Racial Stereotypes in Ads: Is It A Big Deal?

Racism is a very polemical, widely discussed issue in the world of Advertising. Some advocate that advertising just simply reflects society's behavior, others believe that advertising accentuates racial stereotypes by conditioning us to accept some pre-determined roles. 

I personally believe it is a little bit of both. Yes, if racial stereotypes did not exist in our society, they would not be showed in ads because no one would be able to decode the message. However, I also believe that racist ads reinforce the acceptance of these pre-determined roles and characteristics of a certain racial group among people in our society.

In my opinion, advertisers have a major social and ethical responsibility and racial stereotypes are not acceptable in advertisings or in movies, TV shows, and the media in general because of the huge influence these medium exert over our society's beliefs, values, and behavior. In fact, I believe these medium should be used to fight against stereotypes and lessen the acceptance and presence of these pre-determined roles among our society. 

Although stereotyping seems to be a natural response of us, humans, when interacting with others, it plays a negative role in the organization of our society as a whole, especially because we live in such a diverse country and all people are different regardless of which racial, ethnical, sexual group they belong to. Therefore, I believe, racial stereotypes in ads are a big deal, and should not be accepted.

As our society became more and more inclusive throughout the years, the acceptance of different racial groups became more indeed, and racism became illegal. Thus, racial stereotypes in ads are seen less and less, especially when compared to their popularity in the 1920s. However, racial stereotypes are still present in today's ads, though in a much smoother way.

Below are some recent ads I found where racial stereotype is present:

Nivea Campaign (2011) 

This ad by Nivea was seen as totally offensive by the way the words "re-civilize yourself" are linked with the image of an African-American man, with a clean cut and no facial hair, throwing away the head of another African-American with an Afro-Hair style, referring back to the colonialism and the negative stereotype held towards Blacks, who were seemed as "savages" and "uncivilized".

Sony Playstation (2006)

This Sony Playstation Ad connotes the white woman exerting her "power" and "superiority" over the Black one. This type of racial stereotype also refers back to colonialism and the relationship between master and slave.

These two ads made me literally shake my head to their unfortunate connotation. I truly wasn't expecting to find such negative portrayal of racial stereotypes in relatively recent ad campaigns. 
Now, I'd like to know from you: What do you think about racial stereotypes in ads? Is it a big deal?

Thank you for reading my blog,

Isa