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Equality Is The Answer

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Submitted: October 23, 2011
Image Size: 383 KB
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Black Women in Advertisingby ~AlexandraDal

Cartoons & Comics / Digital Media / Comics / Other

Reblog on Tumblr [link] . You may download and post on other sites as long as you credit me (Alexandra Dal), link back to my deviantART page (my watermark doesn't count) and do not alter it.

Pitt Artist Pen on vellum, scanned and colored in Photoshop CS5.

On a related note, I almost fainted when I saw an middle-aged interracial couple with a child in a cell phone commercial a few months ago. I thought interracial couples could only be depicted by young, sexy, clubbing models in ads for alcohol. Edgy!

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~TootsieFaloola Nov 16, 2012 Hobbyist Writer

I'm not black , but you are completely right

*ToddNTheShiningSword Nov 4, 2012 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

I was going to say, "black women get speaking roles!" Then I re-read the part about air freshener and it reminded me that black women only get to talk in cleaning product commercials, if at all.

So everything in here is spot-on. But do you really blame advertisers for not wanting to scare off their great big white customer base that is timid and easily scared off by anything "black"? They're not trying to uplift of denigrate anyone. They just want to sell those yogurt cups and air freshener sprays.
So what I'm saying, is do you think more of the blame for black women not being allowed to play generic roles like white people do (and also not being allowed to be "too black") is the fault of the advertisers who make the commercials in the first place, or is more of it the fault of the people watching TV?

And do you think this bias is all conscious and deliberate, or do you think there's enough of this going on on unconscious levels for that to matter too?

P.S.: I HATE McDonald's "urban" commercials.

Their kid's commercials are so much better.

~AlexandraDal Nov 4, 2012 Student General Artist

It's definitely deliberate. Casting calls will specify "light skinned" blacks and companies are constantly getting outed online and having to apologize for requests of "not too dark" or "with Caucasian features" when casting. On the flip side, companies have no problem employing the older, overweight, "sassy" dark-skinned black woman caricature for laughs.

I keep hearing lately that the largest consumer group in the US right now is Hispanic mothers, so companies can't even hide behind the "We're representing our customers - who are mostly white!" line anymore. A friend of mine recently went to a big retailer's office and they even had a sign up saying "REMEMBER: The niño is king!" -- as in, remember to appeal to the Hispanic child! But if they are trying to appeal to their largest customer base they're doing a poor job of it. The only time I know I'll see anyone Hispanic in ads is in commercials for taco shells, salsa, and fried chicken.

So I think some of the blame is on white viewers who can still only stomach "white-acting" people of color in khakis, but that's no excuse for advertisers considering that the US is on the cusp of being "minority majority."

~fujoshianimechick Oct 31, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

I really wish that there were better representations of Black women as well. Or Asian women who are not nerds or tourists. Essentially, I wish that minorities were portrayed as diverse as actual human beings rather than a mold of a person.

~StrawberryR Oct 12, 2012 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

What's wrong with having natural hair? Black women are constantly told their natural, kinky and curly, hair is wrong and not "good hair" and to make it straight they have to use all these chemicals or shave it off and wear wigs. D: I don't see how having natural black hair in advertisements is bad when that's just how they look. Why would we want to encourage making yourself look like a different race? I mean, if it's not good for her to have a ton of white friends, why is she supposed to have white hair?

~AlexandraDal Oct 12, 2012 Student General Artist

"Natural" is in quotes because the women usually have (non-threatening but still "ethnic") soft spiral curls rather than distinctly black kinky or coiled curls -- as in, advertisers want their black women to look "black" enough to appeal to black consumers, but not toooo black -- might scare off the whites!

~StrawberryR Oct 13, 2012 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

Ohhhhhhhhh. Okay, now that I look at the drawing again, I see what you're talking about. So now it's like mulatto hair instead of black- or white-hair. Jeez. Advertisers are so weird.

Thanks for explaining that for me. <:3

=LexiKimble Aug 22, 2012 Professional Digital Artist

And then you have the even more rare animal in advertising, lesbians.

Unless you're doing an ad to put in an LGBT publication, gay people don't exist in advertising.

~FiskXPhantom Jun 20, 2012 Student General Artist

Sad but true. I wish something could be done about it...

~EmperorFishFinger Jun 6, 2012

Who cares? It's advertising. They do it because it appeals to people. They don't care if it's wrong or right.
Also, you blame them for putting in a token black person for the sake of political correctness, and then imply that they should insert "non-stereotypical" black people for the sake of political correctness. That's pointless.

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