The changed perception of Race/ Ethnicity & How Adverts have shown this

Because of the way that the media and society influence our thoughts, we have stereotypes on particular races and ethnicity. Over history perceptions have changed because of civil / equal rights laws, changes in the workplace and general perceptions. People are becoming more open minded with almost anything becoming acceptable. Advertisers play a big part in the way that we perceive races, of course it varies in which part of the world you are in, but generally adverts in different countries are based upon that particular type of society. Adverts advertise their product in a way to relate to as many people in their target market as possible. 

For example in the advert below, it says 'Get a red that last', addressing ladies who are into make up and agreeing with them at the fact that lipsticks don't usually last the whole day. By making this statement they are telling us that their lipstick, in particular red ; a popular color that often needs to be topped up; last for the entire day. Of course this is what ladies want to hear and see- a lipstick that finally last! This is a common problem shared by ladies and this advert pin points the problem. 

Get the gist of a common opinion and it is what advertisers use to create their adverts ? 

Okay ! Great. So if society have general stereotypes on race and ethnicity, in order for adverts to appeal to the target audience adverts have to agree with their market. So if its known for white men to go to the pub and drink beer, they may advertise a white man doing so. If a product like pasta which comes from Italy is represented by an Italian family, it is not offensively racist, but it is stereotyping. However they are not saying that their product is only for Italians, but it is showing the origin of the product.

Look at the example below. This is an advert for the Levi Roots 'Reggae Reggae' sauce. This commercial shows a black Rastafarian singing a reggae song about the product. Of course this is a type of stereotyping, a black man with dreadlocks singing a reggae song.

This is however justified stereotyping. Firstly the founder of Reggae Reggae Sauce is a black man with dreadlocks, who comes from Jamaica, so as well as the name being 'Reggae Reggae' it made sense for his to sing a Reggae song. Also this commercial has a very chilled happy vibe about it, its not attacking any race, just highlighting the origin of the brand in the advert.

Stereotypes however can be represented in a negative way and may cause offensive to the race that is being targeted. Its all about how the race is being represented, you can state the obvious in the advert like the one above or  you can take it a bit to far and become offensive.
If an indian man is in a grocery store, thats fine, because thats a common thing to see, but if someone walks in and complains that it smells of curry then that could be seen as offensive and stereo typical.

Below is an example of a commercial that many people found offensive. It is the Mountain Dew commercial by Pepsico. This advert has actually been removed, so I have shown a video of the commercial on the news for specifically being racist. The advert shows a Goat who is obsessed with Mountain Dew, lined up amongst young black African-American men, who are all being accused of battering the white lady.  The entire advert was directed by Tyler the creator; rapper, producer and comedian. Being an African American himself, He didn't mean to offend the black race but he did. He tried to push a boundary and it didn't work out to well!

Firstly critics say that this advert is inappropriate because it gives 'light' towards violence on women, and it portrays black men in a negative way.
The fact that it is a white women that is badly beaten makes it worse, as white elderly ladies are seen most innocent. All the suspects are black men and a goat, it is stereotyping saying that African American men are the most violent likely to be criminals. The goat who is talking in the  screening also talks like a black man saying ' You better not snitch on a player'. Bringing down the image of black men,  not only expressing that they are criminals but that they are player's.
This is a bad stereotype, if they wanted to have a similar storyline, they should have used a mixture of races and gender, as black men are not the only men who are capable of hurting someone and committing a crime.

So the next question is, have racial stereotypes changed over time ? 

Lets go through a quick history of make up adverts and how they have changed in regards to how races are represented.

In the early 1920's white was the only type of beauty, in regards to complexion the fairer the prettier, so when brands were advertising their make up they would often use a white women, repenting the type of make up they sell and what it will make other women look like if they decide to use their make up.

This poster says '1920's Make up look', indicating that this was the ideal look at this time.

These two adverts are from the 1950s. The Maybelline advert below does use a black women, but she looks like a white lady, very fair and hair styled like a white women.  This is one of the only adverts representing black women in a beautiful way in the 1950s. The Avon advert above is a typical example of how the majority of make up adverts were, still most using white women. The simple fact that their were still a huge amount of make up adverts only using white women and few with women from other ethnic minority backgrounds tells us that being fairer was still seen as more beautiful at this time. 

In the 1980's Black women like Whitney Houston was well respected by all races, because she was so talented many rightly looked pass her color.  Although adverts for make-up were predominantly with white women, actors and singers from ethic minorities helped to boost the stereotype.

However this advert below from the 1980's shows three white women and one black women who looks white. All other ethnic minorities are ignored and white women are really the only ones represented in this picture. At the bottom it says 'The most unforgettable women in the world wear Revlon'.  The fact that they are only representing 75% white women and 25% black women is indirectly saying that this is the percentage of beautiful women in the world, completely ignoring other races and saying that only black women who look like white women can get away with wearing Revlon and being beautiful.

As magazines like Vogue, Ebony, Pride magazine etc became popular, so did the status of colored women. The fact that many women of color were becoming so relevant, it helped to boost up ethnic minority females.  People like Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks, Serena Williams, Halle Berry are all examples of this, they are all diverse with their talent's and most of all, they are all beautiful.  

A page from Vogue magazine, A recent photo of 16 beautiful colored ladies. This would never have been accepted in the 1920's as beauty. 

An poster that stood out to me, which represents how far we have come in regards to stereotypes on beauty, was this ' MIU MIU' make up advert below. This lady is the complete opposite representation of what was seen as beauty years ago. She is dark skinned, with no hair, looking very African-American, but beautiful.  I love it!!

Finally these last two pictures show completely how diverse society has because and how society has become more open minded about what can be represented as beauty. Black, white and Asians are shown in the pictures, they all look stunning but they are different.

So with the example of  the product of make up and how it has been advertised throughout the years, we can clearly see that society has improved and become more open minded in regards to the view of beauty. As time has gone on more brands are catering for colored ladies, including Mac, Black up, Fashion fair, Clinique, Bobby Brown and many more. 

Stereotypes will always exist in every aspect of life, especially when we have been socialized to correlate a race with something.  We have to remember stereotypes can be changed and they are not always bad! Thanks to ladies like Naomi Campbell and Tyra banks, when we think of top models, they are people we think of. In the same respect when we think of rappers we think of black men, and when we think of a business man we think of a white upper class man. All because these stereotypes existing, it doesn't make them right, its just what the common correlation is in that particular society. 

Of course stereotypes vary depending on what society you are in, the popular opinion is the,most common . In the middle east, women covering up is seen as normal, in a western society this wouldn't be as popular.  Again in some african countries it may be a 'thing'; to shave off your hair or wear plaits, but in Europe the straight long hair look is desired and more common.

So how can we relate this back to advertising ? 

Easy !! This is when I go back to my point I originally made, advertisers advertise what is popular already. They only want to agree and attract an audience, therefore they advertise what is going to sell in a society. 

Lets break this down into a fun comparison. Below I will name job titles and I will write down beside them the most typical person in society that it could be. 

Stripper- In USA- Black young women, big bum, big tits 

Stripper- In Europe- White young slim woman

Teacher - In Europe- middle aged white women

Teacher- In Africa - elderly black women

Universal Stereotypes: 

President - Obama !! - Black man ( Changed stereotype over years)

Shop owner-  Indian man 

Beer drinker - White middle aged man 

Baker- Fat white lady 

R n B singer - Black young man or women 

Rock singer - White, tattoos and piercings 

 These are are the first descriptions you typically get when you think of these roles,  of course they are not necessarily correct, a stripper can be a white or hispanic lady, likewise a beer drinker can be a black slim women. Regardless these are the common opinions shared by particular societies. 

My last question is does advertising lead or follow stereotypes? 

In most cases, they follow what society thinks, it is considered risky as an advertiser to try and start a new trend. Advertising is expensive and its not always worth starting a completely new stereotype. Sometimes advertisers do create characters for their brand. McDonalds had the clown, KFC has the white old man, Frosted Flakes has the Tiger, Sugar puffs has the monster etc. The list can go on, but these brands are not rude in stereotyping anyone, they are only creating a character for their brand which is a popular successful tool in advertising. 

Regardless people will have opinions and will therefore stereotype. Every Race and Ethnicity has a stigma attached, because they are commonly involved in something. Advertisers can only enhance that view and feed off of it to create their adverts. If their is an advert to a Rock Band Concert, they may show clips from a previous concert which may show majority of white people, they are not saying it is only for white people, but only showing the people that attend the last concert. If the advert was to them insinuate that the concert is only for white people then it would be offensive to non whites. 

Adverts all depend on how each individual reads them and how they relate it back to their opinion. Hence why adverts need to be as clear and straight forward as possible in the message they are trying to send out.