The Overzealous Use of Race in Advertising Today

Race has always been something of a hot button topic in society perpetuated by its representation in media. The overzealous use of race, whether in a good or bad light, has been prevalent for essentially all of America's history. We can briefly look back on one of America's fondest memories which started off our, dare I say, colorful past with racism- slavery. There it was, tainting our relations with any non-white person who happens upon our path for years to come. Even after slavery was abolished, we still had folks of separate races in positions of weakness as servants and maids.

An article on NBC news' website explains that "minorities were either invisible in mainstream media, or handed negative roles that generally had them in a subservient position" (source). It's no wonder that the stereotypes lasted as long as they did because advertising never could seem to let go of such easily recognizable symbols. Such demeaning ads towards other races continued far into the 20th century, and then other races finally started fighting back. Those people in the past caused riots and general hubbub about racial equality so that people in the future wouldn't have to; so that those of us living today could look around and not give a single hoot about the color of anyone's skin because it's not important. Things like race shouldn't be a big deal anymore, but with the old stereotypes hanging over our heads like the sun in a desert, the misrepresentation of race still weighs heavily on our society.

The good news is that the world is a much wiser place nowadays thanks to those race riots, however, advertisements still often rely on race; maybe not in the same way that they used to, but they do. Because the world is so conscious of the moves we make regarding race, a lot of companies have decided to make race the central focus of their ads. You can find countless examples of advertisements that feature a systematic line-up of every race you can think of just for the sake of looking progressive.

The same NBC article from before worded it nicely, saying, "ads like these are part of a subtle, yet increasingly visible strategy that marketers refer to as 'visual diversity' — commercials that enable advertisers to connect with wider audiences while conveying a message that corporate America is not just "in touch," racially speaking, but inclusive." 

Now, this isn't to say that I'm not appreciative of the general idea being presented- I'm all for the representation of diversity in mainstream society- but something about this kind of advertising ripples my harmonious bells. More than anything, they feel more like haphazard justification of their products than promoting the normalization of race into society. It's one thing to be proud of your heritage and another thing completely to say that you stand out from society because of your heritage. That misses the point altogether; we should strive to incorporate race like it's no big deal and make use of it in an ad where you don't need to pay attention to the race of the people because it's not the focus of the ad. I suppose advertising is still just stuck in the transition period, and it is certainly moving forward, but I look forward to the day when I can see an ad without noticing the race of the people in it.