Stages of Concern: Racial and Ethnic Representation in Italian Televised Advertisements

Abstract Book of the 7th International Conference on Research in Psychology

Year: 2026

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Stages of Concern: Racial and Ethnic Representation in Italian Televised Advertisements

Dr. Uma Rani A Rethina Velu

ABSTRACT:

No study has explored the stages of concern exploring visuals of televised (TV) advertisements (ads) broadcast by Italian Radio and Television. This study investigates the stages of concern from a discursive perspective of TV ads in Italy. The need to identify various stages of concern is necessary when the ads visually have tendency to exclude particular race or ethnicity whereby in reality they exist within a society. In reality, there are 2 million immigrants with citizenship and approximately 5.4 million registered foreign residents; a total of 7 million immigrants living in Italy as in 2025. The analysis in this content based qualitative study uses grammar of visual social actors approach together with adaptation of stages on concern from the original works by Hall and Hord’s (2001). The contents of ads analysed are solely confined to Italian products repeated daily and on-going for a period of six months. Findings show similar results however through visual inclusion of dominant race or ethnicity that omission of another race or ethnicity is socially depicted. The results of the findings are crucial for there is a need to address TV ads which not only exclude minorities but also omit them in the name of publicity and persuasive marketing. The results disclosed by the stages of concern can also further reveal from a social and psychological perspective how ads are either for or against race or ethnic integration beyond TV visuals.

Keywords: Advertisements; Integration; Race or Ethnicity; Stages of Concern; Visuals