Racial Stereotype: Accents

Advertisement is slowly camouflaging its old ways of racial stereotyping. Nowadays, we see advertisings showing people of different ethnic backgrounds together in order to portray a message to its viewers. However, no matter what the ad’s intention is; whether it is to bring a positive message or a negative one, the ad’s message is still open to interpretation to the viewers.

This ad commercial from COVERGIRL+Olay Tone Rehab Foundation features two women of different ethnic groups working together to present a product called Olay, which helps women have better looking skin. Although the ad used intentional humor to get its message across, the possibility of some people finding this ad offensive towards people with strong accents, in this case Hispanic or Latinos with thick accents, is still there. Ellen is seen making fun of Sofia’s accent and mocking her accent in the end; an act which people could potentially find as racist since it serves no obvious purpose in promoting the product. Also, saying that no one understands what Sofia is saying adds up to the already “racist” portrayal of the ad. The reason to promote a product using an attractive, “sexy and funny” woman is apparent; yet saying she is “incomprehensible” and making fun of the way she talks ultimately makes her “the butt of the joke”.

I do not think this ad was meant to portray a negative message of a certain ethnic group, but given the anti-immigration and anti-Latino climate this may be a problematic advertisement.