Television commercials have historically fueled stereotypes of various ethnic and racial groups. Both negative and positive stereotypes are pervasive in our society, and the countless television commercials Americans see yearly expose them to both. African American communities have been subjected to negative perceptions and depictions in digital media, particularly in television shows and advertisements that characterize them as having unfavorable characteristics, attitudes, and intelligence. According to the cultivation theory, regular media exposure can alter people’s perceptions of the outside world over time (Perera). The visuals and messages on digital media shape people’s perceptions and biases, which affect their attitudes and beliefs. There are often used racial stereotypes that describe African Americans. In order to provide an insight into what the future may hold, this work intends to examine attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs around targeting African Americans in digital advertising.
Advertising hardly ever features African Americans; when it does, it usually features a specific image of them. Following the killings of numerous African Americans by police brutality, demonstrators came to the streets all over the nation and the world to protest injustices. Black Lives Matter (BLM) was developed to become a catchphrase for a protest on social media, clothing, and yard signs. Several companies needed to assess their racial bias and commit to being more diverse during this racial reckoning. Among the most critical ways businesses engage with customers and present themselves to the public is through advertising. In response to George Floyd’s passing, a study revealed that 47 percent of Black respondents said their businesses had promised to increase DE&I (diversity, equity, and inclusion) but had yet to follow through (Price, 2022).
While there are specific efficient techniques to target by group, it is generally unproductive and, at worst, unethical to target or exclude individuals based on their race, sex, sexual orientation, or other fixed characteristics. Dark advertisements, also known as micro-targeting or nano-targeting, are designed to be viewed by specific audiences while being blocked from view by others (Perera).African American consumers may react more positively to advertisements featuring an African American cast than with a non-African-American cast. Their degree of ethnic identification influences how African Americans react to advertisements that target them.
Consequently, compared to other population subgroups, African American families use more smartwatches, smartphones, and internet-to-TV streaming gadgets. The Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the Fair Housing Act Amendments Act of 1988 prohibit housing discrimination, including advertisements, based on age or familial status, race, national origin, religion, and disabilities (Noble & Roberts). After receiving harsh criticism, Facebook said it would end a contentious practice that enabled marketers to exclude audiences based on race from employment and housing advertisements they ran on the service (Noble & Roberts). In Facebook’s Lookalike and Special Ad Audiences in the previous two years, the level of ethnic and racial bias was greater whenever the ad targeting algorithm was looking for users similar to people with racially stereotyped characteristics like their name or their name location (Zang).
The online environment is entirely dominated by digital marketing, which includes data collection, tracking, targeting, and profiling. Targeting people based on race or ethnicity is among the less-discussed topics. There is a long tradition of exclusion and discrimination in digital media advertisements. The advertising industry has used racist imagery, strategies, and market segmentation for as long as it has been in business to sell goods to consumers. Advertisers view multicultural groups as significant markets because they generate new revenues and impact societal attitudes (Chester).
The most current dietary guidelines report from public health professionals in the United States concentrated on factors resulting from food settings, including marketing factors such as product pricing, placement, and promotions. African American consumers’ experiences with food marketing are significantly impacted by ethnically targeted advertising of sugar-sweetened beverages, fast food, and other commodities that encourage calorie overconsumption (Isselmann DiSantis et al.). The number of African Americans exposed to this type of marketing is above average, specifically designed to appeal to and capitalize on their cultural preferences (Isselmann DiSantis et al.). This will likely result in a future where African American minorities are challenged with numerous health risks.
Additionally, it is a standard marketing practice to target and customize products to meet the interests and demands of particular consumer “segments,” This includes using ethnicity as a criterion (Chester). Effective counter-marketing is nearly impossible in the food industry. Food is necessary, and it has been challenging to declare any specific food or food group poisonous in the same sense that a commodity like smoking is hazardous.
Consequently, the presence of African American men and women in television advertisements has grown over time; whether this increase in representation has resulted in a rise in stereotypical positions is yet to be addressed (Green). African American women and men are frequently given diminishing positions in commercials for mainstream programs. Examples are athletes, low-wage workers, and the absence of family. Individuals currently live in a society wherein acceptable prejudice and racist attacks against people of color are the norms due to the mainstream media’s demonizing and stereotyping of African American men and women (Green).
Advertisements are ostensibly manipulating the minds of those exposed to them. Modern culture has been split into a predator-versus-prey society due to the vast volumes of negative advertisements centered on one race. White people use racial profiling because they believe all African Americans are common criminals, which can have devastating long-term effects on innocent people in the future. Internalized racism results from this kind of racism, which makes many African Americans feel compelled to modify their identities or defend them to avoid threatening the White society.
Advertising has an impact on social values. Through advertisements, negatively stereotyped African Americans are disproportionately overrepresented in minor roles while being underrepresented in significant roles. These advertisements tend to negatively represent African Americans in the eyes of other ethnic groups and races. This is a bad image that can have detrimental effects in the eyes of corporates in the future. The primary purpose of advertisements today is to spread information by stirring up the emotions of the intended audience. An advertisement must be regarded as one of the negative influence factors and regulated (Green). Digital advertising that paints a poor picture of African Americans in American society as a group that consumes harmful items in large quantities and plays a minor role in society challenges their rich tradition.
In conclusion, through time, consistent media exposure can alter how individuals see the outside world. The images and messages shown in digital advertising shape individuals’ perceptions and biases, affecting their attitudes and views. Digital advertising frequently perpetuates racist stereotypes that depict African Americans as having undesirable traits, attitudes, and intelligence. It is challenging to stop the damaging product marketing to African American populations. Individuals being targeted based on race or ethnicity through digital advertisements is a less-discussed issue that must be addressed.
Works Cited
Chester, Jeff. Digital Target Marketing to African Americans, Hispanics and Asian Americans: A New Report | Center for Digital Democracy. 18 Feb. 2013, www.democraticmedia.org/content/digital-target-marketing-african-americans-hispanics-and-asian-americans-new-report. Accessed 24 Feb. 2023.
Green, Laura. Negative Racial Stereotypes and Their Effect on Attitudes Toward African-Americans – Scholarly Essays – Jim Crow Museum. www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/links/essays/vcu.htm. Accessed 24 Feb. 2023.
Isselmann DiSantis, Katherine, et al. “Sensitizing Black Adult and Youth Consumers to Targeted Food Marketing Tactics in Their Environments.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 14, no. 11, MDPI AG, Oct. 2017, p. 1316. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14111316.
Noble, Safiya, and Sarah Roberts. “Targeting Race in Ads Is Nothing New, but the Stakes Are High.” USA TODAY, 12 Nov. 2016, eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2016/11/12/targeting-race-ads-nothing-new-but-stakes-high/93638386. Accessed 24 Feb. 2023.
Perera, Ayesh. Cultivation Theory: Definition and Examples – Simply Psychology. 26 May 2021, www.simplypsychology.org/cultivation-theory.html. Accessed 24 Feb. 2023.
Price, Gareth. “Black Representation in Marketing – Has Anything Changed?” The Drum, 18 Oct. 2022, www.thedrum.com/news/2022/10/18/black-representation-marketing-has-anything-changed.
Zang, Jinyan. “Solving the Problem of Racially Discriminatory Advertising on Facebook.” Brookings, 9 Mar. 2022, www.brookings.edu/research/solving-the-problem-of-racially-discriminatory-advertising-on-facebook.
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