TV ads here in Canada are filled with interracial couples along with same sex couples (women more commonly than men). I have never heard anyone make any sort of comment about it.
I have noticed it as well. Also including gay people, people in wheelchairs, people wearing head dress, and people with tats. Companies know all money is the same color so why not appeal to everyone? Sadly, I can see how a certain segment would get all offended.
If it came off that way to most it would be being noticed much more. The fact that mixed race family representation has gone from under to over (relative to real world frequency) in advertisement and most don’t notice at all is pretty solid evidence that it is not so ham fisted.
Agreed with others that it is a bit like the generic Greendale Community College Human - the current default of generic to achieve having as much of everyone able to see themselves in one ad. I wonder if targeted ads on social media have more fully Black or Asian or LatinX or gay … so on … couples and families in their copy?
Does this mean they’ve ditched the “stupid husband” trope? Woman looking aghast as a man shoves ice cream into a toaster while the kids run wild has different optics when she’s white and he’s Black.
What is this “top” you are referring to?
I remember the first black person I saw in a TV commercial, period. It was a Contac commercial and it was doing a series of quick cuts extolling the miseries of winter before getting down to the pitch. One of them had a white guy pushing on the back of a car slipping on ice and a black guy hustled up to help.
Moderating:
Remember this is Cafe Society. Comment on the content, not the contributor(s). (I’m stealing that line, I really like it.)
Why isn’t the largest minority in the USA represented. Rarely do you see Hispanic families in commercials.
I have been thinking about starting a thread about this, including the same disclaimer the OP used; not complaining, just an observation. Far and away a good thing, along with having actors that aren’t “Hollywood beautiful”. I get why it’s happening and I’m glad. But fercryinoutloud, could they not put a little effort into making the couples / families at least a little believable? I can’t think of a specific ad at the moment but for instance, hip, handsome Black guy with super whitebread middle aged lady is not believable casting.
Why do you feel it’s not believable?
Perhaps “believable” isn’t exactly the right word. I was watching a rerun of Modern Family yesterday and one of the storylines was Phil, Gloria and Joe at an audition for a local commercial. The joke was that the casting directors went through a lot of trouble to put the “correct” combo of actors together to make it seem natural (ultimately rejecting Phil and Gloria). It’s been years since I was in advertising but that sort of thing did used to happen; that doesn’t seem to be the case these days except “make sure they’re of different ethnicities”.
I’m certain advertisers these days put a lot of thought into who appears in commercials, more than “make sure they’re of different ethnicities.” The rationale may not be obvious, but they have their reasons.
The big spike I noticed in terms of non-white faces in ads was in 2020 after the Black Lives Matter protests.
My wife and I have noticed this change in television commercials. We have only mentioned it to each other lest we be thought racist for noticing.
Also, Gay families, also racial-ambiguous people, also he lack of Black dialect, also the lack of deep-voiced Black men.
What annoys me is that it is almost always a black male with a fair-haired female; seems like whoever decided this is a good thing is aiming to increase the contrast to make it even more noticeable … definitely not a balanced message and certainly not one that reflects the interracial couples I know (white male / black female and white male / asian female).
There have been lots of non-whites on TV for quite a while now but this preponderance of interracial couples and queers is something I’ve only been seeing since the last election. I don’t need progressive moral lessons in my TV commercials to accept people for just being different from me.
So yeah, over the top it is.
Oh well, if you’re certain, that’s good enough for me.
And, there’s this ad, for Eggo waffles, with what appears to be a multi-racial lesbian couple.
You really think that’s why they’re doing it? To moralize?
Maybe you don’t quite understand the purpose of advertising and reaching the largest audiences.
Indeed. It is a pretty darned big deal to be able to see someone who is “like me” being depicted in media. When advertising (and media, in general) was almost entirely depicting white heterosexuals, a significant percentage of Americans weren’t being included in those depictions.
Being more inclusive of ethnicity, sexuality, and ability means that advertising is starting to reflect all of their audience, not just the straight white folks.
And, yes, sometimes it feels ham-handed (like the ads with a group of women, where there’ll be one black woman, one disabled woman, etc.), but I think, on the whole, it’s still far better than it was before.
Modnote: Your use of the word queer in this context is offensive to some.
It is worth noting the use of queer as a noun in particular and in a negative post can be offensive to many. Try to keep this in mind.