It's a tale of two trailers, as Business Insider juxtaposes them. Both are for Straight Outta Compton, but one is for audiences presumed familiar with NWA and one is for audiences who presumably might know Dr. Dre or Ice Cube but little of their early years.
How did Facebook know which one to send you? Put another way, how does Facebook know your race, and then from there, how does it presume what you do and do not like or know?
The company may not ask you how you to identify in terms of race, but it does take pains to notice whether you are part of, say, an African American or perhaps a Native American affinity group on the site. Ars Technica explains that Facebook has used "ethnic affinity" targeting for a few years, and even points to a Facebook tutorial for how to use the feature for advertisers.
The diversity of the US is more than an ethnic biodiversity. These groups of people have a rich diversity of culture, which can include many things, such as beliefs, traditions, music, aesthetics, or language. The people in the US who have demonstrated affinity for the cultures of these groups make up the US Multicultural Affinity audiences.The word “affinity” can generally be defined as a relationship like a marriage, as a natural liking, and as a similarity of characteristics. We are using the term “Multicultural Affinity” to describe the quality of people who are interested in and likely to respond well to multicultural content. What we are referring to in these affinity groups is not their genetic makeup, but their affinity to the cultures they are interested in.
The Facebook multicultural targeting solution is based on affinity, not ethnicity. This provides advertisers with an opportunity to serve highly relevant ad content to affinity-based audiences.
Doug Neil, who works at Universal and partnered with Facebook to customize their race-based marketing strategy for Straight Outta Compton, called the movie — and perhaps the advertising move along with it — "A breakout hit."
