The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Tim Krohn

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March 7, 2009

Our TV sets really are in color

I see black people.

Lots of them.

Every time I turn on the TV, there they are in commercials.

And unlike the servile Aunt Jemima ads of old or black actors used to frighten or to be ridiculed, the new TV ads are portraying African Americans as, well, like everyone else.

There is no coincidence that many of the actors are young, fit, professional-looking men. Barack Obama may be struggling to find a way out of our recession, but he’s already changed the way we view the country through our most influential window — the TV screen.

The new Pepsi ad, “Refresh Anthem,” features Bob Dylan and hip-hop artist will.i.am as a collage of images from the past 40 years shows a variety of white and black people.

And it’s not just young black men gaining more TV face time.

The hit series of E TRADE commercials featuring the 9-month-old baby who talks of the wisdom of online investing has been joined by a new buddy — a black infant.

Even one of Madison Avenue’s last taboos — interracial romance — is beginning to be cracked, albeit very subtly.

There’s the Holiday Inn Express ad promoting their breakfast buffet that shows four business men, one black, watching a pretty white woman. They each suggest what type of food to send her to gain her favor.

Although the overdue changes in advertising are fairly significant, it’s not due to advertising agencies or their corporate clients discovering a new sense of social justice. Marketers are there for one reason, to make money.

They have discovered what is called “visual diversity,” which is a way for advertisers to reach a broader market and showing the company is racially inclusive.

But motivation doesn’t really matter. It’s good when good things happen, whatever the reason.

Still, advertisers’ primary focus won’t soon move from the white audience. Even though minority populations are growing faster, along with their buying power, whites still command the most economic clout.

Nearly 86 percent of America’s annual buying power comes from Caucasians.

Still, the march toward multicultural advertising and entertainment will continue. In most states, majority ethnic populations soon won’t exist. The country is becoming “beige” rather than made up of various colors.

It took more than 44 years of slow steps since the passage of the Civil Rights Act to get to the point an African American president would jump start a new era. Many have focused their hopes on his ability to deal with everything from the economy to the environment to war and health care.

As it turns out, his first major impact was in the way Americans are sold everything from Cap’n Crunch to Corvettes.

In a country where advertising and the media drive perception and set the social tone, that’s no small feat.



Tim Krohn is a Free Press staff writer. He can be contacted at 344-6383 or tkrohn@mankatofreepress.com

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Tim Krohn