Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Stereotypes in advertisements

Stereotypes are made anywhere and everywhere- perhaps sometimes unintentionally, however they are very common; they help us understand the complex world we live in.
At times, stereotypes are used in the media, specifically in advertisements. Many people argue that with the use of stereotypes, good advertising is made- this is because advertisements aim to persuade and send a message to a certain audience, not everyone- advertisers aim to avoid any potential misunderstandings in the process, however at times stereotypes are made unconsciously or people may perceive them in a different way than they are actually meant to be perceived.
Marketers/advertisers may occasionally use stereotypes in advertisements to make the origin of the product more understandable to the target audience.
Personally, I believe that advertisers have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people, however some of them may choose to include stereotypes for their own reasons (the product may only be aimed at people in a certain culture, therefore the marketers are sure that they are not offending anyone who doesn't belong in the aimed culture).
Overall, marketers can never really indicate or assume how the audience will react to the message they are trying to send out, however most (if not all) advertisers try to avoid using language or stereotypes that may offend a certain culture or community.
So the main question is: is the risk of using stereotypes needed to make the product advertised more remarkable?

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