Discussion Questions_Maher_Holt

1)When was the first the time you noticed racial stereotyping in advertising? Do you have any specific examples? (Ex: Popeye commercials with African Americans, Volkswagen commercial where a middle eastern man blows himself up in the car but the car doesn’t explode, meant to show that the car was “tough”)

2)Research with prime-time television shows that African Americans are often found in advertisements for snack/food products or other products of low value, Asians appear in commercials that symbolize work life, and Caucasians are often found in toy advertisements which are considered “higher value” or more desirable. Why do you think some products are portrayed as higher value and lower value? Who makes these distinctions?

3)Why do you think minorities such as Hispanics are underrepresented in advertisements even though they are more likely to watch more TV on a weekly basis compared to Caucasians?

4)What are some ways advertisers could portray ethnicities equally in Children’s advertising today? Should somebody monitor these advertisements to stop racial stereotyping in advertising? (Ex: include more cartoons that don’t have ethnicities, could also be cheaper for advertisers because they wouldn’t have to pay for actors)

5)If this same type of stereotyping was happening in print advertising compared to television advertising, do you think it would be as big of a deal in the public’s eye? Is print advertising relevant for children nowadays anyway?

6)Results reported by Bang and Reece (2003) show that African Americans rarely appear by themselves in advertisements by themselves while Asians and Hispanics never appear in an advertisement without a Caucasian character. But on the flip side, Caucasian character appear by themselves in 47.5 % of the advertisements that they sampled. What kind of message do you think this sends about racial integration to children and adults about the society we live in today? (i.e. Does it not matter because it’s only advertising or does this have an effect on society?) Do you think children realize this lack or racial integration? What age do you think children start to realize this lack or racial integration if at all? Explain.