Why are so many Fat and ugly people in commercials?

[tomorton]

Private companies know what they’re doing. Representation has shown to increase sales. It may not make sense to you from a population perspective but if there’s at least one white male in an advertisement you’ll subconsciously relate, assuming you’re white. The same works with other races. They’re trying to get people to identify with their product or service.

You can see this from a larger scale with companies like Nike or Disney. They have plenty of white representation but adding diverse representation increases their business.

Like I said these companies know what they’re doing. They get labeled as “woke” but they’re just capitalists chasing profit.

I'm sure you're right - designing their visuals this way must make a bottom-line difference.

Surely the way these adverts modify consumer behaviour must be sub-conscious? Its hard to think of any consumer rationalising they should buy soft drink A because their advert had more black actors than soft drink B's. Especially given that 97% of the UK population is not black.

Mind you, a lot of the not-black youth here seem to wish they were black.

 

[UsualName]

I'm sure you're right - designing their visuals this way must make a bottom-line difference.

Surely the way these adverts modify consumer behaviour must be sub-conscious? Its hard to think of any consumer rationalising they should buy soft drink A because their advert had more black actors than soft drink B's. Especially given that 97% of the UK population is not black.

Mind you, a lot of the not-black youth here seem to wish they were black.

Kids wish all kinds of things. Parents in America freaked out over the Beatles and Elvis Presley. There was a time when people thought heavy metal music was turning kids satanic. It’s just a giant cycle. It’s all the same but it feels new to you. I’m assuming you’re British and just thinking about how punk rock was so controversial there for a while and the kids wishing they were punk.

 

[tomorton]

Kids wish all kinds of things. Parents in America freaked out over the Beatles and Elvis Presley. There was a time when people thought heavy metal music was turning kids satanic. It’s just a giant cycle. It’s all the same but it feels new to you. I’m assuming you’re British and just thinking about how punk rock was so controversial there for a while and the kids wishing they were punk.

You're right on all counts.

At the time punk started here I was into the tail end of the first wave of heavy metal, prog rock, folk rock and some blues.

To my ear, punks were talentless yobs who were annoyed at how hard it was to learn to play an instrument.

 

[Specterx]

Private companies know what they’re doing. Representation has shown to increase sales. It may not make sense to you from a population perspective but if there’s at least one white male in an advertisement you’ll subconsciously relate, assuming you’re white. The same works with other races. They’re trying to get people to identify with their product or service.

You can see this from a larger scale with companies like Nike or Disney. They have plenty of white representation but adding diverse representation increases their business.

Like I said these companies know what they’re doing. They get labeled as “woke” but they’re just capitalists chasing profit.

Nonsense. It happens because it's the path of least resistance. Obviously, for any executive or ad man to say "Let's not have any blacks in this ad since they're like 3% of the population" would certainly result in immediate firing and blackballing, and in the UK probably also a criminal investigation.

What do audiences actually want? Just look at genuinely popular TV shows and movies. Ironically I have the sensation that entertainment media is actually whiter than it was 10-20 years ago, because depicting minorities in a negative light or "reinforcing stereotypes" is now mostly off-limits. Popular minority-heavy shows from the 2000s like The Wire or The Shield would never be made today.

 

[tomorton]

Nonsense. It happens because it's the path of least resistance. Obviously, for any executive or ad man to say "Let's not have any blacks in this ad since they're like 3% of the population" would certainly result in immediate firing and blackballing, and in the UK probably also a criminal investigation.

What do audiences actually want? Just look at genuinely popular TV shows and movies. Ironically I have the sensation that entertainment media is actually whiter than it was 10-20 years ago, because depicting minorities in a negative light or "reinforcing stereotypes" is now mostly off-limits. Popular minority-heavy shows from the 2000s like The Wire or The Shield would never be made today.

I'm sure you must mean US media is whiter now than it used to be. In the UK, it seems we're fast moving towards a new era of black-and-white television - 50% black, 50% white.

Its even possible to see black actors in historically anomalous parts. what is not understood by many people is that throughout all British history prior to 1950, there were almost no black people in Britain.

 

[Specterx]

I'm sure you must mean US media is whiter now than it used to be. In the UK, it seems we're fast moving towards a new era of black-and-white television - 50% black, 50% white.

Its even possible to see black actors in historically anomalous parts. what is not understood by many people is that throughout all British history prior to 1950, there were almost no black people in Britain.

Yeah. I'm in awe of the British people's eagerness to erase and replace themselves, not only from the future but from past eras as depicted on TV. Just imagine how it will be when Labour takes power again.

I was actually quite happy with Brexit mainly for this reason, as the UK's suicide-cult culture was a corrosive influence on the rest of the EU. Now they're cleverly dumping practically 100% of their illegal immigrant flow onto the Dover coast - safely outside EU borders - and you seem completely helpless to do anything about it. You can practically hear the roaring laughter from Continental capitals.

 

[VEGASDESERT]

Private companies know what they’re doing. Representation has shown to increase sales. It may not make sense to you from a population perspective but if there’s at least one white male in an advertisement you’ll subconsciously relate, assuming you’re white. The same works with other races. They’re trying to get people to identify with their product or service.

You can see this from a larger scale with companies like Nike or Disney. They have plenty of white representation but adding diverse representation increases their business.

Like I said these companies know what they’re doing. They get labeled as “woke” but they’re just capitalists chasing profit.

wrong.

a lot of these companies use the same marketing agencies to come up with
these stupid adds that depict fakeness and bullshit (50% of the population is black,
and everybody is in an inter racial relationship) because its a herd mentality, a race to stupidity among these ad agencies, not because its good for business.

its not like tim cook is sitting there going.. i wanna see 4 blacks, 3 whites, 1 asian, and 2 gays in my commercials. lol

after all tv is the land of make believe.

 

[M.W.]

And that theory of yours is grounded in what research? It appears rather that companies are afraid of being attacked by predominantly white advocates for minority causes. So they oblige and cramp Blacks and Asians and what have you into every single movie, advertisement, TV show. You can't pitch a movie idea to producers anymore without a gay or trans guy in the story, some Asian chick, and a bunch of Blacks and Latinos. Impossible.

Private companies know what they’re doing. Representation has shown to increase sales. It may not make sense to you from a population perspective but if there’s at least one white male in an advertisement you’ll subconsciously relate, assuming you’re white. The same works with other races. They’re trying to get people to identify with their product or service.

You can see this from a larger scale with companies like Nike or Disney. They have plenty of white representation but adding diverse representation increases their business.

Like I said these companies know what they’re doing. They get labeled as “woke” but they’re just capitalists chasing profit.

 

[M.W.]

Have to accept it as a new thing when non black kids wished they were black? And when 2 or 3% of a population is represented in almost any public medium in 10 or 20 fold numbers?

Kids wish all kinds of things. Parents in America freaked out over the Beatles and Elvis Presley. There was a time when people thought heavy metal music was turning kids satanic. It’s just a giant cycle. It’s all the same but it feels new to you. I’m assuming you’re British and just thinking about how punk rock was so controversial there for a while and the kids wishing they were punk.

 

[Tony Stark]

This type of thread certainly brings out the racists.