Advertising in the Media

By Noah Brunson

You look around and are updated on the newest Adidas campaign, or maybe the next season of Stranger Things or maybe even the new iPhone that will surely be the “best one yet.” No matter how hard you may try, advertisements and consumer propaganda is right there and is impacting the way we as consumers see one another. One of the most recent issues going on in the media is false advertising in relation to the Black community.

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Ghettopoly

In 2003, Urban Outfitters thought it was smart to sell a spin-off game of Monopoly known as “Ghettopoloy”. The game was based around the white privileged perspective of the ghetto. Streets were known as “Cheap Trick Avenue” and rewards were given for getting the whole neighborhood hooked on crack. Thankfully, the game only lasted in stores for a few months until it was deemed completely racist. Did it really need to take a few months though, foreal?

Y'all see the blood, guns and drugs too right? Okay. Just wanted to make it wasn’t just me.

Oh wait, there’s more.

The Dove Soap Campaign

We can go back to October 2017 (only 3 months ago… just throwing that out there.) Dove gets caught in a racist wildfire for portraying black people as dirty or grimy. In this advertisement, Dove is attempting to sell their soap products by exploiting a black woman to seem dirty, while the white woman represents what “clean” would look like after using the Dove soap. Most definitely one of the most racist ways to promote soap, don’t you think?

Lastly, with all the non-racist attempts to sell clothing, H&M is the most recent mistake in both fashion and advertising in our society thus far. In H&M’s recent update on kids fashion, we have a beautiful black boy wearing a hoodie that says “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle.”

… coolest… monkey? Really? Have we forgotten the racist and derogatory connotation used against black individuals since the years of slavery? Did this really not ring a bell to anybody sitting in those comfy corporate chairs? Clearly not. The reaction towards this H&M ad went viral. The ad comes from H&M 

corporations from the United Kingdom, however, it has created a huge uproar in the U.S for so many reasons. Even artists such as The Weeknd and G-Eazy are backing out of their contracts with H&M in starting their clothing lines with them. Regardless if you find the image racist, it is a known fact that black people were (and still are) called monkeys with extremely racist intentions.

It is clear that the racism and prejudice in advertising have gotten worse throughout the years. Why is this going on? What is causing these advertisements to take such a racist turn? The way black people are portrayed in the media is simply because there is a limited amount of people of color involved in ideas and visuals being created. We plain and simply do not have people of color in the advertising department to let people know that “Ghettopoly” is not okay. Racism to sell soap is not okay. “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle”... damn right— definitely not okay. What is the solution to this whole issue? We need more people of color in these offices, meetings, conversations, shoots— everything.

Point. Blank. Peroid.

It starts with us.It is up to this generation to change the way people of color are portrayed in the media.  We are examples of how our world sees minorities and it is time to make that change. We need models of color, representing their nationalities the appropriate way. We need to both inform and educate the many cultures of our world in the media.

To change.

To learn.

To inspire.

It starts with us.