Is it Right to Stereotype?

I personally believe that racism is wrong. I feel that, as a society, we have progressed a long way that reverting to racism is just insulting. And I believe that is true for advertising as well. I don't think there is an excuse for racism to be played out in advertising anymore. Advertising has a huge part in how our society runs and there is no place for racism anymore. The following ads are disappointing because they show racism in a modern advertisement.

In this ad we see a white man in a powerful position with black men crouched in a running position that resembles a bowing gesture. While Intel may have been aiming to relay the idea that African Americans are fast runners (which is stereotyping) they really did a poor job with this advertisement. 

It's shocking to see Dove have an advertisement that is racist since they promote beauty from all people. In this ad we have the contrast of before and after and the gradual change in skin color from dark to light in the women in front of the examples. This ad was very poorly executed and disappointing.

Racial stereotyping is another challenge faced in the advertising world. I don't necessarily agree with stereotyping but I can see how, in some cases, it can work. When advertisers use stereotyping, they need to be really careful to make sure it's not negative. Negative stereotyping such as an ad like this by Nivea:

is extremely bad. But when it's a stereotype that give a positive spin to an ad, then I could see how it could be useful. This is extremely hard though. I have yet to really find a commercial or ad that I think uses racial stereotyping well but in class we watched the Doritos Mariachi campaign and it was widely accepted as showing that Mexicans know how to have a good time. So this could be considered a positive racially stereotyped advertisement.

I believe advertisers have an ethical responsibility in their work. Advertising shapes the way we think and the largest contribution to breaking racial stereotypes and racism is through advertising. Showing people that it's okay to break those barriers will do wonders for the fight to end racism.