Chantelle Ennis-Charoo. Advertising & Society COMN 3315 . Online Video Presentation. March 2012.

Ethnic Representations in Advertising This will be a presentation on ethnic advertising in the media using course concepts, and we will also deconstruct an ad using the tools Professor has provided plus Judith Williamsons work on Decoding Advertisements. OPENERS: - Whos perspective are most ethnic ads from? - Are these representations accurate? Advertising has developed as a medium in which goods, services, and even people can be sold in exchange for currency in the marketplace. This is communicated through sounds, images, and carefully planned out strategies created by ad agencies Advertising can play on our inner most desires for: love, belonging, self-esteem and more So what happens when such a powerful medium gets intertwined with race? Modern media serves as a hub where meaning is made The ability to classify things such as race is learnt, because categories of race have become more of a social construction than a biological one Media provide us with a way to store and think about things (our cultural memory) that are no longer accessible MEANING & ABSENCE Often what and who we dont see in advertising speaks louder than what is seen DISCOURSE A concept coined by theorist Foucault The history of certain truth show that they are products of power 1 truth may be benecial to one group and not another (ie: Discourse of scientic racism from the 1870s) ORIENTALISM a concept coined by Edward Said The west would categorize things of the east as other this originally began with other being Asian culture but later expanded to other minorities

Chantelle Ennis-Charoo. Advertising & Society COMN 3315 . Online Video Presentation. March 2012.

ESSENTIALISM & DIFFERENCE Like orientalism, this view sees people as nothing more than a set of characteristics that are unalterable, permanent it denied the complexity of a people or culture the difference between ethnic groups then becomes an issue when it gets intertwined with power and hierarchy Regimes of Representation (which are dominant discourses) create these differential representations and x them Essentialism and stereotypes occur where there is already existing inequalities and works to reproduce it DECONSTRUCTING AN AD Ferdinand # Saussure Sign = signier + signied Levels of Signication 1. specic reference (literal) what we see 2. way society typically regards 3. the social myth, larger meta-narrative Stage 1: Position on the page & to other things: Composition: Typography/Headlines: Relation to other stories?: Stage 2: framing, structure of the narrative: Stage 4: Lexical choices + thematic structure Stage 5: Ideological and Discursive Matrix: Directional Cues: manipulating your view to a target Connection to a concept with a larger metanarrative as backdrop Interchangeable product and feeling - Z-DESIGNthe direction of eye ow on the page from start to nish

Chantelle Ennis-Charoo. Advertising & Society COMN 3315 . Online Video Presentation. March 2012.

Ethnic representation in advertising Use ads as a basis bringing in theoretical concepts and the work of judith williamson to also deconstruct the images Advertising has developed as a medium in which goods, services and people can be sold in exchange for currency in the marketplace Advertisers do this through sounds, images and carefully planned strategies Ads can play on our inner most desires: love, belonging, self-esteem, and more So what happens when such a powerful medium gets intertwined with race?

APPENDIX:

McDonalds Happy Meal Barbie Ad - Meaning & Absence: who we dont see speaks louder than what is seen (no other races like Asian, Native,etc) - Dominant regimes of representation: white-anglo saxon pov (she is center) other races take the backseat

Chantelle Ennis-Charoo. Advertising & Society COMN 3315 . Online Video Presentation. March 2012.

- white dominance created these differences and representations work to x them - Z-Design (starts with Hotwheels -> Barbie then to the car to the girls, then to happy meal logo directional cues - Composition: lightest to darkest - Interchangeability with the happy meal and the feeling of being pretty - social myth: white dominance vs other minorities

Chantelle Ennis-Charoo. Advertising & Society COMN 3315 . Online Video Presentation. March 2012.