Blog #3

Stereotype in Advertising

It is never right to racially stereotype for any purpose, including advertising, or especially advertising. Products of advertising are meant to reach the mass public, so whoever is in charge of creating a message in an ad, needs to make sure that it is appropriate and not offensive to an individual or a group of people. Wrong content could create hatred toward a brand, and more importantly, it is just not right to do so. 

It is sad to say that racism in advertising is not necessarily a thing of the past, there are some that are well-known in the modern era. PopChips, Burger King, American Apparel, and many other big brands have got in trouble for allegedly racist advertisements just a few years ago. On a PopChips  video advertisement posted on YouTube, Ashton Kutcher was in brown make-up and playing an Indian character. This level of cultural appropriation upset a lot of people in the audience, and was considered inappropriate. The PSP billboard, advertising the Portable PlayStation with the caption "White is coming" and a picture of a black person being oppressed by a white person, also raised a lot of criticism towards the brand. 

Advertisers indeed have ethical responsibilities when doing their work. When an ad is published and gets presented in front of a large audience, if not careful, the content in the ad can easily offend some individuals if not a whole large part of the population. Advertisers always need to consider the diversity of their audience and be considerate of the different cultures out there. This is not just a matter of saving the brand's public face, it is about being ethical and reasonable towards a larger community.