Television Commercials targeted to Minorities
The first commercial television advertisement ran almost 76 years ago and it featured the “Bulova” watch brand. Since then, commercials have been considered one of the premier forms of advertising. A multitude of advertisers have used symbols from the Native American heritage and traditions to sell their products. Advertiser’s have become very familiar with how to target certain demographics and how to make the biggest impact on those that they are targeting with their advertisements. The Native American population has always been a target of advertisers because they like to use imagery from this faction not only in television advertisements but, also in print
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The question that begs to be answered is should we be able to culturally appropriate from cultures different from our own for product appeal and sales? When you think of a Native American Indians what is the first thought that pops into your mind? Is it Tepee’s, smoke signals, a headdress, tomahawks, face paint or one of the many other symbols that are routinely associated with this social group. What is being done while advertising products in a television commercial using these Native American images is basically just stereotyping a group of people. “A stereotype is a set of inaccurate, simplistic generalizations that allow others to categorize them. According to many scholars American Indians have been the victim of unfair stereotypes before the media ever existed.” (Ruckman) But, once it did exist then it was used so unfairly to perpetuate the cultural myths surrounding this group of Americans. The Native American culture has always been important in advertising and this sort of ad is almost commonplace but, most advertisements have nothing to do with the true Native American Indian culture and are deeply hurtful to those who are portrayed in those commercials. Should a culture be frozen in it’s past or does it have the right to change and grow and lose the old symbols that it was once known for or at least …show more content…
Drunk Driving and the college fund for their young men and women. Cheryl Crazy Bull, President and CEO of the College Fund, said, "We are in the business of ensuring that American Indian students are able to use modern tools to build better societies in their communities and in the United States. A college education is a critical tool we can help students access. Our new campaign bridges the traditional world of the students we serve with that of contemporary society, in a respectful way to Native cultures while giving the public a glimpse of our students. Startling statistics deserve a creative approach to drive the message home”. (Entertainment Newsweekly) The startling statistic that the President of the College Fund is referring to is that only 1% of college students are Native Americans. But, we need to take into account that Native American Indians are also a relatively small percentage of the population as a
The first chapter on ‘Account Planning’ deals with issues of racialization and biopolitics that have historically informed representations of Asian Americans in advertisements. With changing social and economic conditions, it navigates the emergence of ‘Asian American’ from being a census category to cultural and linguistic representations that are iterated through multicultural advertising. The category of Asian American is presented through historical examples and textual analysis of advertisements. Further, this chapter not only reflects on the historical naturalization of race for the community when projected as excellent consumers but also for such a broad term enveloping several nationalities and differing ethnicities, it underscores how Asian American advertising attempts to construct such representations separately from other racial and ethnic communities, like African American and Latino consumers, within the United
Americans have long since depended on a falsified ideology of idealized life referred to as the American dream. The construct of this dream has become more elusive with the emergence of popular cultural advertisements that sell items promoting a highly gendered goal of achieving perfection. In “Masters of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising,” Jack Solomon states that ads are creating a “symbolic association between their products and what is most coveted by the consumer” to draw on the consumer’s desire to outwardly express high social standing (544). The American dream has sold the idea of equality between genders, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds, but advertisements have manipulated this concept entirely through representations
According to Robert Scholes, author of On Reading a Video Text, commercials aired on television hold a dynamic power over human beings on a subconscious level. He believes that through the use of specific tools, commercials can hold the minds of an audience captive, and can control their abilities to think rationally. Visual fascination, one of the tools Scholes believes captures the minds of viewers, can take a simple video, and through the use of editing and special effects, turn it into a powerful scene which one simply cannot take his or her eyes from. Narrativity is yet another way Scholes feels commercials can take control of the thoughts of a person sitting in front of the television. Through the use of specific words, sounds, accompanying statements and or music, a television commercial can hold a viewer’s mind within its grasp, just long enough to confuse someone into buying a product for the wrong reason. The most significant power over the population held by television commercials is that of cultural reinforcement, as Scholes calls it. By offering a human relation throughout itself, a commercial can link with the masses as though it’s speaking to the individual viewer on an equal level. A commercial In his essay, Scholes analyzes a Budweiser commercial in an effort to prove his statements about the aforementioned tools.
I agree with you that the commercial. It provided a stereotypical view of American Indians as
The article “The problems with Native American Mascots” written by Laurel R. Davis covers many arguments regarding the use of Native American names and images for sports teams’ mascots. Rather or not sports teams should be able to continue using Native American names for their teams and images for their mascots is a highly controversial topic. Opinions will vary, especially when a person of Native American heritage is being asked opposed to a person of non-Native American heritage. Native American images should not be used for sports teams’ mascots as their use stereotypes the group, misrepresents many aspects of the Native American culture, as well as negatively impacting the lives of those that come from Native American heritage.
Advertisements are one of many things that Americans cannot get away from. Every American sees an average of 3,000 advertisements a day; whether it’s on the television, radio, while surfing the internet, or while driving around town. Advertisements try to get consumers to buy their products by getting their attention. Most advertisements don’t have anything to do with the product itself. Every company has a different way of getting the public’s attention, but every advertisement has the same goal - to sell the product. Every advertisement tries to appeal to the audience by using ethos, pathos, and logos, while also focusing on who their audience is and the purpose of the ad. An example of this is a Charmin commercial where there is a bear who gets excited when he gets to use the toilet paper because it is so soft.
Lliu, K., and H. Zhang. "Self- and Counter-Representations of Native Americans: Stereotypical Images of and New Images by Native Americans in Popular Media." Ebscohost. University of Arkansas, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014
Native Americans have been living on American soil for quite a while now. They were here before the European colonists. They have been here and still continue to be present in the United States. However, the way the media represents Native Americans disallows the truth about Native Americans to be told. Only misinterpretations of Native Americans seem to prosper in the media. It appears the caricature of Native Americans remains the same as first seen from the first settler’s eyes: savage-like people. Their culture and identity has become marginalized by popular culture. This is most evident in mainstream media. There exists a dearth of Native American presence in the mainstream media. There is a lack of Native American characters in different media mediums. When they are represented, they are misrepresented. They are easily one of the most underrepresented cultures and people in American media. Native Americans shouldn’t be confined to a stereotype, should have a greater presence in the media, and shouldn’t be misrepresented when they are presented.
It leads inevitably to narcissism and solipsism”. Kilborune also makes a point about how quickly advertisements can really affect a culture that is not consumerist in nature. Kilbourne notes the Gwish’in tribe, a tribe in Alaska, who were first exposed to television in 1980. Within ten years consumerism had taken over the original culture of the tribe, “Beaded moccasins gave way to Nike sneakers, and ‘tundra tea’ to Folger’s instant coffee”.
The video describes how our society may not even care about the product being advertised, but we still read the billboard or watch the commercial. Also mentioned was the use of colors in a commercial, the marketing effects in politics, and even market research obtained by studying different cults. Frontline takes an in-depth look at the multibillion-dollar “persuasion industries” of advertising and how this rhetoric affects everyone. So whether this is in the form of a television commercial or a billboard, pathos, logos, and ethos can be found in all advertisements.
Today, signs and symbols are presented in ways that would catch the viewer’s attention, for example, through food and beverage items that people would eventually get attracted to and purchase. For instance, Mr. Sub had launched an advertisement in November 2012 that reminded consumers of Canadian identity. In addition, this advertisement stars a young man dressed in an all red suit and tie at one point holding a Canadian Flag and in other points, he is seen in a Mounties’ uniform, as a lumberjack and also in a hockey jersey. Not only does this advertisement have visual components of Canadian identity, but it also emphasizes on the politeness of the everyday Canadian through mannerisms like holding the door for others and also through saying “thank you” and “sorry”.
Advertising, whether criticized or celebrated, is undeniably a strong force in American society. Portrayals and images of women have long been used to sell in published advertisements. However, how they have been used has changed enormously over the decades. Women have fought to find a lasting and prominent position in their society. Only in the span of twenty years, between the 1900’s and 1920’s, did the roles of women change dramatically here in the United States.
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy- but it did not have to be. Romeo and Juliet is the tragic story of two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, who are the son and daughter of two feuding families, the Montagues and the Capulets. Written by the famed playwright Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet take place in the 14-15 century in the cities of Verona and Mantua, cities in northern Italy. After a series of events that involves Romeo getting banished from Verona and Juliet getting forced to marry a count, Paris, they kill themselves. It has been argued for centuries about who is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. But, once reading the book thoroughly and consulting several sources, it is obvious who is solely to blame- Friar Lawrence. Because of the actions of Friar Lawrence, the play ended with two grieving families instead of two happy newlyweds. Although many characters contributed to their deaths, only Friar Lawrence was solely responsible for them. Friar Lawrence’s cowardice, secrecy, and miscommunication led directly to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
Curry and Clarke’s article believe in a strategy called “visual literacy” which develops women and men’s roles in advertisements (1983: 365). Advertisements are considered a part of mass media and communications, which influence an audience and impact society as a whole. Audiences quickly begin to rely on messages sent through advertisements and can create ideologies of women and men. These messages not only are extremely persuasive, but they additionally are effective in product consumption in the media (Curry and Clarke 1983:
Racism is a repulsive issue that is becoming more and more evident to the people living in America. It is not something that is taken lightly in society today, and it can be extremely offensive to many. Even though everyone reacts differently to it, it is important for all people to make an honest effort to respect others regardless of their racial and ethnic backgrounds. People must change their stereotypical thoughts about others and help decrease or end racism by addressing any issues in which racism is concerned. Results in response to different approaches to confront the situation have occurred, but it still remains very real within our world today. Although some changes have been seen, racism in advertising is still tremendously evident due to very weak, offensive comical attempts, the unawareness of advertisers, and the depiction of society’s ideal person.