Why do so many ads targeting African Americans rely on cultural commercial clichés?
In the past weeks, at least three spots appearing to woo African Americans have featured identical imagery. Sunny D presents the corny tale of a proud Black mother raising her little drummer boy. The spot traces the youth’s artistic evolution, as Sunny D powers him from prepubescent percussionist to high school garage band to college marching band. Sunny D is accompanied by Mickey D’s, as the fast food dinosaur offers a super-sized marching band for McDonald’s Value Menu items. Completing the trio is Verizon Wireless, with a rat-a-tatting rip-off of the 2002 movie Drumline.
The advertisers can’t accuse their peers of plagiarism, as marching bands have been parading in African American advertising for decades. Coca-Cola rolled out an early depiction in the 1970s — and replayed the theme again in a recent print campaign. And the beat goes on, with countless corporations showing repeat performances of the contrived scenario. Apparently, Black folks just can’t get enough of those rousing marching bands.
The advertising agencies regurgitating this garbage deserve most of the blame. One wonders what the account planners really do at these places — did some genius actually introduce research to connect marching bands to fruit juice, Big Macs and cell phones?
Resorting to the standard recipes for multicultural communications prevents progress on so many levels. Even the shops claiming to be on the true cutting edge essentially update the clichés, falsely promoting the polished shit as breakthrough.
Clients are the co-conspirators in this mess. Their desire to do the right thing inevitably leads to the wrong executions. It probably started with the inception of multicultural advertising. After the first corporation unveiled a marching band, everyone else wanted to own one too. And over time, an innovation became overdone.
The cultural ignorance of clients is obvious as well. The ads really reflect clients’ perceptions of Black lifestyles, primarily based on slanted media coverage and limited personal experiences — and secondarily based on the fear rooted in remaining politically correct. In other words, the majority of clients are literally producing their own interpretations of the target audience. Plus, these clients are usually demanding “cultural relevance” that forces conceptual irrelevance and borrowed interest.
While this essay is focused on African American advertising, the issue undoubtedly applies to multicultural efforts in general. Shops catering to Hispanics, Asians and more face the same challenges.
Advertising agencies must strive to deliver and sell better work, rejecting the crap that’s been played out. Clients must strive to present original and authentic messages to the public versus joining other media in perpetuating stereotypes.
The solutions sound easy. Yet for over 40 years, the problems have been marching on.
1 comment:
What's good about it? Kudos to Pantene for their spot featuring two African-American women practicing yoga, thereby deflating perceptions that black women don't exercise because of hair issues ('use Pantene to minimize the frizz'). As one of only two black women in my yoga class, it was also good to see the airing of an alternate perspective toward physical and mental health, even if it was only a commercial.
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