The Potholes of Multicultural Marketing

That means a car company or any other retailer wanting to attract South Asian buyers must have a strong online presence, according to the Global Advertising survey. "The group's extensive use of online media for news and information . . . provides new opportunities for marketing professionals who can recognize product trends that run the gamut from financial services to telecommunications usage," the survey said.

But the move to targeted ethnic marketing also has a downside, particularly for old-line retailers long wedded to traditional mass-media marketing campaigns.

Consider the plight of the domestic automobile industry in attracting buyers who are recent immigrants to the United States. "People tend to stick with who they know," Tapie said.

In India, those people know Toyota, Honda and Mercedes-Benz much better than they know General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.

So, when they come to the United States, they already are predisposed to buy a Mercedes before a Cadillac, or a Honda before a Chevrolet, she said.

Converting those buyers to domestic brands is difficult, mostly because domestic car companies still rely on the buckshot approach to advertising -- sending out generic "buy me" television messages using Japanese Americans or Korean Americans to demonstrate "diversity," Tapie said.

Technically savvy buyers, such as those in the nation's South Asian population, now estimated to be 5 million people, "simply Tivo those ads" -- simply bypass them electronically -- and turn to the Internet, Tapie said.

Ethnic marketing is not a matter of cynically exploiting racial, ethnic, class or other differences for profit, Tapie said, defending her company's marketing approach. "It's simply a recognition that differences exist, that America is composed of many cultures and that if you plan to sell to those cultures, you'd better try to do a better job of understanding them."