In her essay, Different Children, Different Dreams, Ellen Seiter discusses the portrayal of minority children in advertisements, specifically African American children. Seiter provides examples of commercials in which Black children are cast in parts given minimal involvement, attention, and status. Quite frankly, this is not something I’d ever noticed in commercials. She goes on to describe how Black children are “always outnumbered by whites.” On the contrary this is something I’ve noticed.
I won’t challenge the author’s argument that African Americans and other minorities are often underrepresented in advertising. Trying to comprehend why this is, I really don’t understand why advertisers limit diversity in casting. I would think this would limit their appeal to some demographics, and consequently hurt their the main objective of advertising. Some attempts to include minorities (diversity) in advertisements, make the situation so pointed that it’s downright awkward. It’s obvious when you have a group of six white kids and one minority representative that the later was thrown to meet some diversity goal/requirement. While an attempt, it’s a poor attempt. I struggle with the xx to one ratio. This situation clearly doesn’t accurately represent the population and as its continued, repeated happening made evident its purposeful nature. This translates into the notion that race and ethnicity are key criteria for casting, something I struggle with. Even looking back to MTV’s The Real World, each season only one black male is cast. This seems rather deliberate; what are the odds that each year the “best” candidates for the show fall at a ratio of XX to one black male. I’m all for casting the “right” individuals but “right” should be in no way related to race or ethnicity.
I’d also agree that black children are used to represent “diversity” in general. However, I think the Seiter, was over dramatic and crossed the line when saying “many advertisers treat minority consumers no better than Columbus treated the Indians centuries before.” I’d also comment that I think advertising industry is progressing and more recently, has done a better job of diversifying media. Seeing that I was surprised by many examples Seiter cited, I plan to play more attention to the connotations of commercials.
1.) Why do you think advertisers have continually chosen to cast such limited demographics in their media?
2.) Are the examples that Seiter cites things you've noticed previously in advertisements?
1) They use white children in many advertisements because the majority audience in the U.S. are whites so they want to reach the largest audience and catch their attention to help their business grow faster. It's a business. No hidden meaning.
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