Race and Ethnicity Essay

Stereotypes can convey characters and images quickly and clearly, so advertising relies on stereotypes as shortcuts to meaning. The time and space constraints of advertising and any other commercially driven message simply cannot allow for a complete representation of people from any given social group, but stereotypes can clue in to the importance responsibly. Depending on how they are formed and used, stereotypes can present problems. They can be used in functional or dysfunctional way. The functional aspects of stereotypes; stereotype is valuable to create classifications of individuals and serves as conventional characters. So, they are functional when they are accepted as a natural way to guide our expectations. Dysfunctional stereotype, a stereotype in which abnormal or impaired aspects of a culture are emphasized. So, they are dysfunctional when they are used as the sole way to wholly judge individuals incorrectly, seeing them only as part of group. An example of a functional stereotype is that the Germans are punctual, which is correct. On average, they are more punctual than many other peoples. Certainly, the Italians and the Spanish have a different concept of time. For the Spanish, knowledge of this aspect of the German culture means that they can adapt their behavior: when they are expected for dinner, 8 o’clock means 8 o’clock, and not 9 or 10 as it does in Spain. An example of a dysfunctional stereotype is the British saying that the French are dirty, oversexed, and ludicrously obsessed with their culture, and the French saying that the British are cold, uncultivated, hypocritical, and unreliable. Yes, the British are more reserved in the eyes of the French, just like now, Hong Kong people think the mainland people are dirty, low education level, no civic sense and so on — all these are dysfunctional stereotypes. However, it is necessary for the advertisements to consider the fact that the dysfunctional aspects of stereotypes far outweigh the functional aspects. Constant exposure of representation of social identity in stereotypical terms in media discourse can make people experience the dangers in real life. For instance, In 2009 „Coke Brrr side of life? television commercial, racial or national identity are presented in stereotypical terms. Problem arises when Blacks/Africans are more negatively stereotyped than Whites/Americans/Europeans and Japanese/Asians. Negative stereotypes generate negative social meanings or implications. By being depicted as lacking in seriousness in the midst of a serious world conference, the African representatives seem misplaced or misbehaved. The negative social implications of these Sambo stereotypes are that Africans are seen as less civilized and less educated than Europeans and Asians, and thus inferior to them. The negative racial stereotyping is inevitable. It is necessary for the producer of this commercial to exploit the functional aspects of stereotypes—creating classifications of individuals and as conventional characters in popular stories—to achieve their profit-oriented goal. What is more significant for the producer(s) to consider is the possibility of audience?s increasing anxiety that may be triggered by the broadcast of TV commercials with negative stereotypical representations like 2009 „Coke Brrr side of life? and the risk of this anxiety to become audiences and consumers? resistance to the commercial and the advertised product. If resistance happens, it is unlikely that the producer(s) can reach their profit-oriented goal. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=99PC7AtabVk —