It don't matter if you're Black or White! Or... does it?

Like I mentioned last week: everything in an advertisement is there for a reason. From the weather in the background to the placement of the product to the model’s skin color.

Wait, what? Isn’t that a bit racist?

Well, that is the question. Advertisements have used cultural and racial stereotypes since their first appearance. Historically, advertisements in the US were made for White people and included stereotypes about non-White people like Chinese laundrymen, African-Americans as servants and Mexicans as bandits. 

Nowadays the stereotypes in advertisements are usually more subtle but you can still see them. A study conducted by the University of Toronto examined stereotypes in food commercials and found that white people were usually associated with healthy and traditional food while African-Americans and East and Southeast Asians were over-represented in fast food ads (click here for a summary of the study).Or take a look at one of the TV commercials cited in the study:

Here you can see only white people in lab coats while all the factory workers are minorities.

Most recently I have seen a commercial for the Discover card starring two African-American women talking on the phone exactly how white people would imagine African-Americans talking with each other.   

Although some people might laugh at this commercial, it still reinforces the stereotype of African-American women.

Why use stereotypes?

One reason for using stereotypes in ads is that observes are supposed to get all the relevant facts very quickly and not be too occupied with processing irrelevant information. That means, thinking in stereotypes is just easier for us and we have more cognitive capacity for the advertised product.

Another reason might be that advertisers use racial stereotypes to make the campaign funny or to heighten the chance that the observer remembers it. One example for that is a Thai advertisement for Dunkin’ Donuts.

"Break every rule of deliciousness"

Here you can see an African-American woman in front of a black background holding a black doughnut in her hand. The slogan says Break every rule of deliciousness. While Human Rights Watch criticized this ad for being bizarre and racist, the Thai CEO of Dunkin’ Donuts could not understand the uproar. Apparently it is quite normal in Thailand to advertise with stereotypes (click here to read the whole article about the Dunkin’ Donuts ad).

Is it ever good?

Personally, I think that products should not be advertised with stereotypes. The more often people are confronted with a certain stereotype, the stronger it gets. Even when the targeted group itself doesn’t find the advertisement offensive, it still leads to a society relying on stereotypes and not trying to overcome them. Therefore I think that advertisers should stop using stereotypes and start being more creative and maybe even use advertising to reduce stereotypes.