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Running Head: Black Women’s Image in Advertising
Black Women’s Image in Advertisting
Brianna Harrell
Maryville University
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Running Head: Black Women’s Image in Advertising
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Abstract Page
In a survey of about 25 television commercials advertising a variety of products from cleaning
products to clothing, I will argue that television advertisements rely on a specific vision of the
black woman to add flair of “diversity” to their brand. Not only do they style black women’s hair
in a specific way to set them apart from the rest of the cast, but this style is intended to give them
more socially acceptable (meaning acceptable to the white audience) image. However, I also
argue that even through their roles vary, their attitudes are racially coded and thus a significant
assertion of both a post-racial society and a racist society.
Running Head: Black Women’s Image in Advertising
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Often times when African-American women are portrayed in the media they are shown in
a particular way`. They talk, dress or act a certain way that sets them apart from the rest of the
cast; for example, in television sitcoms such as “My Wife and Kids” and “Everybody Loves
Raymond”. “My Wife and Kids” stars Damon Waynes and Tisha Campbell, relatively known
black actor and actress and “Everybody Loves Raymond” stars Ray Romano and Patricia
Heaton, a white couple. Comparing the wives in the shows, Campbell is almost always loud and
boisterous, uses Ebonics on a regular, has a light complexion and in the first couple of seasons
wore a curly fro-ish up do; Heaton, on the other hand was calm, motherly and seldom yelled
even when she was mad. We see the image of this particular black woman is not only a small
scale in media outputs such as commercials but is widely viewed as appropriate. In other media,
the women’s roles are bigger than everyone else’s and others are simply placed to add a rainbow
effect to the advertising. Even with all these factors one can always tell them apart because of
their hair, however, one can immediately spot AA women which is almost always large, poufy
hair styled in manner that is relatively rare for the demographic as a whole. AA women with
straightened hair, close-cropped hair, and even braided hair do not appear in these
advertisements, which suggest that the style has a specific cultural meaning. This image can be
viewed in different ways. Marketers may see this as a distinctive characteristic of a black woman
and feel as though this is what their actress needs to look like to catch the attention of that
demographic. Or it can be taken negatively from the actual viewer because all black women
don’t have hair like that yet these commercials are seen nationally and to someone who may not
have seen a black woman before may assume that is what they all look like. It creates an
unrealistic idea of the black woman and is used a poor example of diversity which is all skin
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tones and hair types. The commercials studied advertised products such as “Swiffer”, “Yoplait”
yogurt, “Mazda”, “Pop Tarts”, “J. C. Penny”, “Macy’s”, “Mirena” birth control, “Cool Whip”,
“Philadelphia Cream Cheese”, “Burlington Coat Factory”, “Ritz” crackers, “Secret” deodorant
and “Suave” deodorant, products that share a somewhat mainstream relationship and so they
spice up their ads with catchy music, young model-esque faces and a sprinkle of what is
supposed to be diversity. This paper analyzes 25 commercials and argues that marketers use a
pseudo image of the African-American woman to set her apart from the rest of the cast, molding
her attitude, appearance and role so that she may be relatable to not so much the AA audience,
but more acceptable and non-threatening to the white audience as well.
Through certain commercials, marketers display AA women in the commercials like this
because she is seemingly more accepted by society. One commercial in particular that shows not
only that marketers portrayal of African American women is “acceptable” but that inter-racial
relationships are becoming less of a taboo as well. The commercial is for “Philadelphia Cream
Cheese” and features an inter-racial couple, a black woman in her early twenties, with caramel
complexion complete with the poufy hair and the white male is in his mid-twenties with thick
curly hair (possibly Mediterranean, Jewish or Latino). The couple is shown first in a loft elevator
with the theme song, “Spread a Little Love Today” playing in the background. They look at each
other lovingly and hold hands; the male drops the grocery bag he is holding and a red pepper,
whole parsley and a container of the cream cheese falls out of the bag. Next they are shown
making a pot of spaghetti sauce together over the stove, he stirs and the woman sprinkles some
kind of seasoning into the pot. Occasionally, the couple shares a peck on the cheek or a friendly
nudge to show their affection and they move to the table where they begin to eat and feed each
other forkfuls of the spaghetti. At the end of the commercials the lights are dimmed and only the
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couples silhouettes are showing and they share a longer more intimate kiss. Aside from dating
site commercials such as eHarmony or Chemistry.com that shows real life couples testimonials, I
can’t recall in which a commercial that I’ve seen an inter-racial couple so intimate and it’s very
interesting that they contrasted the man and women so much: ethnicity and appearance wise.. A
different woman could’ve been cast in this commercial, an older woman with darker skin and
maybe not as thin but because this woman has become the standard in advertising (she’s not to
dark, not too old) she was placed because people of the white audience won’t feel as is this an ad
solely directed the an AA audience, therefore they are included in marketing reach.
The women’s social roles vary in these commercials, and not all are sexualized as the
ones I discussed above; some have bigger roles and others are minor but the women are cast as
mothers, friends or just put randomly in the commercial (seemingly to add diversity). In a
Mirena birth control commercial, for example, the main actress is seen as a mother with two
small children and a husband; she has a house has a seemingly happy family living the American
Dream. The commercial shows the children being very active and mischievous, and at times the
mother looks a little distressed, suggesting that the mom hold off on having more kids (thus they
suggest that she should use this birth control so she can spend more time with the family she has.
The mother is shown as caring and motherly despite her kids being rowdy. The woman in the
Mirena birth control commercial is the focus of the entire time however a much shorter
commercial advertising Suave deodorant places a younger African American woman in the
commercial for the sole purpose of adding diversity. Three friends (two white and one black) are
shown in a sophisticated salsa dancing bar and a handsome gentlemen approaches their table and
holds his hand out to one of the two white girls to dance. Apprehensive at first, she takes his and
they begin to dance all the while the other friends are watching longingly from the side. The
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commercial is about thirty seconds long so most of it shows the couple dancing. It is advertising
Suave deodorant in conjunction with another feminine product, Olay that says it can make
underarms “sexy smooth”. After the couple is finished dancing, the camera focuses on the
friends and it’s the black girl who says the “key line” in the commercial, “olè” which in this
commercial has a double meaning because of one of the products being advertised and the
meaning of the actual word which is used as a shout of approval, triumph or encouragement, in
this case directed towards her friend who is dancing. Now, the black girl wasn’t the girl who was
asked to dance so the attention wasn’t on her the whole time, she shared the background with
another girl who had no lines whatsoever. So, her role wasn’t as big as the girl who was dancing
but it was larger than the other friend. I do believe if she wasn’t recognized by her lines she
would’ve been known by her hair.
African-American women in commercials carry a different attitude than the rest of the
actors or actresses. Because they are black, they are expected to behave a certain way significant
to black culture such as being more outgoing or “hip” if you will. One commercial that signifies
this behavior is an animated Pop Tarts commercial. It starts off showing an animated
neighborhood with houses all of sudden turning into houses made of Pop Tarts. Then, what
looks like a Caucasian mother and her daughter are shown in their “hot fudge sundae” home and
the mother hands her correlating toaster pastry. When the commercial shows another house, a
black mother and her son are shown and she does about the same thing as the previous mom,
however when she hands her son the snack they commence some kind of cool handshake or slap
and do a little dance. This is interesting because when the first mom hands her daughter the pop
tart, she holds her hands together near her chest almost endearingly while she watches her
daughter jump for joy. But the black mom is supposed to be “hip” and cool, very stereotypical
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for not only a black woman or mom but a black person. In another Suave deodorant commercial
they show a few women trying to discretely smell their underarms for any odor. One of the
women, who `are white, is shown standing on a subway train full of people and she lifts her arm
but quickly and cautiously puts it back down trying to make sure no one noticed her. Another
white woman does about the same thing except she is walking down the street. Now the black
woman, who does have poufy hair is shown in a nightclub dancing and when her partner turns
around she lifts her arm as if she is doing a dance move, smells her armpit and puts it back down
and continues dancing as if nothing is wrong. She did not appear to be as nervous as the other
characters. Stereotypically, black people are known to be the better dancers so that could be a
reason why they put her in this spot.
The way black women’s hair is styled in commercials is not only a sign of their race but
significant to the roles they play in the commercials, the attitudes they have and whether or not
they are acceptable by societal norms. Their hair allows them to mainstream but it also allows
them to be raced. If their hair was not styled this way it’s not as if we would not they were black
but the hair punctuates their blackness.