The use of stereotypes in advertising is old. Ever since brands have tried to increase sales, they have made use of these often simplistic or erroneous conceptions about groups of people, which do not take into account the particularities of each individual within that group.
With the arrival of the digital age , the way companies execute their advertising strategies has changed considerably.
Instead of blasting messages out to large audiences via mass media , there is now the possibility of reaching specific niches with greater purchasing potential.
Does this mean that stereotypes in advertising are no georgia email list 3 million contact leads longer relevant? We will discuss this in this article. Read on!
What is a stereotype?
Let's start by defining what a stereotype is. According to the RAE dictionary, a stereotype is an image or idea that is commonly accepted by a group or society with an immutable character.
These images are created based on certain social characteristics such as gender, age, income level, physical appearance, religion, among others.
Although advertising uses harmless stereotypes such as men with moustaches to represent shopkeepers.
Generally speaking, stereotypes have a negative connotation as they are associated with the dissemination of prejudices about people or their roles in society.
An example is that of traditional Brazilian breweries, which often use images of women in bikinis to attract the audience's attention, which contributes to associating the image of the Brazilian woman with this type of figure that appears in advertisements .
Characteristics of advertising stereotypes
Brands that use stereotypes in their advertising strategies must be careful, as these turn out to be " segmentation shortcuts " that can communicate the wrong message to an unreceptive audience.
So, stereotypes in advertising:
simplify the characteristics of a target audience ;
They are unaware of the particularities of the people within a target;
They broadly segment audiences based on incorrect biases;
reinforce existing social roles.
Let's look at some examples below.
