We all see the advertisements on the TV, in the newspapers and in magazines. But there is something about these ads that don’t fit right. Have you ever noticed that these ads only cast people of a particular colour skin tone????? What is the colour of the Sacha cosmetics girls? They majority of them are light skinned. Anyone who examines entertainment and news media will notice that dark skinned persons are inadequately represented in the media. The mass media does not know how powerful they are and then by casting only light skinned models in their ads, they are making skin tone a requirement for and are contributing to the negative stereotypes that many dark skinned people face on a daily basis.
Stereotypes act like codes that give audiences a quick, common understanding of a person or group of people. Imagine you’re going for a stroll and because you have no milk in your coffee,you get comments like, “it’s night smile, so I could see you” or “ you better don’t fall in the pitch lake you know, we might be able to find you”. Some might get names such as toolum, sunburn, earth, pitch and blackie pookie. Or you meet this real hot guy. I mean gorgeous, ambitious hardworking, educated and has a JOB only to be told that you are no competition for the other girl. She will get him because she’s a “reds”. It’s not fair. And too make matters worse, if they didn’t feel that kicking you down was enough, they further slap you in your face by introducing bleaching creams. A study even showed that males evaluated light-skinned females higher on physical attractiveness and more favorably than dark-skinned female models because of these ads. So this is my question.
Do you think that the media contributes to theses stereotypes by only casting lighter skinned models in their advertisements and making dark skinned people feel insecure about their colour?
And do you think that if the media casted more dark skinned females in their ads, darker skinned person would “get more attention” from their male counterparts.
Stereotypes act like codes that give audiences a quick, common understanding of a person or group of people. Imagine you’re going for a stroll and because you have no milk in your coffee,you get comments like, “it’s night smile, so I could see you” or “ you better don’t fall in the pitch lake you know, we might be able to find you”. Some might get names such as toolum, sunburn, earth, pitch and blackie pookie. Or you meet this real hot guy. I mean gorgeous, ambitious hardworking, educated and has a JOB only to be told that you are no competition for the other girl. She will get him because she’s a “reds”. It’s not fair. And too make matters worse, if they didn’t feel that kicking you down was enough, they further slap you in your face by introducing bleaching creams. A study even showed that males evaluated light-skinned females higher on physical attractiveness and more favorably than dark-skinned female models because of these ads. So this is my question.
Do you think that the media contributes to theses stereotypes by only casting lighter skinned models in their advertisements and making dark skinned people feel insecure about their colour?
And do you think that if the media casted more dark skinned females in their ads, darker skinned person would “get more attention” from their male counterparts.
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