Ethnic Marketing for Turks in Germany - Influences on the attitude towards Ethnic Marketing

Influences on the attitude towards Ethnic Marketing

Master's Thesis from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Marketing, Corporate Communication, CRM, Market Research, Social Media, grade: 1,0, Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, 85 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: This master dissertation analyses the Turkish population in Germany and its attitude towards ethnic marketing. The Turkish population in Germany has special characteristics which are different from the mainstream German society as e.g. their language, culture and religion. However, the Turkish population in Germany cannot be characterised as one group. Different generations within this group show different characteristics and habits and therefore need to be evaluated solely. Consequently, it is important to know which generation of the Turks a company wants to appeal to with an ethnic marketing campaign. As ethnic marketing is the ideal way to appeal to those people of an ethnic minority who are connected to their culture, language and ethnic identity, the first generation Turks were analysed as being the most ideal target group among the Turks in Germany. The primary research showed that ethnic marketing is seen as rather positive by the first and second generation. Nonetheless, a closer analysis indicates that because of the different classifications of both generations into acculturation levels, where the second generation shows a higher affinity to acculturation, the first generation has a quite more positive view of ethnic marketing. A further research emphasises the differences among the Turkish society with the analysis of the ethnic identity of the Turkish population in Germany and the different attitudes towards ethnic marketing, which arise due to differing strengths of ethnic identity.This analysis indicated that the Turks in Germany can be classified as having mostly a strong ethnic identity. Moreover, the correlation between the strength of ethnic identity and the attitude towards ethnic marketing can be stated as being positive. This emphasises the fact that those people who feel more connected to their ethnic identity have a much more positive view about ethnic marketing. However,a correlation between the ethnic identity and the acculturation progress is not evident as a strong ethnic identity is viable among all acculturation levels.This phenomenon indicates that regardless the development of the acculturation process it can be stated that the Turks in Germany are a group which has a strong connection to its ethnic identity. Overall, ethnic marketing is a good tool to appeal to the Turkish ethnic minority; however, a well thought-through plan regarding the choice of the desired target group is essential.