Flemington, NJ, January 26, 2009 – A study conducted among 302 viewers of Reverend Joseph Lowery’s benediction from President Obama’s Inaugural Address revealed nearly half of viewers found Lowery’s “color” references to be offensive or racist.

The study was conducted by HCD Research during January 23-25 to obtain viewers’ perceptions of Reverend Joseph Lowery and his benediction from President Obama’s Inaugural Address last Tuesday.

Reverend Lowery’s likeability ratings were significantly higher after his benediction along with his believability and sincerity ratings.  While Lowery was well received by the public, almost half of respondents (46%) reported that his comments specific to “color” were offensive or racist.  Responders felt that the color references were mostly offensive towards White-Americans. While half of viewers felt that Lowery’s color comments could be perceived as offensive, 60% felt that his intentions for these references were meant to be funny rather than hurtful, offensive or racist.

Among the findings:

Please indicate your level of agreement for the following statement:

Reverend. Lowery's 'color' comments were racist in nature.

While viewing the video clip, participants indicated their levels of agreement by moving their mouse from left to right on a continuum. The responses were recorded in quarter-second intervals and reported in the form of curves.

The Media Curves web site provides the media and general public with a venue to view Americans’ perceptions of popular and controversial media events and advertisements.

Editors/Reporters: For more information on the study, or to speak with Glenn Kessler, president and CEO, HCD Research, please contact Vince McGourty, HCD Research, at (908) 483-9121 or (vince.mcgourty@hcdi.net).