Diversity Representation in Virtual Environments: How Brand Motives Mediate Consumer Perceptions

Recent years have seen increased calls for marketers to embrace diversity and emphasise inclusivity, allowing brands to communicate with audiences more authentically. Such calls have spanned brand communications, advertising, social media and the like. Simultaneously, there has been a rise in virtual environments (i.e. virtual reality and the metaverse) and some consumers are increasingly demanding greater diversity in these virtual spaces. Despite this, little is known about how consumers perceive brands that take a diversity stand in these virtual, or artificial, environments. Do consumers perceive these brand strategies as grounded in integrity? Or do they perceive diversity representation in virtual environments as a form of exploitation? With this paper, we investigate the effect of diversity representation in virtual environments across two empirical studies. We provide evidence that while diversity representation can have positive effects in virtual environments, brand motives are an important mediator that influence consumers perceptions of diversity representation in virtual environments. Taken together, this research raises important considerations for brand managers, and the marketing discipline generally, as brands increasingly look for opportunities to engage with consumers in virtual environments.