Stereotype is a simplified or exaggerated generalization. It is usually offensive. It is a conception, opinion or image about some groups of people, usually based on minimal, poor knowledge. By using stereotypes, we assume that people in this group have some features in common. Stereotypes group people because of their religion, biology, nationality, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age and many other reasons. For example the Jewish are mean or the Muslims are terrorists. In my opinion a generalization always hurts some people. Judging others by stereotypes is harmful because we all are different. People use stereotypes towards these groups which they are not part of. Even if we do not want to use stereotypes and we do not believe in them, we still know them; they are in our culture and in our perception. We do know how to read them and this is important in the media.
That is why the advertising agencies like using them in their advertisements. Even if it is not true, we do hear many times that women can’t drive, men love DIY, the Scottish have red hair, the French are arrogant, the Polish eat just cabbage and cucumber or gay men are effeminate. In many public places baby changing facilities are in women’s toilets, therefore a father could not go out with his baby on his own or divorced man could not take care of the baby. That is another stereotype- it is not a man but a woman, who takes care of the children or the house. That is why in commercials it is always women doing washing. If there is a man presented, he is an expert who explains why it is better to use some new product. The advertising agencies know that stereotypes make the message easier to read for us. We can then quickly skip to the information about the product.
I like those advertisements, which look for unexpected solutions and are creative. They use stereotypes to make us think. Two of my favourite advertisements caused some controversy. The first one advertised the perfume Opium by Yves Saint Laurent. It was shown in 2000 presented by the naked model Sophie Dahl, lying on dark, velvet, contrasting with her pale skin, fabric. She was lying in a sexually suggestive pose. The stereotype here is the fact of showing a female body to sell a product. Stereotypically perfumes are advertise by young people half or fully naked, very often hugging each other or kissing passionately. In this sense, the Opium advertisement uses this stereotype. The opium is a drug and the model is posing like she was in a trance. That is another stereotype. The Opium gives the same results as the opium drug. It is a very erotic image but it does not cross this thin line, when the photo is vulgar. I personally really like how this advertisement shows the female body. It is beautiful woman; she is not one of the skinny, very ill looking, and anorexic models. The model’s size is then not a stereotype. I first saw this advertisement in a womens magazine, in Poland. I like this image but I can understand, that it would cause controversy if shown on a billboard, as it happened in Britain. I don’t find it offensive, as it was not made for men. I think there is a connection between perfumes and passion, attraction, sexual tension so I can accept that it shows a naked woman.
The second advertisement, which I think is very interesting, is the one promoting United colors of Benetton. For many years the controversial photographer Oliviero Toscani was responsible for Benetton’s images. This brand has always two campaigns: the product one and the institutional one. The second one always sends some social message, always touches very difficult subjects. In 1991 Benetton’s institutional campaign had the title “Angel and Devil” and showed two hugging children. There was a little white girl with curly blond hair, as an angel and a little black boy with his hair creating horns, like a devil. The boy had a serious face and the girl was smiling. The advertisement confronted our expectations, because it did not show the product or people using the product. Children on the photo have no clothes and Benetton is a clothes brand. The image uses the stereotype of an angel being a pale, blond, curly haired child and a devil being represented by a dark skinned person. It is controversial because it touches a taboo, like the difference, which divides people instead of bringing them together, or racism. By using a stereotype, it provokes, it makes us think. Why does it have to be a black boy representing a devil, why only can white, blonde girls be a symbol of an angel? Is that what we think? In my opinion Toscani could have gone further and create another image where a white person would play a devil and a black person would be an angel. By showing this stereotype, Benetton starts a dialog about it. The image confronts stereotype that black and white have to fight, that there must be a conflict between them, just like between angels and devils, like racism claims. The advertisement shows that any differences can be united; people can be integrated under Benetton’s name.
These two advertisements used stereotypes but at the same time confronted them with our expectations, shocked us. They were created to promote products. However they do make us think and talk about other issues, other then just that what they sell. That is why they are still alive in our cultural and social awareness and that is why they are very good advertisements. They still call attention to those brands they were made for a few years ago. Which is the opposite effect of one of many, like the same, boring “washing powder” advertisements. I think that stereotypes can be used in publicity if they actually question stereotypes themselves.
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