Considerations on the representation of black people in Brazilian advertising in the 20th and 21st centuries

Abstract

In advertisements from the 1900s to the 1930s, skin lighteners represented a proposal for black women with dark skin to “improve” their lives, in addition to indicating racial, individual and family equity. In this way, black skin was treated by the press as ugly skin, which would result in fewer opportunities in the job market, with a preference for representations of black people with lighter complexions. In contemporary advertising, characteristics such as boldness and the insertion of products aimed at young black people can be observed, however, certain rescues of a stereotyped construction are still found, in which intellectual abilities are less valued to the detriment of bodily abilities. Thus, this article aims, through a discussion around the racial issue, to reflect on the representation of the black person in contemporary advertising, considering aspects related to the practice of racism, which ended up naturalizing certain representations that demean black people. The discussions were based on issues of racism linked to slavery and on aspects related to the standard of beauty in advertising at different times. It was possible to verify that for the black man, his image is recurrently associated with dance skills, configuring a stereotype that deprives the black person of intellectuality. For the black woman, her representation is related to corporeality, with her characteristics associated with animality, savagery, the grotesque. A social representation based on racist stereotypes was also observed, in which white people are associated with adjectives such as beauty and popularity, while black people are associated with aspects that refer to ugliness and aggressiveness, for example.

Keywords: Beauty Pattern. Black Person. Advertising. Racism.