Race and Racism - Racial Implications of an Advertisment Essay

Race and Racism - Racial Implications of an AdvertismentThe other day, as I was trying to find a picture for this assignment, I stumbled across the picture at the top of the personals section of a local paper. On the surface, it seemed racially balanced. It certainly wasnt structured to make an outward statement about race. However, vindicatory the way its laid out reflects subtle and probably unconscious judgements of the nature of race, and how it affects us. It has small, individual photos of six tidy sum, of varying race and age. The two people farthest to the leave are a bit older, perhaps in their forties. I was not sure about one of the pictures my first opinion was that it was a young Latino man, but she is really a partially African female. In short, there was variety here. However, the ad uses race to sell by avoiding the implication of interracial relationships, present predominantly white people, and showing a mix of people from different races.The ad does not expl icitly show an interracial couple, fifty-fifty though people of many races advertise in the personals. The ad seems to avoid pairing people together as couples too much. There arent any words like escort what perfect couple found each other The people probably are not professional models, either. The implication is that the people shown represent either the people who are advertising or all potential readers of an ad that one might place. Perhaps it is significant that there is a bit of a slash toward men in the ad they are placed more to the left. A reader will generally see the men first as he scans the ad. This could mean that the service is trying to sell more to women. If so, it is also avoiding the implication that a customer might be placed in a ra... ... even though it is not likely.How many people look at the personal ads and decide not to date because they dont see their race there? Not many. That is what the creators of the ad intended. In a liberal society, people sh ould not be overly concerned about racial differences when they are dating. They should not worry about section differences either. I have heard advice that it is harder for interracial couples to have a successful marriage, because of cultural differences, but the person who issued this hastily remarked that this was the only problem, and that one says a fake doctrine by saying that one race or another is inferior. In the end, one could use this ad in racist or race-unifying arguments, in spite of the intentions of the authors. I am simply glad that I dont have to use it to find potential dating contacts. (At any rate, I havent done so yet.)