but what can be done?

As Paek and Shah of "Stereotyping of Asian Americans in Advertising" put it, "Stereotyping reduces people to a few, simple, essential characteristics, which are represented as fixed by nature. As such, stereotypes are important carriers of society's dominant racial (and other) ideologies." They go on to state that "in societies such as the United States, which are characterized by unequal relations of power, ideology is one means by which dominant groups maintain and legitimate their power over other groups." Stereotypes are harmful to the people being stereotyped and unfortunately, for the most part, those are minorities. Done as either an unconscious action or as a way to try and stop minorities from gaining "power" in society, the outcome is the same and it needs to be stopped. As we have seen, racial stereotypes are not something that can be dealt with by brushing it under the carpet or reluctantly shoving a minority in a photo-shoot somewhere so you wont get a slap on the wrist.
Action needs to be taken to stop stereotyping and get people to see people for who they are as individuals and not judge them based on their ethnicity.
Something that should be done, is bring awareness through the media that is spreading this venom in the first place: advertisements. As Robert Donovan and Susan Leivers did (and wrote) in their journal, "Using Paid Advertising to Modify Racial Stereotype Beliefs", we can put out informative ads that speak truthfully about races and help de-bunk some of these myths. No, not all African Americans are delinquents, not all Latina's are of easy virtue and not all Asians are smart. If it sounds so ridiculous when said out loud then we shouldn't be doing it, especially considering the effect that we know media has on people.
Donovan and Leivers did a study in Australia trying to change the way people saw Aborigines. As they write, "a major aim of the campaign was an attempt to neutralize some of the negative beliefs about Aborigines and employment....these beliefs were targeted because qualitative research revealed hat they formed the basis for the more evaluative beliefs that Aborigines are lazy, irresponsible, and unreliable and that it is these evaluative beliefs that inhibit Aboriginal employment." They say although this plan suffered from the problem of respondent self-selection, there are results that support the fact that mass media can influence racial attitudes in a positive direction. They note how "social marketing and social advertising campaigns have been used across a broad variety of areas from AIDS and energy conservation to immunization and fire prevention, there has been little systematic use of social advertising in the area of racial discrimination." In their conclusions they state that "the campaign achieved a very high level of prompted awareness in the community. The advertising components achieved 88 percent exposure (prompted recognition) for television, 49 percent for press and 30 percent for radio."
Clearly it can be done and should be done likewise in the United States. More awareness needs to be brought to the fact that minorities are underrepresented and done so incorrectly in the media and advertisements.
Our children and younger generations are growing up with altogether the wrong idea about their neighbors and classmates at school and all from the misrepresentations they see on TV and in the media. it can be avoided and it should, now that we know for a fact the impact that media has on us and our psyche, its time we step up and take responsibility and bring about change.

Position, position, position...

We're at a point in time were we have our "racially integrated" ads. That is, we have our "token" ethnicity in each one. Hispanics that look white (or vice versa) so you can't really tell and just assume they're in there, the token African American and sometimes, if they wanna be REALLY politically correct, the Asian American thrown in for good measure. The thing that they fail to see however, is the way these minorities are displayed in the ads. Never in control of the situation, hardly ever using the product, they're usually just token figures kept in the background (most often where the fold falls on the magazine).
Robert Peterson wrote a journal called "Consumer Magazine Advertisement Portrayal of Models by Race in the US: An Assessment" in which "the models were classified by "hierarchy position", identifying the status of the models from "superior" to "subordinate"...according the extent to which they manifested authority and power (superior) or were subject to the authority and power of others (subordinate) or did not exhibit wither extreme (neither)." His study found that "Asian American models occupied the highest hierarchy position, followed by African American, Hispanic, and White models".

The ad above for instance, which ran in the July 2009 issue of Elle, features one African American woman who is half-tucked away at the fold.
This next image appeared in the August 2009 issue of Glamour and features the only African American girl in the ad, sitting at the lowest point in the picture by the designer's feet:

This ad for United Colors of Benetton has the African American's face completely hidden in the fold of the magazine, barely visible unless flattened out completely in a scanner:

American Vogue was highly criticized for publishing the cover below in their "Shape" issue. The similarities between the picture and King Kong movie poster are disgustingly undeniable.

This next image is an ad for Playstation that was exhibited on a billboard in Italy. It's violent and clearly shows the white woman standing more powerful over the black woman being attacked.

Another offensive piece was this shot which was part of a photo spread also published in Vogue. It pictures the models in a slave ship, there is only one white model but she is the center of attention in the picture. The black models surrounding her are visible but dismembered, a form of objectification. 

Be it dismembered, in the background, the fold or blatantly attacked, minorities are placed in positions of lesser power. Whether this is strategically done by maniacal minds or if its a subconscious act due to years of stereotypes being force-fed to us, the result is the same: it's damaging and it has to stop.

Jungle fever: minorities are the sex

As if under-representation wasn't a bad enough issue in advertising, minorities, especially minority women have to be the subject of oversexualization in ads.
It's not news that Latin and African American women are often objectified due to the existing stereotypes that they're fiery and love-crazed.
While the mantra "sex sells" is widely used and sworn by, the profits are being made at the stake of minority women, their image, and their reputations. The consequences of these stereotypes are coming at a hefty price, the American Bar Association's Commission on Domestic Violence put out a survey of recent statistics that has astonishing results. As they state in their website, "Overall, African Americans were victimized by intimate partners a significantly higher rates than persons of any other race between 1993 and 1998. Black females experienced intimate partner violence at a rate 35% higher than that of white females, and about 22 times the rate of women of other races. Black males experienced intimate partner violence at a rate about 62% higher than that of white males and about 22 times the rate of men of other races" and in terms of Hispanic women, "the victimization rates of Hispanic women peaked at lower levels than non-Hispanic women in every age group, but spread over a wider range of ages." 

It's clear that these women are suffering more than those of other races and to no surprise considering the images and stereotypes that are being fed to us day by day. 

This ad features an Asian woman in the stereotypically submissive way in which they're often portrayed:

The following ad features an over-sexualized Hispanic woman promoting an energy shake and reminding you to "Shake Well" with the bottle on the woman's derriere, alluring to the stereotype that Latin women have large butts and shake them a lot since they're always dancing. (Of course)

This outraging ad presumes that the only way a Latina can be "cold" is if she's a beer, perpetuating the stereotype that Hispanic women are "hot" and have bursting libidos. 

Another ad also features a Latina and liquor, this time showing the woman in a very submissive pose: 

 And yet another ad featuring a Latin woman in a suggested sexual state induced by the phallic bottle of vodka:

African American women are often portrayed as wild and animal-like. 

This ad shows the woman pinned to the wall with a stereotypically afro-centric hairstyle and wearing all leopard print: 

Other ads like this one for Diesel taunt "How to Control Wild Animals":

While yet others like this use minority women in cheap sexual situations like that of suggested lesbianism like in this ad:

And others tend to brand them, reminiscent of the times of slavery when they were treated like property:

While not a woman, this following commercial featuring a black man serves to perpetuate the stereotype that people of "exotic" backgrounds are good only for sex and the pleasure of others, presumably Caucasians. Italian Commercial

The karate kid who built the proton collider and can do mental math...all at once

Asians are a unique minority in that they're (for the most part) stereotyped positively but gravely under-represented. As an ethnic group they are what Paek and Shah authors of the journal "Racial Ideology, Model Minorities, and the "Not-So-Silent Partner:" Stereotyping of Asian Americans in U.S. Magazine Advertising" call the "model minority". Historically they point out, "media representations of Asian Americans as model minorities were created in the racial logic of Cold War liberalism in the 1950s. Asian Americans were associated with a premium demographic profile: highly affluent, well educated, professional, and technologically skilled." In the white-man's world Asians have presented the perfect fall-back in that there can't possibly be obstacles against minorities if Asian's are doing so well. "It connotes that African Americans and Latinos could also achieve success, only if they would embrace a serious work ethic and sincerity concerning education just as Asian Americans do. Such inter-minority comparisons constitute a hostile discourse - used primarily by white policymakers- that may stimulate black and Latino resentment and exacerbate social conflicts among minority groups" the authors say.
The journal goes on to explain how there are two types of Asians. the "uptown" ones who wear fancy suits and have corporate jobs and the "downtown" group who are the newly-arrived immigrants holding blue-collar jobs in the poor, urban areas.
In my own content analysis with the 3 Seventeen, 3 Glamour and 3 Elle magazines, the low number of Asians in ads was astounding. There were 5 in total (out of 9 magazines filled with ads!)
The first was this DKNY ad, the only one featuring an Asian in the August 2009 issue of Glamour:

 The second was this one for Vera Bradley which features the Asian girl on her Smartphone while her Caucasian friends are either talking on the phone or not really doing anything:

 OPI, the nail polish brand, had two ads which featured Asian models to promote their "Hong Kong Collection". The first ad which was in the February 2010 issue of Elle features a very exotic-looking model with a sharp haircut and a  super thin frame, the typical eastern vixen that might just attack you with ninja stars at any given point.

The second one was featured in the March 2010 issue of Elle and again it features a very "edgy" model promoting a very stereotypical image of Asian women.

It seems that (at least in the fashion industry) Asian women are presented as either extremely thin, mysterious beauties from the East or extremely thin Americanized beauties of the states as shown in this ad for Macy's featured in the October 2009 issue of Seventeen:

As Paek and Shah put it. "regardless of the frequent depiction of Asian American females in professional roles, the image of petite and exotic beauty remains a common visual theme."
Be it for political agendas or because advertisers have started believing the stereotypes they create themselves, there's no denying Asians have a very set image in ads. Paek and Shah state that "the "uptown" group includes well-educated professionals who reside in the suburbs and are integrated into mainstream society. The "downtown" group refers to blue-collar, working class immigrants striving to survive in isolated and poor urban areas." Whatever the class they may be in, the general image is that Asians are hard-working individuals, but this can also be detrimental.
The authors go on to say how "Asian Americans may be viewed as disposable workers who may be hired and fired at will because they are complacent about how they are treated and too passive to complain." It also promotes an image that Asian Americans are cold and solely focused on their work, "Asian Americans are overrepresented in "number-crunching" professions because the positions require minimal language proficiency; in contrast, Asian Americans are underrepresented in the humanities and social science fields, where high levels of interpersonal contact and language skills are required....One popular myth about Asian Americans is that their dedication to success keeps them from enjoying leisure pursuits. Advertising contributes to this image with the "workaholic" stereotype."

This is especially sad considering that although Asian Americans make up less than a third of the minority market, they have a two thirds purchasing power, so their voice should be heard and marketed towards if only for the sake of higher profit.

You're black, you must play basketball right?

The title says it all and the study data supports it. One if not the biggest stereotype against African Americans is that they're always portrayed as sporty. If there's a black person in the ad, more often than not they're an athlete or an entertainer acting as spokesperson for that product. In the journal I mentioned in the prior post, "Skin Tones in Magazine Advertising: Does Magazine Type Matter?", the conclusions were that "dark-skinned models constitute 93% of the models in Sports Illustrated while dark skinned models constitute 48% of the models in Vogue." They go on to state how "African American models in Sports Illustrated magazine have darker skin tones than African American models in Vogue magazine." "For the five-year period of this study, Sports Illustrated had 20% of their ads featuring at least one African American, while Vogue had 5% of their ads featuring at least one African American......This reinforces previous research that suggests that African Americans are more likely to be found in sports advertising than other types of advertising."
In an informal content analysis that I conducted on three Glamour, three Elle and three Seventeen magazines, I found evidence to support this study that Mayo, Mayo and Mahdi conducted.
In the March 2010 issue of Glamour for example, there were 8 ads featuring minorities out which 4 featured African Americans.
One was this one featuring the famous actress Halle Berry:

The next was this one for DKNY jeans in which the black model is in the center which on a magazine falls right into the fold. 

This ad for Express features the black model completely turned away from the camera and not engaged in the shot whatsoever. 

The last one is for Johnson and Johnson's baby oil in which the woman is coyly wrapped up in a towel with luminous skin. 

The February 2010 issue of Glamour didn't do much better in terms of content. It had two ads featuring minorities (both featuring African Americans). 

One was the well-known ad featuring the tennis player Serena Williams:

While the other ad feature her again, this time with her sister Venus for low-calorie snacks.

Even when featuring celebrities, the products advertised are tampons and cookies. In the journal "Racial Stereotypes in Children's Television Commercials" by Maher, Herbst, Childs and Finn, they state that "research has documented that African Americans are often found in advertisements for snack/food products or products of low value." 

The same behavior can be observed in magazines for a younger audience like Seventeen. in the October 2009 issue Serena Williams was featured in two out of five ads featuring minorites. One was this one for Nike:

and the other is a spin-off of the Tampax ad above: 

This type of portrayal and ad ratio is dangerous and harmful to younger generations. Children are exposed to an average of 20,000 to 40,000 commercials every year with African American and Hispanic kids watching more TV than Caucasians. As the journal states, "children's thoughts and beliefs regarding ethnic minorities are influenced by the messages and images they see on television, both programming and advertising." Their conclusions state that "the positively stereotypes Caucasians and Asians appeared in more major roles and interacted less often with African American and Hispanic characters.....The current research documents that African Americans and Hispanics are portrayed in less important roles. Thus, it seems that children of these ethnic groups could perceive the advertising to be less credible due to the minimal use of main characters from their own ethnic background." 

Historically speaking...

Race and sex have long been some of the most debated topics in advertising, however the prior has received notably less attention than the gender stereotypes in the ads that line the pages of magazines we read and TV commercials we see each day.

Historically blacks have been ridiculed in ads since the beginning of pamphlets and etched drawings because they were slaves and thus, objects that could be done with what the owner wished. 

African Americans are by far one of the most heavily (and negatively) stereotyped minorities in media.

Grotesque images like this were very common and slowly helped to build a negative and harmful image of African Americans. This degrading image of blacks has trickled down throughout the years and is still seen on such products as Uncle Bens and Aunt Jemima’s.

Aunt Jemima's marketing tactic was particularly harmful in that it played-off of the character of a "mammy", the stereotypical house servant in the old south (i.e. Gone With the Wind). 

This image has been changed over time to one thats more socially acceptable but still reminiscent of it's racist roots with literally the same face, just a different hair-do. 

Uncle Ben's is another figure who's background people seem to be unaware of. 

As Mayo, Mayo and Mahdi state in their journal "Skin Tones in Magazine Advertising: Does Magazine Type Matter?", "advertising symbols and characters such as Aunt Jemima and the Gold Twins have stood for and defined African Americans in advertising over the years. These characters have placed images of African Americans in the American psyche." They go on to explain the historical implications of skin tone saying "discriminations and privileges based on skin color have been experienced by African-Americans since slavery. Lighter-skinned Blacks generally were given indoor domestic work while those individuals with darker skin worked in the fields." 

 

New Direction..

I've decided that [partly because of a class project ;) ] I'll be focusing on ethnic stereotypes for a while. Maybe do series and later focus on gender? Who knows.
In any case, ethnic stereotypes are one of the main issues with advertising today. Stereotypes are often seen as effective ways to quickly deliver a message or get a point across. The truth of the matter being that they are often cheesy, over-used and hurtful to the ethnic group they're portraying.
For this series I hope to provide you [whoever is reading this since I have no followers :( ] with various examples both in print (current and older) and commercials from around the globe.
Some stereotypes are very obvious, Asians are smart, Blacks are delinquents who should be feared and Hispanics are sexy people full of fire and with bursting libidos.
Lets then go on to see examples of bad (and sometimes good) uses of stereotypes. Hopefully making readers like you more aware of what the media is subconsciously feeding you so you wont fall prey to them.