Racism in advertisements

1. No, I do not believe its ever okay to racially stereotype people in advertisements. Stereotypes negatively effect they way we look at people around us. They only apply to a small population of a certain group, yet end of impacting everyone in the group. For example, I am Muslim and I have first hand experience of how stereotypes can follow you around, even if they are completely untrue to your situation. In class we were shown an ad for Levy's Jewish bread. Although that ad wasn't obviously offensive, it did play on cliched stereotypes. Not all native Americans or Asians look that way. If you're advertising something to the customers, you need to respect them. No one would want to buy a product if they feel the ad is being disrespectful, plus using stereotypes is old and cliched. Ads should be more creative than that, especially now.

2. Racism in advertising is NOT a thing of the past. May companies still rely on racial tropes and stereotypes to sell their products. For example Pepsico's Mountain Dew had an add that, though created by Tyler the Creator, who is black, still heavily relied on racial stereotypes that black men are "thugs" and go to prison.
Dr. Watkins, a professor at Syracuse University said its, "Arguably the most racist commercial in history." He goes on to say, " Mountain Dew has set a new low for corporate racism.  Their decision to lean on well-known racial stereotypes is beyond disgusting.  This doesn't even include the fact that the company has put black men on par with animals." He further discusses how the fact that a white woman was attacked and almost all the cops are white, so its plays on the whole black people are bad but whites are good.

After finding out that Tyler the creator himself made the ad, I admit I don't see it as racist, because a lot of the time racism stems from people making assumptions about other races. In this case, Tyler claims he just wanted to make a funny ad and his friends played themselves basically. However at the end of the day I do think this commercial plays on a lot of racial stereotypes that are very negative and harmful. 

3. Yes advertisers do have an ethical responsibility. First of all it has been proven that ads effect many people in society. We see they way people are portrayed and feel like we should be like them. I think ads are in some way similar to peer pressure. Whether it be wanting to buy whats advertised, or wanting to look like those people featured in the ads, it really does influence people. In an article from The Atlantic, Nigel hollis wrote the article "Why good advertising works (even when you think it doesn't)." He says, "Instead, the best advertisements are ingenious at leaving impressions." I agree with the claim, but I think many of these impressions, which do stay with us, can leave negative messages. This is why those who work on advertisements should have an ethical responsibility. They are reaching many people and sending them messages that are going to be influential and leave impressions.