Racial Stereotyping

In today's day in age, with how politically correct everything must be, it is quite uncommon that a person runs across an advertisement with racial stereotyping. Racial stereotyping can be made into a joke or can be used in a way to draw attention to a product, but it is mostly dead today.

Back in the "good 'ol days" this advertisement would not be offensive to the greater population of the world. As you can see here, an African- American gentleman is serving an older, likely rich, white gentleman a glass of his favorite whiskey. The look on the server's face almost looks as if he is attempting to entertain the well-dressed man while serving him his drink. The double chin on the older gentleman provides insight into the way he lives. Due to his large bank account, it's possible that this man is able to enjoy fine foods, and lots of it, that the common black servant would not be able to enjoy.

Last year Jeremy Lin, then point guard of the New York Knicks, is shown here driving the ball to the basket while surrounded by five players from the Lakers. Notice, none of the Lakers are of Asian descent and there are no other Knicks players in this shot. The title on the cover page reading "Against All Odds" provides multiple meanings for this picture once it is broken down. First off, what is against all odds-- an Asian basketball player? If not for Yao Ming, there would not be any real superstars in the NBA. Secondly, is it against all odds that this Asian basketball player is actually good? Or that an Asian person is in the limelight in the media capitol of the world, New York City?

Since we have seen two adds with all three major races, this one seems quite appropriate. This advertisement is for an agency that does heart research (I'm unsure which agency this is) and provides a very bold statement. Looking at the hearts , they look nearly identical in every way! As you can see, they are listed with the color of the person they belonged to, but if not for that, one would never know the difference. This advertisement could work equally as effectively for just about any agency promoting equality and fairness in this world. This ad serves as a strong statement that color does not matter.