Racism, then, and now

Almost twenty years ago, Benetton Clothing’s “Hearts” Print Ad won the Cannes Lions 1996 Press Gold award when it featured these 3 hearts in an effort to open people’s eyes and speak to the “heart” of the matter.Steven Heller’s recent post for the Daily Heller, Institutional Racism, featured ads from the past century, including a beautifully rendered wood-cut illustration of a slave worker in front of a steamship for “Old Plantation” coffee. Heller talked about how commonplace these stereotypical images were in consumer advertising and packaging and how they undoubtedly influenced the perceptions of many white adults and children.Heller’s post shows ads from the first half of the twentieth century, all prior to the 1970s. An article published just a few years ago on Business Insider, “The 10 Most Racist Ads of the Modern Era,” lists the most offensive ads in contemporary times. Among the winners are Ashton Kutcher’s “Brownface” debacle for PopChips, Sony’s “White is Coming” PSP billboard, and Mary J. Blige’s offensive Burger King commercial for fried chicken.Last week’s Daily Heller post, “Jews Need Not Apply,” is about an ad placed this past week by a Paris-based SNL studio looking for a graphic designer which said, “if possible not be a Jew.”Unfortunately, sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same.Sources:http://www.printmag.com/daily-heller/institutional-racism/http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-most-racist-ads-of-the-modern-era-2012-6?op=1http://www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/the-14-strongest-anti-racism-ads-of-the-last-20-years#.xeoGoDWdKhttp://www.printmag.com/daily-heller/jews-need-not-apply/http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints/benetton-clothing-hearts-429905/