There were 18 photos throughout the news section of the paper and only two showed people of color. One was a photo of the new International Student of the Month, the other was on the last page of the paper in a clothing advertisement.
The Oklahoman, Newspaper, Friday, April 3, 2009
There were 22 photos, one of which showed Pres. Obama; the other, his wife with the Queen of England.
JCPenney, Store Circular, 2009
The front page of the circular showed a little black girl holding a gift box. However, throughout the 191 pages of the circular, only 17 pages showed children or adults of color. Only was Asian adult was shown, and the same Asian child model was used multiple times, but was the token Asian child.
Newsweek, Weekly Magazine, March 2009
11 of the 62 pages featured only white people. Every other page represented multicultural and multiracial pictures.
Norman Living, Monthly Magazine, January 2009
The cover features an image of a Native American; however, not another Native American is shown until the cover’s feature is discussed on page 34, where yet only a painting represents Native American diversity. Interestingly, the only picture portraying a black person is shown on the next page, and is of Courtney Paris.
Southern Living, Monthly Magazine, March 2009
The magazine consists mainly of recipes, locations and gardening, without very many pictures. However, there were only two advertisements that featured African Americans. One was of a man holding cats, advertising kitty litter. The other was of a couple going on their honey moon to a romantic location.
Better Homes and Gardens, Monthly Magazine, January 2009
There were several features, quotes and recipe ideas, but they were all from white people. The only time you saw black people featured in the magazine was in the form of advertisements.
Vogue, Monthly Magazine, April 2009
The cover features Beyonce and says, “real women have curves.”
Where’s the Beef?, Wendy’s Commercial, YouTube
Three older, white women asking repeatedly, ‘where’s the beef?’
SoBe Lizard Lake Game Day, Super bowl Commercial, YouTube
There is a lot of diversity in this commercial. All of the men are athletes, and only one is white (granted there are a lot of lizards, as well).
Reflection:
This assignment has made me aware of some of the issues the media has regarding race. Every form of print media I viewed contained a form of diversity; however, the amount and the variety were extremely questionable.
The Norman Transcript portrayed a particularly low amount of diverse groups in its news edition. Norman is not the most diverse community, but for its paper to exclude every race except white people is shocking. The only article that pictured a person of color was (how cliché) an article over the International Student of the month. Besides that, the paper didn’t show another person of color until the last page, which was of an advertisement for business wear, featuring a single black woman pictured twice in different clothing.
The Oklahoman did little better than the Transcript. The entire paper left void all people of color that were not of celebrity status. The paper, which is supposed to represent all of Oklahoma, portrayed a state made up of white men and women. Michelle Obama is featured with the Queen of England in an AP photo where only half of her face is seen as she is embracing the Queen. A thumbnail picture of Pres. Obama is shown in the “Your Views” section of the newspaper, where the opinionated article discusses the contempt he feels toward Obama’s selection to speak at Notre Dame’s commencement.
Norman Living, another local circular, was very disappointing in relation to the amount of diverse races shown throughout its pages. The only African American shown was Courtney Paris, who was featured beside an events calendar highlighting OU basketball games. Native Americans, who were on the cover of the magazine, were not pictured at all except through Native American art. The article was about images of the American west and Native American art and did not reflect toward the Native American painters or their current culture. Paris’s picture was on the page following the Native American feature, grouping the two diverse groups together and leaving the rest of the magazine ‘color free.’
Newsweek is a weekly magazine that discusses international and national issues. After analyzing the magazine’s content, I found that many diverse groups were represented. Several of the media forms I viewed showed only white and black people, with very little representation of other races; however, Newsweek portrayed people from the Middle East, Spain, China and Africa, just to name a few. The magazine also tackled the controversial issue of race in American schools, noting how many people were advocating the removal and Black History Month from public schools.
I also viewed the SoBe Lizard Lake game day commercial and analyzed it for this assignment. The commercial showed four athletes, three of whom were black and one was white. The commercial was shown during the Super Bowl this January. I liked the commercial because it portrayed a white male to be the minority.
Overall, I was disappointed with the lack of diversity in print media. Many of the magazines I viewed left out different races entirely, save the advertisements. I did not find that minorities were faded into the background in advertisements, however. Every advertisement I viewed that portrayed a minority, either showed minorities by themselves or within equal distance and of the same importance with white people. Perhaps it was the mediums I viewed, but I did not notice racial stereotyping in the form of advertisements. The article assigned for March 31 is dated 1984 and 1993, so perhaps the media has moved forward slightly. I do believe that races are represented equally, but I think advertisements have slightly improved, and do not use minorities to solely provide background focus anymore.
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ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree that the use of 3 black men in the Sobe commercial could be a step in the right direction compared to other advertisements and content, the fact that they are all athletes negates any positive messages. This commercial is just as bad as the others because it is stereotyping black and white males. Black males are stereotyped as being great athletes. While this is more of a positive stereotype and can sometimes be true, it is still generalizing the black community in general.
ReplyDeleteI think this commercial is not an example of a balanced commercial at all, because although it shows 3 black men, it shows them in their stereotypical roles.
Aren't there some hispanic football players too? Why weren't one of them included to break the stereotype and actually promote diversity?
I agree that minorities don't seem to be stuck in the background of ads and commercials so much any more. However, in the ones that I looked at, minorities just weren't included as much. When most ads and commercials featured a minority person they were the forefront of the ad. However, these commercials were rare compared to the prolific amount of ads and commercials showing white people and stereotyped roles.
Like you, I noticed that many forms of print media leave out all minority races. I looked through a Rachel Ray cooking magazine, and I only saw two advertisements with black people on them. But unlike your results, I did notice that black people always seem to be behind the white people or to the side and behind the white person. I noticed this in television ads, too. Even when both races, and a minority, have speaking parts the white characters are usually in the front and center of the screen. I do think that our advertising in American society has become more diverse over the past couple of decades, but it definitely has a long way to go.
ReplyDeleteAlso, isn’t it disappointing that the Norman Transcript doesn’t feature more diversity. Norman, to me, actually is quite diverse (speaking from where I grew up). Although, it isn’t the Transcript that makes the ads.
I liked your personal reflection, but I can honestly say that I'm not surprised you didn't find more equal representation in The Norman Transcript or The Oklahoman. As much as I hate to say it, growing up in Oklahoma, I've never seen that many minorities gracing the pages unless they were:
ReplyDeleteA) A celebrity
B) An athlete
C) A criminal
It's really sad, but that's the way it is. As far as advertising goes, I think the few minorities that ARE used to sell something fit into the category of athlete or celebrity, too. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see many random minorities that are selling a product, especially in print publications. Usually they are an athlete, actor or actress.
While I also agree that some progress has been achieved, there is so much more that needs to be done. Since minorities make up a large portion of consumers, there should at least be a little less disparity in ads.
I think it was really very interesting how you focused on the print ads in the local newspapers and such. I think it is almost shocking how none of us take the time to stop and notice these print ads. Until taking this class and taking the time to actually stop and notice this segregation in advertising. I can't believe that even in the huge JC Penney store's Circular magazine had less than ten percent of the advertising having people of color. I think we all like to assume that changes are being made in advertising until we are forced to stop and actually pay attention to it.
ReplyDeleteI too find it of great concern that there isn't much diversity within print media, particularly newspapers. I wonder if this is intentional or not. Just from my perspective, it seems that newspapers might possibly be the most "old fashioned" and maybe that's why they are behind the times on portraying diversity. Just to play devil’s advocate, perhaps this representation is intentional… meaning, perhaps readership of newspapers is primarily Caucasian men and women and therefore newspapers only see fit to display those people. I don’t know, I’m just wondering… Finally, I too think it’s appropriate for Newsweek to represent a diverse community. Going along with my devil’s advocate theory, this makes sense as their readership is nationwide and very diverse.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed in reading some of the blogs that people who focused more on print media found less diversity. I think it is interesting that the majority of the print media you looked at were regional, state and local because it is not surprising that there is less diversity in these publications.
ReplyDeleteEspecially with the newspapers (and I could be wrong with this) the lack of diversity is intentional. Because OK is not an extremely racially diverse state I think some publications don't feel it is necessary to include diversity. This misconception, in my opinion, is extremely wrong because we have a very large Hispanic population that gets ignored (because many of them choose not to melt into our "white" culture). And being a very conservative state, we are not very accepting of different culture. I think this could explain some of the lack of diversity with local media (especially the Oklahoman).
I think that the fact that JCPennys only had a minor amount of racial diversity is interesting. We hear all the time that Asians are the "model minority". However, when we are looking for diversity, we just applaud if there is one other color. Doesn't racial diversity need to include all different types of race?
ReplyDeleteHow exciting about Newsweek. Thank God somewhere is making improvements.
The Norman Transcript and The Oklahoman is disappointing. I wish that there would be some photos that reflect the community. If the stories they are covering are all white, and that's what the photos reflect, then there is an even larger problem.
I think that the disparity of diversity in local media is a huge oversight. I think because Oklahoma is not the most racially diverse place, it's easy for people in charge of organizations to not look past their own groups. I think that this overlooks the fact that we are all human. We all participate in community activities, people of every race are athletes and celebrities and this should be reflected.
ReplyDeleteI think the best way to change the way all people report on events is to start in your own community. I think local and regional media should carry the most burden for representing their people in a responsible way. It is a small change, but I think that it would spur even greater changes across the globe. People should be seen doing both good things and bad things, and it starts at home.