Racial Stereotypes In Advertising

The United States has a history of being known as a melting pot filled with multiple cultures in our society. Because of the racial and ethnic diversity prevalent in the country and since race has been a sensitive topic in light of our current political climate, companies are beginning to learn that their advertising has to become more inclusive to attract their audience. Although advertisements attempt to provide a sense of inclusivity, these ads can be more prone to unintentionally produce stereotypes that provide negative connotations towards race. After an analysis of Pepsi’s most recent advertisement campaign, it is evident that while trying to promote peace and diversity, Pepsi has also unintentionally exploited racial stereotypes and …show more content…
Stereotypes “make value judgments about the worth, taste, and morality of another culture, and in doing so they can influence our attitudes, behaviors, and actions toward members of that culture” (book source). This then influences us to perceive how people of certain races are supposed to look and act, causing the media to overlook the actual complexity of racial groups and present their audience with a simplified and flawed representation of that race. Racial stereotyping does not always provide negative connotations, but it can still be considered harmful due to the constant repetition of certain characteristics of a race that essentially naturalizes the stereotype and causes the public to view those characteristics as “normal” (Toland 110). As Stuart Hall has argued, “the reading of a particular image depends not only on the messages contained in it, but the messages surrounding it and the situational, societal, and historical context” (Hall). Commercials often have very little time to get a point across so advertisers try to emphasize certain aspects of a culture or race when attempting to promote diversity, but this then makes them more vulnerable to using stereotypes to describe a …show more content…
African Americans are often stereotypically featured in advertisements to promote the hip hop culture or become athletes. Julia Bristor suggests that “this limited view of African Americans in non-occupational and often leisurely roles may be damaging in that it suggests to the public that they have little to work towards except for a future in hip hop or sports” (Bristor 14). Pepsi’s representation of African Americans fails to reflect on the shifting perceptions of African Americans in our society as people who are in a wider variety of occupations outside of music and