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Are Minorities Now Over-Represented in Ads?
It’s not because of “PC gone overboard”
So I saw this a little over three years ago …
“Did you take notice of the commercials? You’d think Caucasian males were on the verge of extinction. Talk about misrepresenting the demographics! PC diversity gone overboard.”
That’s a comment on a Quora question asking why “the Super Bowl halftime show [was] all black performers”. Since then it’s become what I call a “red whine”, an agreed-upon grievance of the American right: White folks are underrepresented in “the media”.
If you’d like to browse the ads from that Super Bowl, although there’s been some linkrot over the years, you can view them on iSpot, or watch about half of them on YouTube, or read descriptions (with video where available) at Vulture.
Assuming you’ve done that, you’ll have noticed that whiteness isn’t always centered in the mythical world of 2021 Super Bowl Halftime Adland. You might see a spot with an all-white cast, but you’re just as likely to see another with an all-black cast, or a partially white cast. Depending on where you live, Adland might “represent the demographics” fairly well. Or you may see significantly fewer white folks or non-white folks in Adland than you do in a typical real-life day.
