Race and Gender in Advertising

Throughout the week I encountered many gender and racial stereotypes in common media. I was surprised to see how many negative stereotypes we are faced with everyday as well as the lack of minorities in the media. Below is a list of ten advertisements that are negative stereotypes. The numbers with ** next to it depict the ads I feel were the most important to discuss in depth.

**1. While looking through an issue of Cosmopolitan, I came across an ad for an emergency contraceptive pill. The ad has a woman of color with a slight smile on her face. Next to her picture are the words "if last night didn't go as planned." I found it to be ironic that this was the first ad in the magazine that didn't have a white woman as the focal point and it was also the only ad dealing with unprotected sex and the photo was of a black woman. I think this gives off the wrong idea. It is almost as if they are saying that colored people are never prepared for anything, but not to worry because they can always take their product. I was irritated, to say the least, after looking over this advertisement.

2. In Shape magazine, there was an ad for a teeth whitening product that read "Maximize the white." The picture was of two beautiful, young white girls with perfect teeth. The title itself is sickening.

**3. During a television commercial for Physician's Formula make-up, the ad used a "Brady Bunch" themed message. The commercial had 6 young women before the make-up looking not so pretty and then they put on the make-up and were transformed into beauties. Of all the women, not one was black and only one was Asian. The asian women was hardly even noticeable as Asian. She had very light skin and subtle Asian features. This sets a bad example, in my opinion. If I were a black girl watching this and it was noticeable that there were 6 pretty women on the screen and not one of them was of my coloring, I would be offended and probably not want to buy their product. It is sad to me that you have to search for other races in advertising.

**4. I found the ad below in a recent issue of People magazine. The ad is for Gardasil. Gardasil is a vaccine that can protect women from cervical cancer and other HPV diseases associated with sex. The ad is a picture of a very young woman of Asian descent. As we learned in class, Asians are often associated with promiscuity and sexuality. In oder to get the diseases that the vaccine protects you from, one must be sexually active. In this ad, and in another one like it that has a black girl on the ad, it is showing the audience that these girls are sexually active and very young. This type of behavior isn't always accepted by our society. I have a hard time thinking that they would ever choose a young white girl as the model.



**5. In a Women's Health magazine ad, there is an advertisement for women in the U.S. Marines. The ad is of a black woman Marine in somewhat of a fighting position and she seems to be controlling the group that is sitting below her. This ad stuck out to me because she almost appears "beastly." As the class discussed Serena Williams, I feel this woman is depicted along those same lines. She is not portrayed as the pretty model but she is the controlling, intense and forceful model. Once again, I don't think this ad would have used a white model.



6. While looking through 2 issues of Shape Magazine, I never once came across a "workout section" that had a woman of color as the trainer. In 2 magazine there was a total of 7 workout sections. That is a horrible statistic. If I was a woman of color, I would be upset.

**7. In a Dolce and Gabanna ad I found in GQ Magazine, there is a picture of four half-naked white men in perfect physical condition. Not one of them is of color and not one of them isn't what a girl would call "perfect." The ad is supposed to be for a men's clothing line but the only thing the audience notices is the men's attractiveness. It is bad advertising because unless one cared enough to do anything other than look at the men, they would never even know what the ad was for. It also shows men that read the magazine that this is what they all should strive to look like. It sets a horrible example, just as magazine ads with sexy women set a bad example for young women.



8. During a music video for a Keri Hilson song featuring Lil Wayne called "Turnin me on," there are only black female dancers. The dancers are extremely sexual and dressed very promiscuously. It is stereotypical to place black women in sexual music videos. It is also ironic that no white women were in this video because people consider white girls to be "angelic" and "superior."

9. In a Popeye's Chicken commercial there was a black family eating their chicken around the table discussing how they were so excited that Popeye's had lowered some of their prices and gotten a value menu. It was almost as if they were saying that black people love chicken (common stereotype) and they can only afford cheap fast food.

10. In a recent Victoria's Secret commercial, there were 5 featured models who were all white. They were all very beautiful and sexy. As this class gets further into the semester, I always pick up on ads where white women are the only ones considered sexy and black women are usually not even acknowledged.


Thoughts:

This was another eye-opening assignment that we were given in this class. I am always apprehensive before I begin but I always end up learning so much throughout the process. I was proven correctly that there would be a substantial difference between the number of positive ads with white girls and the number of negative ads with colored girls. There were many more positive ads with white people, especially ads with beautiful white women. White people were always the featured models in ads relating to beauty and health and colored people were used regarding things such as unprotected sex.

As a society, and members of the media, we need to become aware that this is wrong and extremely stereotypical. There needs to be a good balance in society. That's what makes it work.