The race of inequalities interact and intersect - Essay Example

Racism and Gender portrayals in Advertisements Today, advertisements have become inseparable part of any form of media like magazines, radio, television and even the Internet. According to recent studies, gender and racial biases are increasingly becoming common in advertisements. Advertisements are considered as an important cultural representation of the society. Portrayal of women Women are generally portrayed as beautiful objects whose principle goal in life is to attract the attention of men. In most advertisements of home appliances or cooking ingredients, women are shown as people who satisfy their husbands by managing their home environments and looking after their children. In other ads promoting beauty products, men are shown as returning home to find their wives fresh with fragrance from using the products, and they show their appreciation by attempting to establish physical intimacy, which means women are just objects to satisfy the sexual appetites of their husbands. Many scholars claim that men derive pleasure by gazing at women. Most men believe that women enhance their beauty so that they can attract men, and so they look at women to judge them according to their physical beauty (O’Barr, 2011). In this Fair and Lovely beauty cream advertisement (Fair and Lovely, 2010), the female model is shown as having dark skin and wearing an Indian attire. The father is shown disappointed with her and craves for a son. The feeling of dejection and low confidence is clearly depicted in her expression which changes instantly after she used the cream that enhances her beauty by making her skin white and removing the marks from her forehead. She soon gets a job as air hostess and is shown as a confident lady in Western clothes. It is as though independent and confident women are not an acceptable idea in the society and so feelings of insecurities are slipped into their psyche. For instance, the woman in this ad feels that having a fair skin is key to her success and winning respect from her father. In another advertisement about Ponds white cream (Ponds white beauty, 2012), it shows how a girl in a train who has whitened her skin by using Ponds has attracted the attention of a man traveling in another train. In Indian advertisements, women are often shown with white male partners. In the Raymond suiting and shirting advertisement (Raymond ad son in law, 2012), the female model is seen happily engaged to a white man. Such inter-racial union is a common theme in many advertisements even in the Western countries like America. The general assumption that can be made here that having white men as husband or partner is a status symbol for the girl. Like in the next section I will discuss how white men are portrayed in advertisements as superior in profession than black men, therefore it is not surprising that advertisements will tend to show Asian women with white men. It is like showing how Asian women feel themselves part of the elite society by having a white partner. Racism Unabashed racism is another common component of advertisements around the globe. The common message is that white men dominate and the black are submissive and accommodating. According to researchers, Asian people as an ethnic group are considered by most Americans as more feminine and submissive compared to the whites. On the other hand, studies show that black people in general are considered by Americans to be more masculine and physically powerful. Based on a study conducted by Dr. Adam Galinsky, “men are more attracted to Asian women relative to black women, while women are more attracted to black men relative to Asian men” (Nauert, 2012). Moreover, it has been observed that there is diversity in perceptions of blacks and Asians in relation to job prospects. While Asian men are considered for leadership posts that demand establishing relationships which are looked upon as feminine traits, black men are perceived as having strong competitive attitude which is the reason why then depicted more as athletes in advertisements. Such stereotype perceptions of race and gender induce ad makers to portray the same in advertisements (Nauert, 2012). An Intel advertisement (10 recent racist ads.... [Intel], n.d.) was once published in a magazine page which was a blatant display of racism. The image featured six black muscular men bowing down in front of a white man dressed in formal attire. It was a deliberate attempt to show power in the hands of white men since not a single of the six submissive figures was white skinned. This ad did not get much scope to circulate since Intel realized the insensitivity of the message. However, this is just one among numerous examples of racism in advertisements. Like in another billboard ad of Sony playstation (10 recent racist ads...., n.d.), the idea was to inform viewers about launching of a white playstation. To emphasize on the enhanced features of the white playstation the ad portrayed a white woman fiercely holding a shorter black woman. Sony chose racism for promoting playstation whose consumers are mostly children or young adults. For advertisers, the common choice for black models is light-skinned than dark-skinned. The idea is to capture the wider market consisting of both black and white consumers. However, paucity of dark-skinned black models in advertisements is a matter of concern since it indicates a narrow definition of beauty like white is beautiful and black is ugly. Since the African Americans form a large consumer market in America, therefore the goal is to increase source credibility amongst the black viewers. According to social comparison theory, “men and women consciously and subconsciously compare themselves to female models and actresses who they believe represent social and cultural ideals” (Watson et al., 2011, p.13). Although most researchers believe that Black subculture do not identify themselves with models from mainstream advertising world, they however relate themselves with advertisement models if they are black skinned. With the increase in the number of black models, there is growing tendency among the black population to make social comparisons with those models. This makes them carry positive attitude towards the ads and increases their trust on the products featured in the ads (Watson et al., 2011). Conclusion As advertisements have become inseparable part of media, therefore its influence is strong. Since people constantly get to watch advertisements, therefore the beliefs and attitudes portrayed in the models more often than not shape the perspectives of viewers. The stereotype notions attached to racism and gender is unabashedly blunt in advertisements. Advertisers take advantage of people’s prejudices to promote products, and products can become popular only if they are promoted in the context of what people believe. References 10 recent racist ads that companies wish you would forget [Intel] (n.d.) from: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-most-racist-ads-of-the-modern-era-2012-6?IR=T#intel-released-an-ad-they-knew-was-racist-7 10 recent racist ads that companies wish you would forget [Sony PSP] (n.d.) from: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-most-racist-ads-of-the-modern-era-2012-6?IR=T#this-psp-billboard-wasnt-widely-published-3 Fair and Lovely – Airhostess (2010), [video] from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHhKqgOiAs0 Nauert, R. (2012). Study Finds Overlap in Race-Gender Stereotypes. Psych Central. Retrieved on March 9, 2014 from: http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/12/04/study-finds-overlap-in-race-gender-stereotypes/48553.html O’ Barr, W.M. (2011). Mad Men: Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Sexuality, and Class. Advertising & Society Review, 11(4) Ponds white beauty – find your perfect match (2012), [video] from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuGGfTRIIsE Raymond ad son in law (2012), [video] from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=179N9yCO9xM Watson, S., Thornton, C.G. & Davidson, E.F. (2011). Ethnic evaluations of black models in advertising: identity, comparison, and skin tone. Interdisciplinary Journal of contemporary research in business, 2(9), 11-31 Read More