The following is a question posed to Michael Vass by Logan Calder at Black and White Blog where I am co-author.
Michael,
I would like to get your opinion on what I noticed recently in television. In almost every add that has a mixed race couple, it is always a Black male and a White female. Almost never is there any other type of mixed race shown. This seems disproportionate to me, as I see mixed races of all variety (including my own) and am wondering if you think there may be some political significance to this?
**Rather than responding as a comment, I wanted to add my thoughts to the post of Logan. In this way readers can have a full thought to respond to, in addtion to allowing search engines more access to this post. I hope that Logan does not mind.**
Logan,
Well that is a good question. But I think you are somewhat mistaken in your premise.
There are many, and I believe more, mixed race couples in advertisements that are Hispanic and White than any other group. The reasons for this are
1) Hispanics - light skinned - are often mistaken for Whites. (ie, Andy Garcia among many others)
2) Hispanics are the fastest growing 'minority' group in America
3) Hispanics comprise one of the bigger buying groups, and tend to purchase more big ticket items (which is reflected in the ads they appear in)
But as for the Black/White mix... well that is harder to define.
In part there are the old stereotypes that are continuously promoted in movies and television shows of the mandingo. Add to that the old view of implied status of a Black man with a White woman. I disagree with both thoughts, though I know many who still ascribe to these thoughts.
Another part is the theory held only in Hollywood (I hope) that audiences can only react positively to something if people of the same racial background are represented.
This has been one of the main reasons that television shows (and movies) are 90%+ dominated by White actors in virtually every aspect. That means the background actors, the supports, and the headliners. In fact, in 2007 - 2008 I randomly selected channels several times over several days and investigated various program line-ups. I found that roughly 2% of all television programming, including cable television, involved non-White actors of any nature, COMBINED (movies were slightly higher though not even 10%).
Thus a commercial, according to this theory, must contain Whites to be effective. It is also the reason that most commercials (with the exception of many racially targeted commercials by McDonald's - but not all) that target specific groups of people of color still maintain White actors in the surrounding roles.
Thirdly I suspect that the use of mixed race couples is a subtle acceptance that America, in reality, is far more diverse and intermixed than what television has been promoting since 1950's. That reality must be reflected as fully 1/3 of the audience is a person of color and thus by the archaic standards of Hollywood need to be shown.
Lastly there is the Obama Effect. Advertisers are cashing in on the positive imagery of African Americans that must exist since the President is a person of color. This I feel is the ultimate commoditization of Black culture that has been beforehand seen predominantely in the Hip Hop culture and advertisements.
The political significance of all this is unknown.
In one respect the benefit of all this is to create more acceptance of people of color in political groups, particularly in the Democrat and/or Liberal organizations. Name an ad, movie, or television show where the people of color are Conservative or Republican - as best as can be discerned relative to its content. I cannot think of one off the top of my head.
Beyond that, which is speculation I admit, I cannot think of a political end to using mixed races. Which does not mean there is or is not one.
Perhaps other readers may have a better answer than I.
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