"Ethnic Marketing" in Germany

 

In recent years a new kind of crosscultural communication can be observed: a growing number of leading companies have been focussing their marketing strategies on immgrants and their descendants. This is widely defined as "Ethnic Marketing". The use of supposed "specific cultural" symbols makes "Ethnic Marketing" to a special kind of targetgroup-marketing. Although this phenomena is new, it has become quiet common and is applied in the automotive industry as well as in the businesses of insurance, Real Estate, telecommunication, consumer goods amongst many others.
Ethincity as a Construction: Along with this, companies consider "ethnicity" as natural given and essential. Nethertheless, there is a consensus in science that ethnicity is a construct which is build by the conception of "being Turkish", or "being German", and is consistently reproduced. As the described phenomena makes clear, Ethnic Marketing does not reach a certain ethnic group, but it actually helps "construct" an ethnic group.
In this research, empirical methods will help to study how and under what circumstances ethnicity is constructed by Ethnic Marketing. The social and economical context of Ethnic Marketing will be observed from different levels and interpreted.

Duration of Funding: 2002-2004

Applicants:
Dr. Robert Pütz (Geographie)
Dr. Frank Huber (Betriebswirtschaftslehre)

Assistant:
Dr. Matthias Kulinna

Publications:
Kulinna, Matthias (2008): The Construction of turks in Germany as a target group of marketing. In: Ala Al-Hamarneh, Jörn Thielmann (Hrsg.): Islam and Muslims in Germany. Leiden, Boston. S. 553-583.

Ders. (2007): Ethnomarketing in Deutschland. Die Konstruktion von Ethnizität durch Marketingakteure. (= Forum der Humangeographie, Bd. 3)