No other industry has as much influence on our collective definition of beauty than the advertising industry. While ads are designed to sell us stuff - cars, smartphones, breakfast cereal, etc... - they also sell us an idealized, normalized, aspirationalized picture of the world, and our place in it.
While Covergirl (illustrated above) does a fairly good job of projecting a racially, ethnically, and even body-type diverse image of "beauty," advertisers more generally create a monolithic image - white, thin/muscular, and affluent.
(MIS)REPRESENTATION
Even though great strides have been made in the overall frequency of racial & ethnic minorities in mainstream media advertising - especially in terms of the inclusion of Blacks - white, heterosexual frames still dominate, and important differences between how whites and blacks are represented can be noted.
Hollerbach (2009), for instance, studied the advertising on television shows that were most highly viewed by Black, and general audiences. The study found that 43% of ads on both shows - those highly popular with Black audiences, and those highly popular with general audiences - contained "African American depiction" (ie: inclusion of black models & "characters). This inclusion rate is substantially higher than those found in the past - 10% in 1969; 13% in 1974; 26% in 1989; 35% in 1993; and 33% in 2000.
THE SILENT TREATMENT
Despite inclusion, Blacks still tended to play a subservient role in the they appeared in, remaining silent in most cases, while their white counterparts ran dialogue. In ads designed to reach black audiences (ie: aired on shows highly popular among blacks), whites spoke 2.5 times longer than blacks; in ads designed to reach general audiences, the silence grew deafening, with white speaking time ballooning to 5 times the length of black speaking time.
While things may seem bad for Blacks in mainstream advertising, they are much worse for other "minority" groups like Asians, Hispanics, or LGBT folk. Included, but silent, would be considered a victory for many of these groups, as they are far more likely than blacks to be left out of ads completely.
Informal research on the inclusion of LGBT depictions in advertising aired on ABC's "Modern Family" (a show popular with LGBT audiences for its' inclusion of a "same-sex" family as one focal point of the story-line) yielded few, if any, images that would be considered LGBT centric to LGBT or general audiences. In many cases, it is even hard to find LGBT imagery in ads on LOGO - the cable network specifically designed to deliver "gay" content to "gay" audiences.
SOMETIMES, SILENCE IS GOLDEN
The inspiration for this post did not come from an interest in the representation of Blacks in mainstream advertising, or the representation of LGBT folk - a line of research the BrandDR is currently working on - but rather from a segment on The Today Show, on January 10, 2012.
Today's "Professionals" - including Advertising Guru, Donny Deutsch - discussed Target's inclusion of a boy with Down's Syndrome in a recent ad.
(MIS)REPRESENTATION
Even though great strides have been made in the overall frequency of racial & ethnic minorities in mainstream media advertising - especially in terms of the inclusion of Blacks - white, heterosexual frames still dominate, and important differences between how whites and blacks are represented can be noted.
Hollerbach (2009), for instance, studied the advertising on television shows that were most highly viewed by Black, and general audiences. The study found that 43% of ads on both shows - those highly popular with Black audiences, and those highly popular with general audiences - contained "African American depiction" (ie: inclusion of black models & "characters). This inclusion rate is substantially higher than those found in the past - 10% in 1969; 13% in 1974; 26% in 1989; 35% in 1993; and 33% in 2000.
THE SILENT TREATMENT
Despite inclusion, Blacks still tended to play a subservient role in the they appeared in, remaining silent in most cases, while their white counterparts ran dialogue. In ads designed to reach black audiences (ie: aired on shows highly popular among blacks), whites spoke 2.5 times longer than blacks; in ads designed to reach general audiences, the silence grew deafening, with white speaking time ballooning to 5 times the length of black speaking time.
While things may seem bad for Blacks in mainstream advertising, they are much worse for other "minority" groups like Asians, Hispanics, or LGBT folk. Included, but silent, would be considered a victory for many of these groups, as they are far more likely than blacks to be left out of ads completely.
Informal research on the inclusion of LGBT depictions in advertising aired on ABC's "Modern Family" (a show popular with LGBT audiences for its' inclusion of a "same-sex" family as one focal point of the story-line) yielded few, if any, images that would be considered LGBT centric to LGBT or general audiences. In many cases, it is even hard to find LGBT imagery in ads on LOGO - the cable network specifically designed to deliver "gay" content to "gay" audiences.
SOMETIMES, SILENCE IS GOLDEN
The inspiration for this post did not come from an interest in the representation of Blacks in mainstream advertising, or the representation of LGBT folk - a line of research the BrandDR is currently working on - but rather from a segment on The Today Show, on January 10, 2012.
Today's "Professionals" - including Advertising Guru, Donny Deutsch - discussed Target's inclusion of a boy with Down's Syndrome in a recent ad.
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| Target Ad |
To be fair, the same model also played a role in a Nordstrom's campaign.
The segment, and the ads, got me thinking about how many "minority" groups are left out of mainstream advertising, and how this exclusion maintains gaps in power, social status, and recognition in our society. Lack of representation leads to lack of familiarity, which leads to that feeling of awkward surprise when we do see these images in the media, or even these people in real life. Matt Lauer begins a strong social critique when he commented
"the fact that it is even a subject is a bit of a sad commentary... in 2012 it should be the accepted norm."
Both retailers chose to include the model, without fanfare, or self congratulations. They placed the individual in a context familiar to kids - hanging out and having fun with other kids. They drew no contrast between the Down Syndrome child and the other children. While children with Down Syndrome have different needs, or distinct challenges, they are still kids and share a whole lot more in common with non-DS kids than they do differences.
These ads say little, but in their silence still manage to say a whole lot.
Donny Deutsch heard the discourse of inclusion in the silence, proclaiming: "all you're saying is 'we're inclusive of everyone.'"
Rick Smith, who writes the blog "noah's Dad" in honor of his son with Down Syndrome, outlined "5 Things Target Said By Not Saying Anything."
What these retailers are doing is showing us a real, and diverse America. The America in which we live, and the America which, if portrayed more accurately and fairly by advertisers and the media, is indeed America, the Beautiful. As Target and Nordstrom's receive positive feedback from their approaches, we can only hope that other brands will begin to value inclusion of all America's beauty and include more diverse imagery in their ads.
