Chapter 8 Controversies in Contemporary Advertising Advertising and Race Examining the Melting Pot Melting Pot Descriptor of the makeup of the citizenry of many countries around the world Minorities in the United States Growth o The influence of minorities in America will continue to grow for the next several decades o The ethnic composition of younger people in the U S differs significantly from the ethnic composition of older people Spending Power impact on society o Minorities have grown not only in numbers but also in their financial o Buying power A measure of household or individual income from all sources minus personal taxes and other tax payments disposable net income Marketing and Advertising to Minorities Many companies do not target a certain race Advertising spending o Advertising spending patterns further emphasize advertisers lack of recognition of minorities o Less than 5 of all ad budgets are earmarked for target minority media Media usage o There appear to be greater commonalities among ethnic groups in television viewing than in newspaper reading o The internet is used by all minority groups Advertising attitudes o Blacks and Asians have more positive feelings toward brands in general than other groups Portrayals of Ethnic Groups Frequency of representation o Assesses the number of minority individuals in advertisements as a proportion of all people shown in advertisements o Suggests that for portrayals to be at parity minority representation in advertisements should approximate the minority s proportion in the population o Black models are the norm in ads in black magazines Hispanic models are the same o White models are often seen in Asian magazines o Each minority group had its highest representation in ads in magazines popular with its group and mainstream magazine ads were likewise dominated by white models Types of products o Minorities tend to appear in advertisements in specific product o Blacks appear frequently in ads for health and beauty products o Black models are often underrepresented in advertisements for categories liquor wine beer clothing o Liminal Portrayals A portrayal of a person that contains characteristics of more than one ethnic group o Asians appear often in print advertisements for products and services related to science and technology o Hispanics appear in advertisements for the greatest range of products o Caucasians dominate all types of products o Products targeted to teens often feature minority teens in their advertising messages Types of role portrayals o Minority portrayals in advertising are limited and are therefore not evocative of the range of roles minorities play in our society o Blacks are often portrayed as athletes or TV personalities or are white washed in appearance o Advertising presents four common Hispanic stereotypes Bandit Lover Spitfire Sweet senorita hard worker o Asian stereotypes are generally limited to the exotic character or the Intended Effect Minorities appear in advertising messages but in a limited range of portrayals and for a limited range of product categories Assimilation and Acculturation o Assimilation The action of making or becoming like something else o Acculturation The adoption of an alien culture o Advertisers may believe that when targeting consumers with messages for certain products or services minority groups have assimilated into Caucasian culture to the point that acculturation has occurred Connecting with what is cool using Caucasians o In some cases using minorities in advertising is more appealing than Setting the stage o Advertisers continue to use stereotyped imagery because it is imbedded in communication shorthand and tends to set the stage quickly for advertising messages Unintended Effects Marginalization and Invisibility o Advertising tends to focus on minority groups only on specific occasions o The invisibility of minorities in advertising may have several effects Holding minorities back from opportunities Suggest that minorities should refrain from trying to become visible in society and that it is better to stay in their place and not to improve themselves or take advantage of the American Dream o When minority groups are not seen as the central focus of the message they then become cast as cultural outsides o The limited range of societal roles also communicates what could be seen as society s priorities for specific groups False Perception of Diversity Fetishization The process of making one feature stand for a whole person Advertising Minorities and the Future There is a high lack of minority in ad agencies Many suggest that the dominance of white men in the industry means that ads aren t produced without input from diverse cultural viewpoint