Racial and Gender Diversity

Recently I have watch a movie called Real Steel. Real Steel was about a popular sport called robot boxing where instead of having human boxing competitions, there would be robot boxing competitions operated by humans. This movie was a typical American movie with Caucasians being the dominant ethnic group. Also because this was a robot sci-fi movie, the people in the movie were mainly male. Even the robots that the owners owned were also being referred to as male robots. Though the movie mainly revolved around Caucasian males, females and other ethnic groups such as Japanese and African American still appeared in the movie. Having a diverse gender and ethnic group are important in media because not only having diversities will appeal to a larger group of people but also people are very sensitive when it comes to gender and racial stereotypes. On top of that, the people who have access to the media can be anybody from any part of the world. So the last thing producers want to do is to gain a negative impact on the media they project.

There were a few racial stereotypes appeared throughout the movie. First, Max the main character's son said he played Japanese videos games because they were better. Second the people who owned some of the best robots including the best one were Japanese. This was stereotypical because we often associate technology with Japanese, so when it comes to people with the best technology, most people would automatically think of the Japanese. The final racial stereotype was a scene where two people were making a bet for the competition and one of them called the other person a cowboy because he was wearing a cowboy hat and the "cowboy" called him "homie" because he was African American. These two were typical stereotypes for southern Americans and African Americans because these were the stereotypes that the media portrait the audience to think.

Racial Stereotypes in Advertising

Whether racism appears on ads or through people's mouth, it is never right. Though racism is not right, racism is still a big issue among the world's population. So if racism is wrong, why do advertisers still racially stereotype one another? Let's face it. Racism SELLS. Though it is wrong, it draws people's attention. There is also the fact that not every place in the world is as diverse and open as the United States. Some places in the world, especially the more reserved countries do not see anything wrong with racism.

Personally, I don't think racism is a thing in the past because as long as racism still stands, people will continue to criticize and stereotype. If racism still affects people, then advertisers will definitely continue to use racism to promote their products. As for ethical responsibilities, the business world is not very ethical in the first place and as long as the advertisement is not super racist, then I can't say advertisers have to take any ethical responsibilities for their ads.

For example, in the following ad, Dove is selling their body wash using three models with different ethnicity. In the background, two pictures of zoomed in skin are placed, one being before the use of the body wash positioned behind the African American model and the other is after the use of the body wash positioned behind the Caucasian model. The fact that this ad appears to be pretty resent shows that racial stereotypes still stands in the world of advertisements today.

Semiotics

Semiotics. What is semiotics? To me, I feel like semiotics is the foundation of what advertising truly is. Advertising is a form of communication and it can either be really informative or really pointless. This is where semiotics comes in because by understanding semiotics (the study of signs and symbols as elements of communicative behavior) the makers and the audience can easily depict the ad and the message behind the ad.

Outdoor ads are the trickiest because people are often on the good so ads should be easy to read and get straight to the point. I love this Lego ad because not only is it super creative but it can not be any simpler and straightforward than having a crane carrying a block of Lego.

Simpsons! Who doesn't know Simpsons. Iconic characters are often used as a form of advertisement because of their popularity. In this ad, Marge Simpsons is seen sporting her iconic column of fizz on the left but on the right she is seen with her never before long and wavy luscious hair. Assuming this product works, people who use this product will end up with long and sexy hair no matter how crazy their hair is.

  

The only time where investors really invest in their advertisements is during the annual Super Bowl. To me Doritos always has the funniest ads. Not only that but they are always short and simple but they capture the audience's attention like no others. This year, their "Fashionista Daddy" commercial was so funny I ended up watching the video several times again on YouTube after it aired. I think this is whole point of advertising, the implantation of the ad. In this ad, Doritos did nothing about why people should buy Doritos, instead they used Doritos to engage it in a comical skit where the dad and his friends were seen playing princess with his daughter while they were dressed in princess clothing. Cross dressing is always funny and once a idea is captured and used correctly, words between one another will become the best form of advertising. 

   

What Is The Brand Telling You?

Brands define everything! Brands are like personalities, and different brands have different personalities. Brands do not only portray where the companies and products stand but it also differentiate the customers from one another. Having good quality and a good image are important to a brand because having those two important factors will get the brand to places. For example, what do people think of when they think of fast luxurious super cars? No doubt their minds will flash in the brands Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati or even Bugatti. But how many people actually own one? And yet everyone knows what they are. That is what I consider good branding is. It's rare to see one of these cars cruising down the street, but when there is one going down the street, people might take a second to look at the car and think "Wow a Ferrari, the person driving it must be rich." However does the driver have to be rich in order to be driving the car? The driver can be borrowing or test driving the car but will others think of that? Probably not. Come to think of it, are people defining brands or are brands defining people?