Old Navy, models and target audience

I used to think that persuasive advertising wouldn't work on me. That i understood what the ad agency was trying to do. But this Old Navy commercial proved me wrong. Yes, their target audience in this particular ad is young women, but what is important, especially in the United States, where there are many different ethnicities, is to represent them in your product. In this series of Old Navy commercials, there's an African American girl - VERY pretty- and she's living a fabulous life, wearing stylish Old Navy clothes, etc.

The next day, i found myself at Old Navy, where i DON'T usually shop!!! I was only attracted to that store AFTER those ads ran on television. Since the model, or persona for that advertisement looked more like me, i was able to identify with the brand...and was actually going to buy something from it!

This is very clever, because when you think about it, companies would make a lot more money if they made an attempt to appeal to all races.