Racial Discrimination In Advertising

Introduction

Advertising has become part of our everyday life; one can argue that exposure to advertising can influence the way we perceive and understand the world around us, as well as provide a reflection of our cultural values. The world is becoming increasingly diverse, therefore it is in the best interest of advertisers to be as multicultural as the market is. According to Cambell (2016), in 2015 the U.S. Latino market was worth $1.3 trillion and millennials had an estimated $200 billion buying power, while Asian Americans had an estimated buying power of $825 billion, which was expected to grow to $1.1 trillion in 2020. Indians were found to be the most affluent Asian American consumers, with an estimated $212 billion to spend.

When

According to Hofstede, nations have different cultures based on certain values and communication styles, that differentiate them from another. Moreover, Phau and Prendergast (2007) stated that in order to make an advertising effective and relevant, advertisers need to pay great attention to the cultural values of the country they are targeting.

Although many researches have investigated advertising, race and culture individually, the relationship between racial prejudice in advertising and culture seems to have yet been researched. Moreover, Salvatore & Shelton, 2007, mentioned that prejudices’ acts have taken a contemporary form and have become subtle and ambiguous in comparison to “old-fashioned” forms of prejudice. Nevertheless, no recent research has been conducted on the current racial representation of minority groups in

For example, Ferber (2007) studied how racism has become prominent in the US through the portrayal of black male athletes in the media and that the stereotypical image of the black male as being violent, aggressive and hypersexual is being reinforced. Additionally, Rahier (2011) found that brown and black women are victims of a similar stereotypical representation that portrays them as hypersexual beings. In his study, Kulaszewicz (2015) focused on racial differences, stereotypes and the perception of African-Americans in the media. The author found that especially news stories reporting crimes committed by blacks are more in-depth and comprehensive than criminal stories about whites. Kulaszewicz (2015) concludes that through the biased representation of black males in the US media, the creation and maintenance of the image of blacks as dangerous and violent is being facilitated. Similar results were found by Pious and Neptune (1997), who looked at minority and gender representations in fashion magazines. The study shows that the majority of the surveyed African-Americans feel that advertising conveys at least subtle messages of gender inequality, with people arguing that the advertising industry has played a significant role in America’s racial problem. Morris and Kahlor (2014) tried to explore “the existence of racial identity and color-blind