Racism and stereotypes in advertising

In the past, advertising was extremely racist and was almost accepted in morality. Fortunately in modern times, attitudes have come a long way to counteract this phenomenon in advertising. Nevertheless, there are still traces of this outdated mindset that focuses on cliches and stereotypes. Because racism takes many forms, it can be viewed in several recent ads.

If you think the era of political correctness has taught advertisers to create campaigns that are more sensitive and intelligent, think again. They are still quite happy to play into fears and stereotypes associated with race. While political ads are notoriously racist and while some ads are sneakily suggestive, others are almost unbelievably shameless. 

Although some people claim that racism no longer exists, its presences can still be traced in modern society. This video displays racist advertising images that continue to dehumanize African Americans and other minorities. 

For example, images portraying African Americans as savage-like angry athletes that perpetuate pre-established stereotypes of them in American history currently circulate the media. This situation is troubling and distressing because society has unconsciously learned to normalize racist images such as these. It comes to show that it’s not that racism does not exist, simply, society has learned to turn a blind eye to the social injustices affecting minority groups.Keep in mind that these are just a small selection of the many racist ads that have shamefully been allowed to air. 



In 2007, Intel initiated a scandal with the poster below, This poster refers to slaves around a white master.

Unfortunately racism is a very complicated issue, noticeable, is something you see every day, everywhere and although every day we work to eradicate it completely, through advertising campaigns against racism, seeking to raise awareness, not something you can remove from one day to another. Only if we work together we can reduce somewhat this topic

Language Loss

Many years ago the different Empires’ consolidation took place; among these there were two big Empires that spread their legacy around the world. The Spanish Empire took over territories and populations which inhabited the subcontinent known as South America, whereas the British Empire (European continent) strategically conquered many places in Africa, Asia and even North America, today known as the United States.

                                    

Clearly the winners by making these emancipatory trips were the Empires previously mentioned, and if so, how is that in some places people barely resisted their arrival? Well, they have been projecting an imaginary reality to aborigines, stating that this colonization was and is necessary for them, and assuring them that they will join the peaceful world we live in and will be fairly treated. Anyway I don’t think they believe in those words anymore.

Despite I already knew a little of these events I had never wonder about the situation they face nowadays.

There is a theory that remains the existence of six thousand spoken languages but half of the world's known languages are expected to die within this century mainly because some of these languages have just a single living speaker or they are spoken only by elders and not learned by children. As an example we can consider the case of Rapa Nui language, they were not used to teach their children the native language at school but this has been changing through the years. American and African countries went through this situation but they realized how important it was to keep their roots alive.

Talking about Chile, only four out of the eight natives languages ​​are spoken by less than one third of the adult population. On twenty-ninth February we celebrate the international day of the mother tongue. But most of us do not know about it. The government has implemented certain recovery and integration programs but is this enough? Do they really want to comply with what native people are asking, which are more opportunities and above all never forget where we come from?

      

                           “Globalization: another factor that contributes to cultural diversity loss”

Here I post a video where a specialist mentions a really important possibly consequence: the loss of diversity, and some quotes that in my opinion express deep reflections, certainly worth it to hear and read.

“Language loss has a profound impact on indigenous and minority communities and revitalization and maintenance efforts by concerned people can make a big difference in the way the community values not only its language but, even more, its entire culture.

Preservation [...] is what we do to berries in jam jars and salmon in cans. [...] Books and recordings can preserve languages, but only people and communities can keep them alive.” -- Nora Marks Dauenhauer and Richard Dauenhauer, Tlingit [Alaska] oral historians. (In Lord 1996: 68).

Wade Davis: Loss of language and cultural diversity [HD] - ABC Radio National Breakfast - YouTube

A King and his six´s Wives

                                                                Henry VIII and his 6 Wives

Henry was born in London on June 28, 1491, and after the death of his father in 1509, acceded to the throne. He married his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon, who got engaged through a papal dispensation obtained in 1503. It was the first of Henry's six marriages, which were affected by the political and religious conditions of the time and the increasingly despotic behavior of the monarch. At the beginning of his reign, the attractiveness and friendliness of Enrique, his love of sports and hunting, and military value endear him to his subjects. In his role as monarch Renaissance, received at his court many scholars and artists such as the German painter Hans Holbein the Younger, who painted several portraits of him and members of his court.



In 1527 Henry announced his desire to divorce his wife, claiming the papal dispensation that made possible his marriage was null. The main reason for the divorce was that Catherine had not given him a male heir. Her only surviving child was Mary, later Mary I of England. In addition, Henry was in love with Anne Boleyn, a maid of honor of the queen.
In 1536, after Anne Boleyn accused of incest and adultery, Henry ordered his execution. A few days after Anna's death he married Jane Seymour, who died in 1537 while giving birth to Henry's only legitimate son, Edward, later Edward VI. In 1540 he arranged his marriage to Anne of Cleves in order to establish a link between England and the Protestant princes of Germany. A few months later, due to unattractive since Ana and political alliance with Germany was no longer favored, Henry divorced her, and that same year he married Catherine Howard. The following year Henry married his sixth (and last) wife, Catherine Parr, who was the only one that survived.


He died on January 28, 1547 in London.

Apartheid.

Have you ever heard of the "Apartheid"? Apartheid was a policy of racial segregation practiced in the Republic of South Africa which was imposed by the British and Dutch settlers. It was named that way because in Afrikaans (a Germanic language derived from Dutch) means "separation”.  It consisted of a series of measures to be divided into groups based on their race to the South African people in order to achieve a path to "development".

Throughout the history of South Africa, this nation suffered by racial segregation and domination of the white race. But it was in 1950 when the apartheid system was adopted as an official policy that classified people into four groups: whites, blacks, Indians and mulattos. One of the first laws banned marriage between whites and other races. Then came many more laws that ruled that blacks could not vote or hold public office much less, and others that even certain areas of residence were determined to avoid racial mixing.

The rights of blacks and people of other races were almost entirely suppressed: there were several entrances to public buildings (one for white people and one for black), there passes that blacks could entering areas or areas of white and vice versa, and education course was not equal for everyone (It was banned for black people).

There was reluctance on the part of black people but also white minority. One of the main groups that opposed Apartheid was led by Nelson Mandela: the African National Congress. Unfortunately, the resistance suffered several hard blows when the March 21, 1960 the police opened fire killing 69 protesters.

South Africa had to wait February 1990, when Frederik De Klerk became president and announced that it would begin a process of elimination of discriminatory laws and lift the ban against banned political parties including the main and most significant black opposition party), which had been declared illegal 30 years before, ending apartheid.

Do you think that discrimination suffered by South Africa is the same or less severe than happens in Chile with gays or foreigners?

Michael Bublé - "Home"

This is one of my favorite songs.

"Home" by Michael Buble.

Michael Bublé  is a Canadian vocalist, song writer and actor. He was born in September 9, 1975. He has won several awards, including three Grammy Awards. “Home” is from albulm “It’s Time,was released 15 February 2005. The album reached No. 1 in Canada, Italy, Japan, and on the Billboard Top Jazz chart.

Bublé has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.

“I’ll be home tonight, I’m coming back home”

I hope You like it.