Stereotypes In Advertising Analysis

Often times in advertising, companies target a specific group of people, these people are called a target audience. A target audience can be any type of person. For example, an ad may Target Democrats, Caucasians, people of higher class, or Christians. Sometimes an ad may Target all of these at the same time or a specific one. Assuming the way in which a specific group of people will act in certain situations is called stereotyping. Stereotypes are important in advertising because they appeal to the stereotypical audience that they are meant to. Without these stereotypes, though they can be harsh, the advertiser would not be able to sell their product nearly as well as they do. Stereotype based commercials grab the attention of a specific

All of the actors in this commercial are African American, dressed well, and look to be happy and healthy. This is a way to appeal to the stereotypical lower class, African American Democrat. This commercial gives the target the image of an average middle class family who is maintaining their heart health with cheerios. In another cheerios commercial, the same girl’s father is explaining, with cheerios, that they’re going to have a new baby boy. He pushes the cheerios over to the girl, explaining that each cheerio represents a member of their family. He then pushes an extra cheerio over to show the new baby. The girl pushes another cheerio over, and asks for a puppy. Her father replies, “deal.” The next scene shows the mom’s reaction at the end of the video for some comic release. Again, in this commercial, the girl’s ignorance makes her trustworthy to the viewer. However, that ignorance is somewhat downplayed in this video. In fact, this commercial focuses on her intelligence. The “deal” she makes with her father makes her seem very smart and witty. The mood of these videos is very dependent upon the intelligence of this girl and how the producer has chosen to show her. The first commercial uses the purity of a child to play on the viewers’ emotions, whereas the second commercial uses the wit of the child to give the viewers a