Racial Stereotyping

At first glance the following questions seem to have simple answers. 

Is it ever right to racially stereotype for advertising purposes? No
Is racism in advertising a thing of the past? No
Do advertisers have ethical responsibilities? Yes

These seem like the right answers, but this really doesn't show how complex these issues are. Let's start with the first question. Is it ever right to racially stereotype for advertising purposes? I would say overall, no. It is wrong to paint all people with the same brush, which is what stereotyping does. Racial stereotyping is especially nasty and should really be avoided at all costs. Unfortunately, the fact is that stereotyping exists and will probably always exist. Because stereotyping exists, it's effective. There's also the issue of racial stereotyping that is "not harmful." The following commercial is a piece of the Doritos campaign featuring a mariachi band. 

Doritos is advertising itself as a "Mexican" chip by using a racially stereotypical Mexican music. Although this campaign seems harmless because it's focusing on the fun, lively mariachi band, it still promotes the idea that Mexican means mariachi. A Mexican can be any type of person, whether it be a goth, a politician, a musician or a student. A person of any race can be anyone they want and racial stereotyping is wrong in all forms because it takes society backwards.

It seems very obvious that racism in advertising is not a thing of the past. This business insider article gives many recent examples of racism in advertising. http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-most-racist-ads-of-the-modern-era-2012-6# Although it is not abolished, racism in advertising has improved since the early years. It also seems to be less apparent to the average person because advertisers have started being more subtle and careful about what they use. We still often miss the subtleties, but more and more people are helping speak up and getting ads banned. 

All people have ethical responsibilities to not use racist stereotypes in any form of life. Advertisers (they are just people after all) should be held to the same standards as any other human. In order to help encourage companies to stop, we all need to stop. Stop accepting racism as a part of life. If we want things to keep changing and getting better, we need to change and better ourselves.