Racial Stereotypes in Children’s Television
Commercials
The topic of the effects of advertising
on children has been long debated for decades now. Professors Jill K. Maher, Kenneth C. Herbst,
Nancy M. Childs, and Seth Finn discuss the ethnic portrayal displayed in
children’s advertising. In their article
“Racial Stereotypes in Children’s Television Commercials,” they discuss the
things that are viewed by children may influence their perception of themselves
and brand recognition. Through research,
the professors examined the ethics of advertising towards children and discovered
unethical practices.
The authors of the article each
possess a credible background of knowledge that makes the article more credible
than others. Professor Jill K. Maher received
her B.S. from Slippery Rock University, her M.B.A from Ashland University, and
her Ph.D. from Kent State University and she is currently an associate
professor of marketing in the school of business at Robert Morris
University. Her research includes marketing
to children and her works have been published in many advertising and marketing
journals.
Professor Kenneth C. Herbst is an
M.A. and Ph.D. graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
and earned his B.A. at Wake Forest University.
He is the assistant professor of marketing in the Babcock Graduate
School of Management at Wake Forest University.
His areas of research include trust effects in advertising and social
and environmental issues associated with purchase. His scholarly articles have been published in
many magazines and journals including the Journal
of Marketing Management, International
Journal of Advertising, etc. (http://business.wfu.edu/default.aspx?id=847)
Nancy M. Childs received her B.S.
from Duke University, her Masters from California Institute of Technology, and
her Ph.D. from Century University. She
is the professor of food marketing in the Haub School of Business at Saint
Joseph’s University. She has been
published in the Journal of Public
Policy, Journal of Business Research, etc.
Seth Finn received his Ph.D. from
Stanford University and is the professor of communications in the School of
Communications and Information Systems at Robert Morris University. His
research includes unethical use of digital technology.
The professors use their background knowledge
and research to reach the conclusion that advertisements aimed at children tend
to lack the representation of minorities.
It was also found that certain ethnic groups including African Americans
and Hispanics are victims of negative stereotypes, whereas, Caucasians and Asians
are displayed in a positive light.
Children from different ethnicities were surveyed to see how many hours
of TV are watched to see much of these negative ethics are displayed. The article reveals the practices taken by
advertisers to influence the perception of children on brand recognition, but
it is mentioned the practices may unethical because of how diverse the population
is.
The article appeared in March 2008 of
Journal of Advertising Research,
which is a magazine that specializes in research and development to all
professionals in all areas marketing.
The journal is published quarterly and its membership represents more
than 325 organizations of advertising, research firms, educational institutes,
etc. Their goal is to provide new ideas
and solutions to all areas of marketing and they have been doing this since
1936. No information could be found on
responses to the article.
Overall, the professors are credible
in their fields and research and the journal only publishes information it
finds important for advertising agencies and institutes to know about it. Any reader can be confident that the
information being presented is credible and that no bias is presented in the
article.
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