health-Related Research Studies

Abstract

Background: Social media advertisements are often used as a recruitment method for health-related research studies. Most studies under-recruit people from minority populations. Exploring the racial differences behind advertisement interactions will provide additional information as to what factors inspire research engagement and promote equity. Objective: To identify how various advertisements differ in engagement rates based on the race of the depicted model. Methods: Three separate advertisements that were identical except for the race of the model (Caucasian, Asian, African American) were run for two separate two-week trials with equal budgets. The advertisements were placed via Facebook and presented to a specific demographic, as determined by the Eating Behavior Treatment (EBT) study. The advertisements were recruiting for an Eating Behavior Treatment study. Results: The advertisements depicting the Caucasian woman as well as the Asian woman were displayed to Facebook users with equivalent frequency. The advertisement depicting the African American woman yielded lower rates of engagement, producing many fewer results (clicks, page visits, reach) than the other advertisements and costing more per result. Conclusions: This study demonstrates evidence in support of the claim that race does influence advertisement interaction. This study provides evidence that suggests that social media advertisements may be a useful tool for recruitment for health-related studies in the future. Keywords: social media; health-related study; race; engagement; eating disorder