Essay 300

Here’s the opening of an interesting paper examining racial imagery in advertising:

Within a business that depends entirely on an individual’s association with representations of a group, there is bound to be material burdened with implicit and explicit stereotypes, generalizations and assumptions. Advertising, by its nature, looks to reach as many consumers as possible and present them with versions of their existence (or desired existence) in order to appeal to them. The results are imagined and somewhat empirically substantiated visual depictions of a group of people. However, the success of these depictions requires the intended audience to associate themselves with these portrayals and place themselves within the narrative of the text. When advertisers attempt to depict ethnic minorities something interesting occurs. Suddenly the same racist stereotypes that permeate the American society find themselves on magazines pages, television screens and radio airwaves, only in much subtler and innocent ways. Strategies that attempt to flatter or appease minorities often alienate and insult them with the visible social and cultural ideologies that they represent. As the advertisements attempt to reflect society, they simultaneously create and confirm societal views and continue a cyclical trend.

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While lengthy, the paper is definitely worth checking out. Click on the essay title to view the entire work.