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Minority business owners can benefit from guilt marketing

Published: 4 August 2025

A recent study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that white consumers with higher levels of ‘white guilt’ were more likely to buy from a Black-owned business than from a white-owned one—even if the Black-owned business was more expensive or had lower customer ratings. “The marketplace is becoming increasingly shaped by ideology and values,” says Siddhanth Mookerjee, an Assistant Professor at ĢƵ Desautels and a co-author of the study. “Consumers are driven by their moral principles, and not just value or quality.”

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