Most of Americans would say advertising does not affect them. They do not see it, they do not listen to it, and it definitely does not make buy something, but we know that is not the case. Advertising works. Why else would companies spend millions of dollars every year trying to make people aware of their products and the benefits that come along with it? Advertising, without a doubt, is effective in all aspects. It makes people question their current brand loyalty, it urges them to try new things, and ultimately makes them buy new products.
Because people do not think advertising affects them, I would say most of them do not put much thought in to how people, in regards to race and gender, are represented. I can honestly say, I have never thought about a person race or the amount of diversity in an ad; it never entered my mind that some people are not being represented. For this assignment I decided to research along four parameters, the total number of ads, the number of ads that I considered to be diverse, and the amount of African American, Asian, and Hispanic women featured in the ads.
(1) Glamour
- Total number of advertisements-56
- Total number of advertisements that are diverse-14
- Total number ads featuring African Americans- 9
- Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics- 5
(2) Prime Time TV (Millionaire Matchmaker-BRAVO 8:00)
- Total number of advertisements- 11
- Total number of advertisements that are diverse-5
- Total number ads featuring African Americans- 5
- Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics-0
(3) The
- Total number of advertisements- 19
- Total number of advertisements that are diverse- 1
- Total number ads featuring African Americans- 0
- Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics- 1
This was probably the most surprising of the all the mediums I have researched. We as college students are supposed to be aware of the need for diversity. The
(4) Elle-
- Total number of advertisements -98
- Total number of advertisements that are diverse-16
- Total number ads featuring African Americans- 13 (three were of Rihanna)
- Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics- 3 (two were of Penelope Cruz and the other was Kimora Lee)
I knew this magazine was going to feature predominately white women because this is the target for this magazine. It was very interesting to see that the ads that did not feature white women the featured famous black or Hispanic women. I am unaware of either Penelope Cruz’s or Rihanna’s official race so I am only going off of what my eyes can see. The magazine rarely featured non famous women of color.
- Total number of advertisements-89
- Total number of advertisements that are diverse-10
- Total number ads featuring African Americans- 7 (Iman and
- Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics- Asians/2 -Hispanics/1 (Eva Mendes)
When I decided to go through this magazine I had it in my mind that this one would be more diverse than most fashion magazines. I though Vogue would be the most diverse and excepting of all beautiful models. I was wrong. Vogue, along with Elle, only featured ten ads of colored women and three were of high-profile actresses. It was rare to see an everyday black model posing in any of the ads.
(6) Self-
- Total number of advertisements-29
- Total number of advertisements that are diverse-7
- Total number ads featuring African Americans- 3
- Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics- Asians/2- Hispanic/2
This magazine definitely surprised me. I could not believe there were only 29 ads throughout the entire magazine. Self was more diverse than most of the fashion magazines. I would like to know if this is consistent with all health and fitness magazines.
(7) People-
- Total number of advertisements-15
- Total number of advertisements that are diverse-2
- Total number ads featuring African Americans- 2
- Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics-0
- Total number of advertisements- 13
- Total number of advertisements that are diverse-1
- Total number ads featuring African Americans- 1
- Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics-0
We all flip through the latest
- Total number of advertisements-10
- Total number of advertisements that are diverse-0
- Total number ads featuring African Americans- 0
- Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics-0
This magazine is all about celebrity gossip. I knew there wouldn’t be a ton of ads because there are only 82 pages total. I know the ratio of ads in the magazine is similar to the others, but I would have assumed there would be at least one diverse as somewhere in the mix.
(10) Domino-
- Total number of advertisements-22
- Total number of advertisements that are diverse-3
- Total number ads featuring African Americans- 2
- Total number ads featuring Asians or Hispanics-1
Discussion and Reflection of Results:
Before I began this assignment I never really thought about the diversity in advertising, but I was pretty sure of the results I was going to end with. I knew white females were going to be the predominate demographic featured in the mediums I chose, but I was surprised at how little amounts of diversity they actually included. Asians are practically not represented at all. Through ten mediums, and nearly three hundred advertisements there were only 5 Asians represented. This is crazy! We have to do something about this! My worry is that we have journalist and advertising majors working on collegiate publications and the diversity is not growing and is far from where it should be. When will the change come?
Links:
· http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2003/03/10/editorial3.html
· http://gawker.com/5134545/the-great-2009-diversity-ad-combo-sale
Good job. It starts with you?
ReplyDeleteI agree that viewers do not analyze commercials in a sense of diversity and racial thought. This is how media gives a false portrayal of reality to its audience. Advertisements are directed towards a certain audience in order to sell the product. The viewer has little time to actually analyze the commercial because of the main focus is the program. In order to understand media, a person must consume and analyze advertisements at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of advertisement is to influence consumers. However, this profit-driven market construes the perception of reality to consumers with stereotypes. Advertisements misrepresent the depiction of the real world in many ways, but this is in order to grab the consumer. These attention getters are the main force that advertisers wish their commercials possess. This is how advertisement agencies make their money. They attract consumers to the product they promote.
I definitely agree with you about the impact advertising has on Americans. Like you, before this class and assignment, I had never noticed the lack of diversity in advertising. Who is to blame for this misrepresentation though? Should we blame the magazines, newspapers or network television stations that run the ads? Should we blame the companies themselves for promoting only Caucasians? Should we blame the minorities for not being in the modeling industry? There are many people to point fingers at, but that won't seem to solve anything. We as consumers need to be aware of this misrepresentation and strive to include diverse races in everything we do.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed the lack of diversity in campus publications and that was shocking to me. The particular ad I talked about was an ad for Intersession classes and there was one non-white person and they were in the background with a few other white people. This shocked me because we are a diverse university and I would have assumed that because of this fact, our advertising would be so as well. Man were we mistaken!
ReplyDeleteWhile reading through your list I also noticed that there are very few advertisements that have/feature Hispanics. This seems very strange to me because the Hispanic population is quickly growing and is the largest minority group in America. So it seems wise that advertising would want to target this large, and fairly untapped market.
I also agree that it is shocking that there were many publications that had 1 or no advertisements that had Asians. This is interesting to me because as we have discussed in class they are the "model minority." This I would think would allow them more assimilation into advertising. I guess I was wrong!
Ashley-
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more with what you said regarding advertising. Advertising is one of the biggest industries in the United States merely because it truly does sell. People admire advertising. People are enticed by advertising. I would actually go so far as to say people are mesmerized by advertising. If it didn't work, or what they were displaying in advertising didn't sell things then they wouldn't do it. For me, that is the saddest fact of all. Not only does it show discrimination, but it shows that even in this day and age we really have not made as much progress as we think we have. The few amounts of diversity you found in your research are perfect examples. America has got to change its way of thinking or we are in deep trouble. -Molly Luton
I completely agree with you on the issue of advertising. In the Coltrane/Messineo article it stated that Ads are trying to sell the "American Dream." They are all the things that we strive to achieve: The latest technology, the best smelling perfume, the fastest car, etc. The problem is, that the ads are currently showing that the only way you can achieve the American Dream is by being White. If, by some chance, you are able to be light-skinned or straight-haired, you may be able to achieve some form of the American Dream, but this scenario is rare.
ReplyDeleteI also found it interesting that Asians and Hispanics are grouped together, both virtually non-existent in the advertising world. Considering Asians are supposed to be the "model minority" and Hispanics as the largest minority. This just goes to show that although we can be accepting of these minorities on paper, they still are not the same as White--No matter how "model" they are.
I was very impressed with the depth in which you conducted this research. Your assertion that most people think they are immune to advertising is spot on; most media consumers completely deny the idea that images that are consistently and persistently shown to them affect their views of the world. But in truth, these norms that advertising perpetuates and reinforces really does affect the way we view the world. Your findings on the diversity in The Oklahoma Daily are consistent with my group’s findings for our final project; we examined the same type of issues, focusing on the content of the articles rather than the advertisements. But I have to say that because of the lack of diversity in most publications’ advertisements, even today, society still resists open-mindedness and continues to believe stereotypes.
ReplyDelete