Taf KhanISM-Paper12/09/2013Prof. Coleman

For this research paper, I have decided to focus on racism and how it has affected international

marketing in the past, how this concept is affecting today, in the present, and how will it affect us in the

future. Racism, which is a belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities

particularly to that race, which helps to differ them from other races. In other words, if one race is

smarter in business and education, they will feel more prestigious and superior to the ones who are not

as educated or smart like their race.

A recent incident that took place in the U.S. back in June of 2013 shows that racism still exists in

America and it can be used for publicities. The incident I’m talking about was Paula Deen’s racial slurs

that she made which eventually resulted in her losing her TV show and all her endorsements. “Deen’s

racism has been defended as just a woman trying to enjoy her southern roots and any accidental racism

that results is just collateral damage. So while Deen lost endorsements, she gained the label as a normal

gal who cooks, talks, and carries herself in the southern way and is getting persecuted for embracing her

tradition.” (Dennis, 2013) In a way, this clearly states that racism still exists in the southern parts of the

United States and most are still supporting it. When Paula Deen first spoke in public regarding this

incident, she decided to appear in Texas where she thanked everyone who forgave her because of her

racial slurs because according to her, people of Texas have hearts as big as their state that can forgive

her after she made the racial slurs. Though this did not get her back to the brands she endorsed, it sure

helped create an image of her in the eyes of her fans and most likely helped her gain more followers

with this publicity act.

I personally don’t find this to be surprising at all because Texas, according to top ten cities site, is

ranked as the third most racist state in the country. “Southern states do have bigger racism problems

than states outside the south.” (Bauman, 2013). I can relate that quote with the HBO show, True Blood,

which depicts the character of Tara, as a stereotypical black woman who will fight and yell given at any

situation and sometimes is shown to have little patience.

She is also shown to come from a dysfunctional family, where her mother has a strong religious

background and wants her to stop doing certain things she does in the show, stating that it’s the devil’s

work. Again, the whole mother being black with deep religious cliché depicts the stereotypical black

mother that exists in many Hollywood shows and movies. “It is sexist and racist that the actress, Rutina

Wesley, is young and thin, and pretty yet she is drawn as the unwanted one, loud, harsh, aggressive and

hypersexual. When will black women be allowed to show dimensions other than strong and angery?”

(Racialicous.com, 2008)

The show is a international hit worldwide including countries like India, Bangladesh, and

Pakistan where having dark skin is looked down upon on society. Creating and selling such stereotypical

characters for a variety of international audience may have a negative impact on people who are youmg,

many of True Blood’s viewers range from the age of 16 to 22, and sending a message such as this can

only help them stereotype people with dark skin.

Another incident I can relate that quote to the southern states is the recent case of George

Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin case and how much hype it got from the media. Though a lot of black

communities across the country is outraged by the outcome, a lot of people across country made

several blogs and YouTube vlogs supporting the decision made by the court and stating that his death

took place due to self defense and the black community should calm down about it.

Racism can also have bad marketing in both local and international level. One such incident is

when producer John Palermo of X Men Origins: Wolverine, made the following comments about Kim

Kardashian and Kanye West when they moved into their new home, he wrote on his facebook page,

“There goes the neighborhood!!! It looks like a poor Persian palace, where’s Kris Jenner when you need

her?! #moneycantbuyadumbniggaclass”. (Ginsberg, Baum, 2013) This made him take down his entire

Facebook page, making him lose his connection to his fans and might not get many hit projects to work

on as he did in the past. His response to this act is the following, “I've got nothing to lose, nothing to

gain. I'm a bored dude, unemployed, sitting at home in the Valley. For me, some of the best

ways to overcome serious issues is to laugh about them. Because then you truly understand

where that ignorance is coming from." (Ginsberg, Baum, 2013)

In Hollywood, a well-known studio across the world is now under the limelight of having to show

racist characters and situations in the past, and in the present, and they may indirectly continue to do so

in the future as well. I am talking about the studio which has given us numerous hits after hits of fairy

tale films that we grew up watching, Walt Disney films.

A few Disney movies cause a lot of uproar in certain communities because they made fun of

their culture and beliefs and have portrayed characters that fit into the stereotypes of certain

backgrounds. Among the movies, Aladdin has been by far the most talked about children’s movie to

portray such act. In the original version of the movie that was released in theaters and VHS, the intro

song states the following lines, “where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face.” That verse

angered the Arabic society in North America and worldwide causing them to write numerous letters to

Disney to change that line or take it out completely. Later on, when the DVD was released, they

changed the verse to “where it’s flat and immense and the heat is intense.”

Skin color too played a key role in the movie. “Critics also point out how Aladdin, the good guy,

is portrayed with pale skin and Caucasian features, while Jafar, the villain, is drawn to have darker skin,

facial hair, and a more ethnic visage.” (Misener, 2013). I have also noticed that Disney princesses with

darker complexion, seems to be more revealing that those with lighter complexion.

Princess Jasmine and Pocahontas are two examples of this. Princess Jasmine, being an Arabian

princess reveals quite a bit for someone who comes from a land where women are suppose to be

covered up, face included. They actually do show other women on the streets of Agrabah in the movie

all covered up from head to toe and their complexions are a bit lighter than of Jasmine’s. Pocahontas,

whose complexion is dark as well, seems to be wearing outfits that are revealing. One of the reason why

this film falls under criticism is because of the song, “Savages”, where the Caucasians are shown as the

civilized ones in the land while the Native Americans are called savages and barbarians because they are

not smart and educated like the British men that just arrived in their land.

Having dark skin can mean another stereotype in Disney movie, the character with dark skin or

any other colored skin that does not match up to the majority’s skin color in the movie is most likely the

villain. In other words, much like in society we see today, any type of crime that is committed, most turn

out to be colored skin by the media. Some notable Disney villains with dark skin are easily identified by

young children are Scar, Ursula, Maleficent, Shan Yu to name a few.

In Disney’s newest hit, Frozen, they have decided to change the story line a several time along

with the title because it’s based on the Snow Queen tale where the snow queen is portrayed as a evil

character. Disney decided to change her character into a positive character along with giving her more

footage and a bigger role, only because they were not ready to portray a blonde girl as an antagonist.

Disney being a international sensation among many young children and their family across the

world, should consider stopping such act and focus on making good clean movies showing equality. If

they continue to portray such characters and stories where the good guy has light complexion, the bad

guy has darker complexion and overall the princesses are portrayed very thin, which has affected, and

still is affecting many young girls out there who thinks being beautiful and pretty means to be thin and

have lighter skin color.

Moving aside from Hollywood, the fashion and advertising world is full of racism. Lets look at

Abercrombie and Fitch Co. for an example, another well-known international clothing brand.

“Abercrombie & Fitch has a long history of racism, sexism, and size discrimination hidden within its

dimly-lit store.” (Lauren, 2013) This is very true. Around 2011, the company came out with shirts

making fun of the Asian culture and the way they some of them speak English. Some of the shirts they

sold that made fun of the Asian culture had some of these words and phrases on them, “Wok-N-Bowl”,

“Wong Brothers Laundry Service”, “Buddha Bash; Get your Buddha on the floor”, “Pizza Oojo: eat in or

wok-out”. Though these shirt did not make it to the markets in Asian countries, they did cause a huge

uproar among the Asian community here in the states. They have also came out with T-shirts making fun

of brunettes that says, “I had a nightmare, I was a brunette.”

If you pay attention to the models used for their advertisements, majority of them are

Caucasians that are featured in all their campaigns. It was not up until very recently they’ve started

making campaigns with other minorities but that too, once in a blue moon. “Stores allow white

employees to work the front house while Asians, African Americans, and people with prosthetics work in

the back, away from customers.” This is very true, many Abercrombie stores, based on my personal

experience that I went to, did exactly what did quote states. Caucasian workers with sixe 0 figures and

well toned, muscle bodies were up in the front greeting you and assisting you, while some others were

all the way in the back at the sales section folding clothes and helping you out if you ask them to.

The company did face lawsuits for its religious discriminations as well, but they keep on doing

what they’ve been doing so far. Though, the statement from CEO, Mike Jeffries, did show a negative

impact among consumers and many have decided to not shop there anymore because of his statement

in which he said he only wants to attract cool, good-looking people to the stores and nothing more than

attractive people.

Abercrombie is not the only company that advertises and supports racism, another international

well-known brand, Nivea, is also playing this game. One of their ad campaign shows a black model,

dressed well in jeans, white shirt and sweater and he’s holding a mask of some sort that has big hair,

unshaved face, and basically looks unattractive. Then we have a phrase written across the page where

our model is that states, “Re-Civilize Yourself”.

The tagline for this Nivea product is, “Look like you give a damn” and it’s promoting Nivea’s new

campaign to sell their face wash, shaving cream, and body wash. Indirectly the message behind this is

telling us that black people in society are usually looked upon as someone who is uneducated,

uncivilized and are usually taking part in crimes. It’s also saying that black people are also unhygienic and

therefore should consider cleaning themselves and look clean-shaven in order to fit in with us. This ad,

on international term might affect the brand negatively because Nivea is a well-known brand and

consumed by many worldwide. For them to come up with a campaign like this is very degrading.

In the past, racism have had the same impact on advertising as it does today, one such ad I came

across on thought catalog’s website is that of a soap brand from the early days when racism still existed

and was very strong. The brand is called Pears Soap, and the caption is the following, “I have found

Pears Soap matchless for the hands and complexion.”(Lang, 2013) The ad depicts two children, one

white, and one black. The white child is the one standing next to the tub with the soap and the black

child is in the tub. In the next picture, we see the while child rubbed the soap all over the black child and

he came out of the tub having the same complexion as the white child.

When it comes to racism in international marketing, India, since 1975 have developed a cream

that is made to make your dark skin turn lighter in just six weeks. The cream is known as Fair and Lovely

and today it is considered the world’s number one fairness cream. “Having fair skin means better job

opportunities, and it means a better matrimonial candidate. For us it means a bright and promising

future.” (Joshi, 2011) As mentioned before in my oral presentation, in the India and it’s neighboring

countries, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, being fair means you are more valued and looked

upon in society.

Racism does exist within this community. People look down upon you if you have dark skin. Just

like in the west, having dark skin in those countries mean that they will judge you based on how you

look. With dark skin, society will automatically think you are not educated, a poor person belonging to a

lower class, and to some extent they may also look at you like a criminal. Also, just like the quote says,

having dark skin can affect what kind of job a company will hire you for, as well as if anyone is interested

in marrying you, for having dark skin.

On YouTube, there is a documentary uploaded titled Why Are Indians Obsessed with Fairness

where they discuss whether or not India is secretly a racist country. The talk show featured two

Bollywood actresses, one who is dark skinned and one light skinned, along with a CEO of an advertising

firm. According to the actress with dark skin, she mentioned that she has never been able to get the role

of a lover or the protagonist of the movie, why? Simply because her skin is too dark to portray a girl next

door type of image that will make the audience fall in lover with her and her character. Therefore she

said she always gets offers to play the supporting role, or appear in a dance sequence, better known as

item-song in India, where an actor or actress would make a special appearance in the movie just for that

dance sequence only and that type of dance and songs are usually objectifying women with having the

actress wear bold and revealing outfits that the heroine of the film won’t be see wearing.

An interesting comment that was made by the CEO of the advertising firm in which he stated

that if you put a light skinned and a dark skinned girl next to one another, the light skinned girl will be

the one you’ll bring home to meet your family and will eventually end up marrying here in the long run,

while the dark skinned girl, she’s someone you’d want to take to the nearest hotel room you can find.

They have also discussed that sometimes they have no issues shooting with models who are

dark skinned, but once the ads get sent to the clients, they send them back and asks for a reshoot of the

pictures, simply for the fact that the models in this print ad are too dark.

This type of judgment and harassment can affect a whole lot of people because Bollywood, just

like Hollywood reaches to a large number of populations across the globe, especially in the Middle East

and African countries along with Europe and North America. Portraying such negativity towards women

especially can affect them psychologically, just the same way it may affect young girls who watches

Disney princess movies where they are always shown to find their Mr. right if they’re skinny and fair

enough.

Nowadays India has managed to target men into this market segment of wanting to be fair. They

have Bollywood’s biggest star endorsing the product, Fair and Handsome skin lightening cream for men,

where if a men uses the product for six weeks he’ll be as famous and popular as this actor worldwide

and will have the luxury of living the life of a superstar, just because he has fair skin now.

Not just India, but they have also targeted middle-eastern men as well who are out facing the

sun and the outrageous hot weather that they have. Their skin also gets discolored and eventually ends

up becoming dark from the UV rays of the sun over the years, this is where Fair and Handsome comes in

with false promise and hope that using their skin whitening face wash along with applying the skin

lightening fairness cream for six weeks straight, they too can live a better live that’s full of happiness.

When it comes to marketing to the gay community, racism plays a huge key role. As a gay man

myself I have first hand experience with this in the gay community. Caucasian men with muscles and

toned bodies will get the most attention compare to blacks, Latinos, and especially Asians. Asians are

always looked down upon in the gay community, be it ads on dating apps, in person, or even if any Asian

model that’s marketing a brand such as let’s say, Calvin Klein underwear will get the least attention

compare to a Caucasian or a latino modeling for the same brand.

“Race based rejection was, in the old days of real life cruising, silent. Likewise your reaction. If

someone rejected you because of your race, you didn’t usually hear about it unless you pressed your

case. But men who put no Asians on their profile are not stating a preference.” (Scott, 2012)

Even in mainstream media, many of the gay characters shown on TV are portrayed by Caucasian

men, shows like Desperate Housewives, Modern Family, Glee, Brothers and Sisters all portrayed gay

men as Caucasians.

A lot of dating profiles on smart phone apps usually say they seek either white, latino, or black

men, majority of the time guys are seeking white men for dating, and in many profiles, they clearly write

that any Asians who will message them will be blocked instantly. One profile that is mentioned on this

article contains a picture of a user of one of the most popular gay dating app available on smartphones

in this day and age, Grindr. His profile says nothing about him but just this, “I am blocking more Asians

on here than the Great Wall of China.”

Seeing profiles like this always affects the gay community in both national and international

terms, as well as marketing and selling to the gay community. Marketers and show makers portray us in

stereotypical ways that many of us are not even close to it. They make some gays act all feminine, and

also majority of the time portray gay families with two white male or female rather than showing inter

racial couple or couples other than Caucasians. One thing that still is unclear to a lot of gay men out

there, and that is how can this community fight for equality and acceptance in society when we don’t

even accept one another within our own community?

Throughout decades and centuries racism has been existing everywhere in society and it still

continues to stay in advertising, film, television, and our sometimes within ourselves. Perhaps in the

near future this will slowly start to change and end.

Citations:

Bauman, Nick. "This Study Said the South Is More Racist Than the North." Mother Jones.

Www.motherjones.com, 25 June 213. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.

Dennis, David. "Paula Deen's Comeback: Proof Racism Still Has a Market in

America."Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 20 Sept. 2013. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.

"Most Racist States In the U.S." - Top Ten List. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.

"True Blood. Tired Stereotypes." Racialicious the Intersection of Race and Pop Culture. N.p., 24

Sept. 2008. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.

Baum, Gary, and Merle Ginsberg. "'X-Men' Producer John Palermo Goes on Racist Rant on

Facebook." The Hollywood Reporter. N.p., 19 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013

Misener, Jessica. "Are These Disney Movies Racist." BuzzFeed. N.p., 27 Mar. 2013. Web. 10 Dec.

2013.

Lauren. "Abercrombie & Fitch Supports Racism, Sexism & Size Discrimination | Beutiful

Magazine Online." Beutiful Magazine Online. N.p., 10 May 2013. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.

Lang, Nico. "41 Mind-Blowingly Racist Vintage Ads You Need To See." Thought Catalog. N.p., 26

Sept. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.

Joshi, Sailaja. "Beyond Fair and Lovely: A Look into the Culture of Fair Skin." Brown Girl

Magazine. N.p., 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.

"Why Are Indians Obsessed with Fairness?" YouTube. YouTube, 03 Oct. 2008. Web. 10 Dec.

2013.

Scott, Colby. "Skin Deep: Gay Racism Comes Out." Gay.net. N.p., 16 Feb. 2012. Web. 10 Dec.

2013.