Racist Ads Still Being Used

All three of the Ads pictured above have been used to sell products in the United States. Each one uses racism in a different way to either play into a stereotype, place African-Americans in their place, or to make them look more white or ideal.

In the first print ad pictured above Dell claims to be "maximizing the power of your employees". The first problem in this ad is that all the "employees" pictured are black and dressed in a very stereotypical manner of Track and Field runners. They clearly used all black runners so as to play into the stereotype that blacks are runners and athletic. The other problem is why is the employer a white male and the employees all black males? Can an African-American not be a boss or run a successful business? Also can white men not be good at Track and Field?

The second ad is actually a still from a Feria haircare product commercial. In it Beyonce is shown as being pale, blonde, and blue eyed. Clearly judging by the original ad on the left her appearance was changed to make her appear more "white". The fact that they had to take a beautiful and confident black women and change her to make her more appealing is appalling. Also the fact that Feria felt that they wold not be able to reach a buying audience without "whitening" an African-American women shows that the thought of using black women in ads is still considered scary.

In the final ad used by Playstation a white women is shown as grabbing a black women in a very forceful way. The ad itself claims that "white is coming", but what is Playstation trying to say that white is coming to do? Is the white women suppose to be coming back to place the black women back into place. Or are they trying to portray the tensions between whites and blacks and the fact that white people want to make sure black people stay in their place. This ad was originally used in the US before being banned yet it is still used in other parts of the world to sell Playstation products.