The Student Room Group

Is this advert racist?

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Original post by AlteredBoy
Passive racism seeing as she's the only non-white girl in the picture


So what exactly would be the perfect non-racist formula for this advert? Two black girls instead of one? Then it would be perfectly equal.

Oh, but wait a minute, what about Asians, Latinos, Indians, Middle Easterners etc? If we don't include them, it will be passively racist towards those groups, right? Okay, so lets have one white girl, one black girl, one latino girl, one Asian girl, one Indian girl and one Middle Eastern girl. Perfect.

Oh, but what about homosexuals, transgenders etc? Without them this advert is passively homophobic and transphobic. Don't worry I have the solution. We have one white androgynous bisexual. One black asexual transgirl who was originally born a boy. One genderfluid Asian pansexual. One Latino transgender lesbian. One stright cisgender Indian girl. And one bi-curious Middle Eastern girl who identifies as a pine tree.

Infact you know what? Get rid of the white girl all together. Her presence in the advert would only trigger all of the non-whites whom she would undoubtedly try to oppress anyway.

There, now we have the perfect, progressive advert.
I dream of the day people won't see a black girl being leaned on, but simply a girl...

Ironically, the people who call themselves 'anti-racist,' in their constant obsession with race and perceived racism, are making that day look depressingly distant.
Original post by Dandaman1
I dream of the day people won't see a black girl being leaned on, but simply a girl...

Ironically, the people who call themselves 'anti-racist,' in their constant obsession with race and perceived racism, are making that day look depressingly distant.


This is the crux of the matter. The obsession with race and racism is seemingly very damaging to the gains we have made in promoting a non-racist society. When you spend so much effort focusing on the race of others, it becomes harder to identify with those in question. In cases of popular media, if the focus becomes on what makes them different instead of the same, the character becomes only identifiable to certain sectors of society.
the only way you could find this racist would be to desire to see racial significance in everything, which in itself is not what somebody who isn't racist sees. kind of the opposite.
Original post by De Chirico
GAP have had a huge Twitter backlash about this advertisement campaign photo featuring a black girl being leaned on by a taller white girl.

An example of passive racism or a storm in a teacup?

image.jpeg


hello,
I am currently a student at Newman University and i am doing a course in working with children young people and families. i think if you take one picture and you zoom in and look at this individual circumstances then arguably this is an over reaction, however i was completely shocked by the level of racism and mainly institutional racism that still unfortunately very much exists in our society. I think black children are under represented within media and also child literature and that has a profound effect on how little black children view themselves and as there is only one black girl and 3 white girls it could be suggested that this is a perfect example of that underrepresentation. one black child that i have been working with drew a picture of themselves and coloured them in white and i said why did you colour yourself pink you have brown skin and he said because brown skin docent look pretty on pictures. this child was 5 and it definitely made me think. I'm so glad that there is the post because race is often something we don't talk about so thank you for giving us the opportunity to discuss because the biggest problem in overcoming racism is that we don't talk about it and understand the injustice.
Original post by josieeeee
. I think black children are under represented within media and also child literature and that has a profound effect on how little black children view themselves and as there is only one black girl and 3 white girls it could be suggested that this is a perfect example of that underrepresentation..


Surely a group is underrepresented if it is represented less than the demographics would warrant. Should all races and creeds be represented completely equally even if the vast majority of people in Britain are white and culturally Christian?
Here are just a few statistics:

More than a third some 38%, a staggering 4.2 million of Black children nationwide live in poverty.

One in every three black males born today can expect to go to prison at some point in their life. *Police discriminate. *The first step in putting people in jail starts with interactions between police and people. *From the very beginning Black and poor people are targeted by the police. *Police departments have engaged in campaigns of stopping and frisking people who are walking, mostly poor people and people of color, without cause for decades.

*Black drivers are 31 percent more likely to be pulled over than white drivers and Hispanic drivers are 23 percent more likely to be pulled over than white drivers. *Connecticut, in an April 2015 report, reported on 620,000 traffic stops which revealed widespread racial profiling, particularly during daylight hours when the race of driver was more visible. *

In every stage of the justice system statistically black people are discriminated against.

In schools, African American kids are much more likely to be referred to the police than other kids.

Black children can be high achievers and we know this because hundreds do so every year. But when exam results data is compiled the statistics are undeniable: black children are trailing behind every other racial group despite having exactly the same talent and potential. Clearly, there is something happening within society, possibly the home and, most crucially, within our schools that is holding them back.

Young men, particularly young black men, are commonly stereotyped as engaging in criminal behaviour.Past research shows that the media misrepresents the picture of crime and that stories involving violent and sexual offenses are over-reported beyond the official statistics

The total number of racist and religious hate crimes across London rose by almost 28 per cent last year, from 9,965 reported incidents to 12,749.

using the term underrepresented was putting it nicely...
Not racist at all, the only people who find this racist are the ones that can find racism in the stupidest places.
I mean sure if she had a whip and chains yeah that is racist but this is just a simple pose. Been done with white people before been done with other races before. Really does not matter
Original post by Duncan2012
image.png

No-one complained about this previous Gap photo.


In that case lol I think it's because the other black one looks miserable lol if she had smiled or something idk
Anyone that calls this racist is quite clearly looking for an argument for the sake of an argument.
Oh! Oh! Pick me! I know why its racist. The white girl is placing her shoulder on the black girl's head. That means the white girl thinks she better than her, and represents keeping the black girls "down".

No. Not really. The white girl is just tall so I can guess the director just told her to place her shoulder on the black chick. Wasn't the advert of a black girl placing her shoulder or hand on a white girl or something? I remember seeing them two compared. Didn't anyone notice the other girls doing weird poses?

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