For some reason I cannot comment on other people's posts, so I am going to comment on here and detail who I am speaking to:

Ashriel's Poison: Is it in the Picture??

I absolutely agree. I found that in most of the magazine ads African Americans were shown in the backgrounds, blended into a crowd or were all together less prominent in the advertisement. Also, in my tracking I found the same exact situation with an Asian woman, she was one of three women portrayed, however she was on the end and only half or so of her face was actually shown...I did not understand this either...? was it for a mysterious look or were they trying to casually trying to make her less noticeable..? I found gender and racial roles in commercials to be one of the most shocking findings. The fact that over and over again so many stereotypes were being reinforced, ideas of making minorities or women sexualized, belittled, or inferior is what really disappointed me.

Adam Hinton's Blog: Race and Gender in Advertising:

Adam, I really enjoyed your insight on this issue. It's not everyday that someone gets to hear the true inner thoughts and feeling of a young black man on racial issues, and I want to assure you that I am not being sarcastic or anything. It's just that two of my best friends through high school were black guys, but they never really brought up their thought or opinions on racial issues around me...which was most likely just to keep their from ever being what they thought could be an awkward topic. But that also made me think, I never really thought about it or brought it up either, so maybe they were the same? I don't know...but anyways, I don't want to ramble so I will say a couple of things. Yes, the sassy black woman is played out and the Popeye's commercial annoys me because I feel like it is demeaning and reinforcing racial stereotypes. Secondly, I think it is good that you can see racial issues around you and that it is something that you pick up on and become an conscious consumer of the media; but likewise as you have said, even though becoming knowledgeable on the matter of race in the media can lead to people thinking that you are overplaying and overanalyzing everything. I don't know what your major is, so I can't talk explicitly towards you and your future career; however, I will say that I think you will have success with making others more conscious of these stereotypes (racial and keep analyzing gender) and have the ability to influence the media you work with as long as you pick and choose your battles. Overall, good work man!