Is it in the picture?

As far as our society has come from racial and gender discrimination 50 years ago, specific racial stereotypes and gender roles/stereotypes are found in many of todays advertisements. Here are 10 advertisements that I have reviewed over the week that had noticeable gender or racial stereotypes.

The Suave hair products TV ad shows a woman who has great hair on the upper half of the slit screen and the bottom half is her making lunch for, grocery shopping with, bathing, feeding, etc. her children and pets while looking great the whole time. This reinforces traditional female roles as a housewife who takes care of the children, cooks, makes lunches, and says that she has to still look great doing it. I think this shows how the media portrays women as having to still look appealing and sexy for men while doing all the things that a traditional man wants his wife to do. 

A GM commercial for "Rallying America" shows a diversified group of people of all ethnicities that I think is a good representation of America. It shines a light on how many people are loosing their jobs and how GM will help their customers with payment systems if they so happen to lose their jobs. The only part of the commercial I found unappealing was that in the midst of this message the only person they showed who wasn't at work was an African American who was playing the drums on a street corner for money. It simply is stating that it is common and okay for an African American to lose their job and work on the street for money. Why was this person not of any other ethnicity?

The company that surprised me the most was Gordman's and their TV spot. It shows two women at a fragrance counter of a department store, a white woman working and an African American customer. The African American lady is testing perfumes and and leans in towards the lady working the counter and says can I get this half price? This is unbelievable to me, they are reinforcing the stereotype that African Americans are less wealthy than whites and that the lady couldn't afford to pay full price for a perfume bottle. Whether the media is realizing it or not, these subtle delinquencies are unconsciously infecting the minds of viewers. 

An ad for Sephora in In Style magazine has a two page ad titled "Beauty Bill of Rights" pledging allegiance to pretty campaign. The headline for the specific product they are promoting is VETO WRINKLES. This once again shows how the media promotes women's need to look pretty, flawless, unaging. It makes it seem as if aging makes a person unattractive, which is interesting because we celebrate attractive older men "silver fox" and do not put them under the same scrutiny and pressure as women. 

In Style also had a L'OREAL paris ad that showed 3 women over a two page advertisement. Two of the women were Caucasians and the third was an Asian American. While it is noteworthy that the ad showed some diversity, the problem was in that the advertisement spotlighted the blonde Caucasian woman,  and the Asian American was in the corner of the shot. It basically was saying that the Asian American was not pretty enough or strong enough to carry an ad campaign. Reinforcing that while Asian Americans are intelligent and hard working, they will never be as attractive as caucasian women. Also, in the picture the other two women look innocent or intriguing, while the Asian American woman looks fierce and sexy (like the dragon lady or Asian sex woman stereotypes). 

I also found gender and or racial stereotypes in the following advertisements:

Louis Vuitton in Vogue (sexualizes women)

Allstate (African American spokesperson)

Luv's diaper commercial (cute, but is geared to African Americans)

Hoodia weightloss pill TV commercial (white women needing to diet and being unhappy with their bodies)

Victoria's Secret TV ad (sexualizes women, and not much diversification)

Reflection:

I think their is an unfair representation of minorities in advertisements. And when they are represented, it is frequently in stereotypical roles or ways that possibly harm their races. Also, on the aspect of gender roles, I think it misconstrues women as sexual toys and not really people, especially since most women are portrayed as being young and skinny.