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.