Racism In Advertisements

According to a 2007 article in the New York Times called “Anywhere the Eye Can See, It’s Likely to See an Ad” Americans see up to 5,000 ads everyday. Many of these 5,000 advertisements stereotype minorities; sometimes we don’t even pick up on the racial stereotypes when we see them. For example one of the most racist advertisements that I just recently noticed is the Native American on the package of Red Man chewing tobacco.  Not only is the Native American shown in a stereotypical headdress, but he also has "red skin." I've seen this package at gas stations numerous times but I didn't realize the racial stereotyping until we talked about stereotypes in advertisements in class.

Companies don't just stereotype Native Americans, they stereotype pretty much every minority. Many Australians were upset about a 2010 KFC commercial that stereotypes black people as liking fried chicken. KFC apologized and removed the ad after people spoke out against it for being racist. 

It doesn't make sense to me that companies would stereotype minorities in their ads when it's inevitably going to upset a people. Citizens of the United Kingdom are apparently fed up with racist advertisements, an article from bnet.com reports that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has been established to cut down on the amount of offensive advertisements in the UK. Hopefully at some point in the future the USA will set up something like the ASA to reduce the amount of racist advertisements.