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Why do they always put people of the same races together in commercials?

spacemonkey17spacemonkey17 Registered User regular
in Help / Advice Forum
How come in most commercials they always put a black man and a black woman together as a couple, and a white man and a white woman together as a couple? Why can't they mix it up?

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    TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited July 2014
    Some people don't like interracial couples in commercials. See for instance what happened when Cheerios had a commercial with an interracial couple. Advertisers don't like pissing people off, usually. This article features a few quotes talking about why you often don't see interracial couples in ads.

    TychoCelchuuu on
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    JusticeforPlutoJusticeforPluto Registered User regular
    Cause 'cism

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    XaquinXaquin Right behind you!Registered User regular
    because doublemint commercials would look silly if they didn't

    Fixer Restorations -/- Satan's Wish List!!!!
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    MagicToasterMagicToaster JapanRegistered User regular
    Keep in mind that when ever you do an ad, you'll get a breakdown of the demographic that it's aimed at. It includes information such as age groups, gender, sexual preferences, physical location, income bracket and even race.

    If a product is aimed at married black people, you'll probably see a black man and woman playing a couple because you want to appeal to this demographic. If you're advertising a Spanish language ad for immigrants you might want to steer away from using a Chinese spokes person. Yes, there are Chinese people who grew up in Mexico and consider themselves Mexicans and they speak perfect Spanish and no Chinese... but I'd rather go with a Mexican looking guy.

    The ad world is ridiculous. It is a pit of segregation. I've been asked to remove an asian woman from an ad aimed at Japanese people because she looks too Chinese. I've been asked to look for another stock photo of a couple because the man looks Dominican, not Puerto Rican.

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    Gabriel_PittGabriel_Pitt (effective against Russian warships) Registered User regular
    There's also the fact that, for the most part, interracial couples are the exception, not the norm, so seeing a happy old black couple enjoying their golden years together in some life insurance commercial isn't done because the makers don't want to acknowledge that mixed couples exist.

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    curly haired boycurly haired boy Your Friendly Neighborhood Torgue Dealer Registered User regular
    spacemonkey17 wrote: »
    How come in most commercials they always put a black man and a black woman together as a couple, and a white man and a white woman together as a couple? Why can't they mix it up?

    because we humans are not too great at thinking, and most advertising takes advantage of that

    RxI0N.png
    Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
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    mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    Only 15% or so of new marriages today are interracial. Figure that's a number that's been rising, so it's probably less than 10% of existing marriages (accounting for older couples). Which means while you should expect to see more than you do, you still shouldn't expect to see all that many. This will of course be amplified by the mentioned tendency of ads to aim for a demographic, which perhaps means "median" couples (not mean), which means single race.

    Also, a little bit of 'cism, sure.

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    The EnderThe Ender Registered User regular
    Because the heads of advertising firms are mostly 60+ year old racist white guys.

    With Love and Courage
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    MagicToasterMagicToaster JapanRegistered User regular
    The Ender wrote: »
    Because the heads of advertising firms are mostly 60+ year old racist white guys.

    Quite the contrary, they are some of the most openminded people I've met. However, they cater to clients with particular points of view.

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    Mego ThorMego Thor "I say thee...NAY!" Registered User regular
    The Ender wrote: »
    Because the heads of advertising firms are mostly 60+ year old racist weaselly white guys.

    tve18266-19710408-40.jpg

    kyrcl.png
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