Swedish Models in Africa or Turkish models in Berlin?

Minorities in advertising was a hot-topic for debate during our lectures at the IMK. Some said there wasn't enough representation of minorities in advertising in Berlin, others said it depended, and others said there was enough representation considering that advertisements were translated to their language. Regardless of the “correct” answer, it's apparent that in an increasingly connected global society and cultures, advertising has found it's hardships in trying to communicate and identify with them.


From what I gathered in Berlin, there was minimal representation of minorities in advertising. I found one ad where the model seemed to me a minority based on the skin-color, but I could be wrong. Besides, you can't even see her face. I also found another ad for Base that had a minority. Otherwise, I really can't recall seeing minorities in advertising. In fact, most of the full-scaled print ads around the city didn't even have models. They were just words and the product such as the beer ads, the VW ad, the one ad with the rubber ducky and even the Ipad ad that had people wasn't even obvious.


During the lectures, there was a pair of students who did the H&M campaign. According to them, H&M only use Swedish models in the advertising. I must admit, I hadn't seen an H&M ad (not in N.Y, the UK or Germany) that proved otherwise. Despite their monochromatic advertising, H&M sales still sore. A theory supporting their success would be the masses want to identify with this stereotype of beauty – as in blonde hair, blue eyes, thin and fair skin. Customers are supposed to flock to H&M and purchase their products in an attempt to be more mainstream or identifiable with the Swedish models. Of course, there is the counterargument which holds that H&M will be hurt by such advertising if they are trying to sell the same products in Africa, for example. Therefore, there should be a model or models who are representative of the local target audience. This obviously overlaps with the theory of localizing advertising as opposed to standardizing. Apparently, this strategy works for H&M. Perhaps the company is not interested in appealing to the general public. Perhaps their clothes are fitted to flatter blonde, light eyed women around the world. Is then their advertising misread as being offensive to minorities? Should they be concerned that the lack of minorities in their advertising will eventually hurt their image as opposed to helping it? Will including minorities in their advertising hurt H&M's image in the eyes of existing customers? Regardless of the sentiment; money talks. H&M is clearly a success in Europe and America. Again, I haven't done extensive research on the subject or their campaign so I'm not 100 percent sure that H&M hasn't once advertised to minorities.

Aside from the H&M campaign, it's safe to say that many successful global campaigns include minorities such as Coca-cola, McDonalds and Levi. Even Apple launched a commercial once which included silhouettes of minorities. I believe the text-book politically correct answer would be to feature minorities present in the local target market you wish to launch your campaign in. The thought behind this is to make your brand identifiable with them; to make the advertisement more personal and direct to them. Essentially, when using mediums such as broadcast television which reaches thousands, you want to personalize the message as much as you can. Clearly there are set-backs.

However, this text-book correct answer doesn't necessarily mean that those who do otherwise will ultimately fail. In fact, many times when ads try to include a certain “quota” of minorities in their ads they risk the chance of stereotyping that group of people instead of communicating with them. But then, how do you communicate with them if you don't generalize the likes and dislikes of the people you are communicating to? Personally, when I see commercials targeted to the Hispanic population with the loud Spanish music, and bright yellows, pinks and purples or with balloons and confetti and that thick Taco-Bell-like font used to spell out stereotypical words such as “fiesta” or “hola”– it makes me want to gag. There was an IMK student who brought to class an ad directed to Spaniards which illustrated the typical “Spanish” hair bun, and the huge red rose behind the ear with words such as “Lolita.” I'm pretty sure the ad agency responsible for such an ad didn't think about offending anyone during brainstorming. Nor is the ad necessarily offending EVERY Spaniard that sees the ad – but it did make me laugh a bit (but then again I don't consider myself part of their target market.)

In essence, as communicators we need to tread carefully when including minorities or not include them in campaigns.