http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek-CwbiPeZI
Since my essay was on stereotypes and their impact on society, my first blog will shed more light on this topic. Stereotypes are exaggerated truths and therefore, they are influential in our society. I believe stereotypes are embedded into society. This is because they are passed down from generations and almost everyone believes them although many deny this. Several things in our society are successful because they play on stereotypes. This means that things like political campaigns, commercials and advertisements depend on stereotypes to be able to focus their attention on specific ethnic groups. For example, the above video is a clear culprit of this. It is no secret that African Americans are said to love fried chicken. This is actually one of the most popular stereotypes out there. Therefore, food franchises that deal with chicken often exclusively advertise to African Americans in order to guarantee the most revenue. An example of this is the above video. In the video, there are several people expressing their disappointment about a Popeye’s fast food in Rochester running out of chicken to sell after having a promotion. Although the fast food probably serves a varying amount of customers, all the customers who were interviewed in this specific video are African American. To make it clear, I do not mean to say that this is racist. However, I am saying that this news report only has African Americans in it because that is the audience it is broadcasting to. They only interviewed African Americans because it makes their news more credible. More people will believe the news if they think the people that are in it know what they are talking about. The article below further elaborates this point.
http://newshound.de.siu.edu/voices/stories/storyReader$2235
This article talks further about advertisements and how the incorporation of stereotypes generates revenue. At one point, it is mentioned that images of companies like Aunt Jemima are altered with changing times. I think this is a very good statement because I’ve noticed that television channels do the same thing. This is because channels like MTV have undergone drastic changes as our societal values have changed. MTV went from almost exclusively playing showing music videos or shows related to music culture to showing shows about teen pregnancy the majority of the time. They are adapting to the changing times. Teen pregnancy is a huge topic in society as numbers are rising and therefore, MTV is now broadcasting to this crowd. Today, shows like Real World and Jersey Shore dominate the airwaves. Furthermore, on either of these shows, it seems like they pick the most stereotypical cast possible. The cast of Jersey Shore constantly promote stereotypes like gelled hair, tanning, working out and having sex with as many girls as possible. This is the same as the Real World. All in all, the news, commercials and even movies promote stereotypes. It seems like our generation is told to be considerate of all other races but yet, the press directs us elsewhere.
