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.

What's to Come: Gender Neutral Mirroring

Stereotypes are something that we've all fallen prey to, considering that it's impossible to avoid it unless you choose the life of a misanthrope and hide in your log cabin to wait for the day people stop using that technology fad. We'll ignore the hermits, though, and focus on the reality of our society: stereotypes get our attention. As a society, we create stereotypes on our own accord, but advertisers always had a way to tap into that knowledge and use it for ulterior motives. Stereotypes are easy to work with because they get a point across quickly, and who on earth has time to work out encrypted messages anymore?

Advertising in the mid-century not only played off of the gender discriminatory mindset, but it also perpetuated the stereotypes so that they would stick, and so would the products. People genuinely thought it was okay to demean women because that was their decided role in society.

Relax gentlemen, your lady can putt around the house doing chores all day and look good doing it as long as you stuff her full of vitamins! Its the answer to all of our prayers!

But granted, it takes two to tango, and there's misandry littered throughout advertising as well. Once society figured out that ads such as the above weren't appropriate anymore and people were feeling more radical, ads with harsh messages about men were more prevalent. Some ads are more about good looking, muscular men representing the only kind of man who's "worth" something, and then there's the other side where men are subservient to women. 

Thusly, it's not difficult to see that gender stereotypes in advertisements apply to both sides.

The thing is, advertising has so long relied on those radical stereotypes and that there's a wide demographic of advertisers who don't even feel the need to think or be innovative with their techniques.    Michelle Wilkinson of Helium.com puts it nicely: "such stereotypes make it possible for them to reach their specified audience without having to expend much energy on thinking of new ways to appeal to people" (source). Stereotypes are a cop out nowadays, and the general public is starting to get that. Families aren't "traditional" anymore, and both men and women contribute to the family. 

Above are two advertisements for an adoption agency. Neither image shows two parents, nor any gender holding power over another with the decision of having a family. It's a neutral ad, and a lovely one at that. There are also ad campaigns that promote the idea of men fitting into what once was a female job: housework. Pinesol has done a seamless job making no big deal of the fact that all the "test subjects" in the commercial below are men.

Advertising has owned the reputation of holding a stereotyped mirror up to society, but it's steadily moving forward with normalizing gender roles because that's where society is heading. A+ work, Pinesol.

Paranoia vs. Semiotics

I have met my fair share of paranoid folk, and most of them look too deeply into everyday items and activities for secret meanings or messages directed at them from some power on high. It's a sad state of affairs, and for the most part we can look at them and wave it off, but there is something that they've got right, and that's hidden messages in advertisements.

Now, I'm not talking about those ads from the 1950s that flashed messages at you in a split second like "eat our popcorn" or "soda makes you a babe magnet" or whatever. Those were banned, and you can't really blame the paranoid folks in that time for being paranoid about that, but I'm talking about semiotics. A fancy word, I know, but it's essentially the legal art form of subliminal messaging. Advertisers want to take a product and present imagery and symbols that won't necessarily do the thinking for you, but make you as a consumer interpret in the desired fashion.

Take the "I'm a Mac" ads from 2007-08 as an example. The only imagery we're provided with is two guys standing against a white background, and yet the commercials were a huge hit.

The set is simple, and the dialogue is straight forward. It's 1000% "what you see is what you get", and you would actually have to try to not understand the message here. From first glance, we can tell that PC is an older gentleman wearing an outdated brown suit (it's all about the grey, PC, get it together) and, because the internet is no place for coddling, is something of a dumpy loser. Mac is a young, casual, hip, and handsome guy. Already we see what the ad is getting at, and we didn't even need the dialogue to get it. But add it into the equation, and you get one flawless ad campaign.

Short, funny, and to the point. PC bumbles about and can't get his act together while Mac is cool, collected, and humble- everything we want in a perfect human, and therefore everything we want in a perfect computer. These ads don't need frills to get the semiotics out there- Macs are for young, cool people and PCs are a thing of the past. Cruel to be kind, PC.

Branding Wars and Social Apocalypse

People with products have always been at each other's throats trying to best one another in any way possible, and it sets the stage for society. We're all so aggressive about the brands we use, like stuffing your favorite brand of jeans in someone's face is going to make them like you. No, stop it, all you're doing is getting fibers up my nose and I am mildly irate now.

But in all seriousness, branding didn't even used to be a thing: it was just products trying to get themselves out there to the public. Back in the day, an advertisement could be an entire page in a newspaper or a matter or minutes on the radio, and both were just products stacking the deck with all the wonderful reasons why their product is a real winner, like the shpeal you hear when you're on hold with a university's admission office. Who knew winning took so many words? But with the evolution of products to brands, you see the brands with that extra pizazz moving forward: the brands that could narrow down why they exceed beyond the other brands. Time kept moving forward and attention spans kept getting shorter until eventually long winded advertisements became more like capital punishment than consumer jubilance. We're lazy, and we want companies to come to our doorsteps and make us want them rather than us as the consumer bullying companies into making our lives better.

What's that? Your slogan is 5 words long? Life is too short to have time to read all of that, slim.
Oh that's nice, you're trying to relate to me? Hand over some free samples and then we'll talk.

Back up fools, the war is on.

Now, branding wars are a fun topic, especially considering how they've essentially created the platform for complete social annihilation. Whether you sport one brand of shampoo over another, or drink Pepsi instead of Coke, it's the same shotgun you're holding, my friend. Brands are social ammunition, and I'm not going to kid around and say that I don't participate in the battle. I openly scorn those who drink Pepsi, shuffling about with complaints every time I see that Pepsi truck parked outside the library. Of course, the kicker is that I know how little sense it makes- it's absolute nincompoopery, but that's part of the fun I suppose. I mean, any idle member of society who's got nothing on their hands might as well indulge in some intense head to head soda competition because there's clearly nothing better to do with our time.

Note also: it's said that idle hands are the Devil's playthings, so I guess this means that branding wars are doing us a favor. What a courteous bunch of folk!

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