I’ve noticed an interesting “trend” in some commercials. The first one I’ll look at is the minority vs majority ad.

The first ad, and the best example of this, is by one of the cable companies. I can’t remember which one at the moment, but it’s been a long running series featuring a white guy and a guy that looks of asian background. In the most recent commercial, several kids are “playing back” the white guy’s soap opera because he doesn’t have a DVR. The asian guy shows up and tells the white guy about the company’s DVR and that he can record four shows at a time or something. In each of these commercials, the white guy is portrayed as an idiot, and the minority comes in and educates him. Would this commercial ever be done the other way around?

Another ad is one by Chili’s. I haven’t seen it in a few months, but it started out in a restaurant full of mostly white people if I remember correctly, and they’re all ordering things like “the bland chicken” and the “tasteless pork.” It’s some really boring restaurant and they filmed it with all the color tones washed out. The scene then shifts to a black couple watching a “commercial” for this restaurant, and they smartly decide to go to Chili’s instead. Would this commercial ever have been made if the people in the restaurant ordering crappy food were all black, and the couple making the better decision were white?

The next two ads I want to look at are what I call the good looking/smart person vs the ugly/stupid person.

The first example is for Verizon FIOS. The man representing Verizon is attractive and intelligent, while the man representing the cable company is heavy set with unruly red hair. In the most recent commercial I saw the Verizon rep said you can get all their services for a good price for 6 months. The cable rep started to count on his fingers, to which the Verizon rep said “you’re just moving your fingers aren’t you?” Why did they choose to make the cable rep stupid and ugly to prove their point? Would this commercial have been made the other way around?

And the best example of this is the Mac vs PC commercials. Just like in the Verizon commercial, the voice of reason (the Mac guy) is thin and attractive, and the stupid PC guy that gets poked fun at wears glasses and is heavy set. Would this commercial ever be made the other way around?

Racial and other considerations are absolutely made during the creation of a commercial, and I think it’s interesting to take note of the decisions made. I think the racial choices made are the most telling. I’m not really even blaming the commercial makers, because I think the fear of backlash for making a racially insensitive choice is huge. The only way a commercial maker would ever denigrate a minority is if a fellow minority was doing the denigrating. I also think it’s interesting that in the “smart vs stupid” type of commercial there is also a choice made on the attractiveness of the people.

Can commercials actually tell us something about the society in which we live? I say yes.