Images of Minorities

In America, it is a huge melting pot of many races, ethnicities, cultures, skin colors, and the list goes on and on. The advertising agencies have to develop strategies that cater to these entirely different sub groups which is a difficult task. Any image they produce has an enormous effect on the people who view them and how society as a whole views the world. For a long period of time, the only faces pictures in televisions, movies, magazines, and advertisements were just Caucasian men and women. But after many years of civil rights movements and equal opportunity laws there came more opportunities for minorities to have a face in the media. Now days, you see more minorities than ever in the media which is helping to shape the way the U.S. is viewed.
From what I witnessed so far in Berlin, there are not many minorities in their advertisements. Granted, I have only seen the ads in magazines and the ones posted around the city but I have yet to see any representation of a minority-except for one. This advertisement is posted on a city wall and it depicts a black woman with her young black child. While flipping through the magazine there was not one ad that depicted a minority. The only minority I saw in the ad was a celebrity- Jennifer Hudson- and it was an article talking about her weight loss. But that was it! Compared to America, there are more ads featuring Caucasian women but there are many ads that do feature minorities as well. Also, it’s important to mention that there are so many issues of magazines that cater to any interests, hobbies, and cultures. For example, there are many African American magazines such as Vibe or BET magazines and all of their ads feature African American men and women. In Berlin, I have not seen any magazines that accommodate to any other race.
I believe that there are not many minorities represented in the advertisements in this region because there is not as much diversity here as there is in U.S.-specifically Miami. Miami is a melting pot in within itself with all the different Hispanic, Haitian, and American cultures in one area. One of the major clothing companies in Europe is called H & M. Their clothes cater to a younger crowd and their prices are very decent. One of my classmates did a presentation on the company and they found that their ads do not depict any minorities. H & M advertisements depict the typical European look with the fair skin, blond/brown hair, and light eyes. I found this very disappointing because for a company to be known globally, how can they only advertise this one look. It is an excellent idea to become a global brand but that does not mean that a company should advertise universally. Research should be done on a local level to create advertisements that will appeal to people in each region.
In conclusion, I believe that the minorities in the advertisements in Berlin are under presented. There is a huge population of Turkish and Palestinian in Berlin and yet I have not seen one ad that featured them. As I mentioned above, there should be more magazines that cater to the minority group in Berlin. I also feel that companies such as H & M should produce advertisements that feature minority groups because they are a global brand and their images should cater to everyone that shop at their stores.