Racial stereotyping in advertising

Racial stereotyping in advertising refers to using assumptions about people based on characteristics thought to be typical of their identifying racial group in marketing.[1]

Advertising trends may adopt racially insensitive messages or comply with stereotypes that embrace the values of problematic racial ideologies. Commercials and other forms of media advertisements may be influenced by social stigma regarding race.[2]

Racial stereotypes are mental frameworks that viewers use to process social information based on their cultural, racial, or ethnic group, which may not directly "carry negative or positive values."[3] Advertisers include racial stereotypes in their messaging to target a specific demographic, which can potentially impact viewers negatively through offensive language or concepts. A common rule of thumb for people working in advertising is to "be aware of the potential to cause serious or widespread offense when referring to different races, cultures, nationalities or ethnic groups."[4]

  1. ^ Toland Frith, Katherine; Mueller, Barbara (2010). Advertising and Societies: Global Issues. Peter Lang Publishing Inc. p. 110. ISBN 978-1433103858. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  2. ^ Paeka, Hye Jin; Shaha, Hemant (2003). "Racial Ideology, Model Minorities, and the "Not-So-Silent Partner:" Stereotyping of Asian Americans in U.S. Magazine Advertising". Howard Journal of Communications. 14 (4): 225–243. doi:10.1080/716100430. S2CID 144619668.
  3. ^ Frith and Mueller (2010). Advertising and Societies Global Issues. New York, United States of America: Peter Lang Publishing, inc.
  4. ^ Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) (2021). "Offence: Race". Advertising Standards Authority. Retrieved 4 May 2022.