Racism (and sexism) in UK Media
This advert for Frosties, set supposedly in Tibet, is running again. It makes me cringe every time it comes on. To my mind, it's racist because it (wrongly) portrays a common Eastern stereotype of martial-arts monks, paying no attention to cultural detail. It doesn't treat Tibetans as people, it treats them as Comedy Monks.
There's an advert for Birds Eye Salmon Fingers which features a salmon fish finger, voiced by a woman, dropping her breadcrumb 'clothes' to reveal her pinkness to two cod fish fingers which are voiced by men. The parody is of strip tease. The advert, by focusing on the differences of the new salmon fish finger, very subtly underlines that the default is a) white and b) male. It also reinforces that women=sex. You get a double helping of white male privilege in one very short advert - it's efficient.
Lastly is This advert for Phileas Fogg Sea salt and Black Pepper crisps. It shows Fantasy Indonesians swaying about prettily on long poles, like a circus act, before running to put peppercorns into little baskets suspended beneath hot-air style balloons to send aloft to Phileas Fogg. At one point, a child is about to be borne aloft too, but is grabbed by the ankle and brought back to earth. A warm, reassuring voice tells us this is to make sure the taste is authentic. Here is actual pepper being harvested, so just how 'authentic' is the product the advert so 'authentically' portrays? In making the harvest seem so (literally) magical, it dehumanises Indonesians, making them into fantasy creatures, more like fairies than human beings.
So what? So, this is how advertising very, very subtly tells people that non-white people are 'other'. That to be white is to be human, or at least normal, and to not be white, is not. It's racism, but it's so subtle that it can be frustrating to fight against - over-reaction is a likely response to saying this, here, is a tiny example of a poisonous whole. It's not (EPITHET) GO HOME spray-painted on a fence, but it's a subtle way of conveying the same message: You non-whites don't belong here. We don't value you, but we will use your culture as we see fit. You're not Real People. This isn't exactly welcoming or inclusive. Each advert is a tiny drop that helps make a vast sea of white privilege. Privilege those of us who are white can't see, because we're swimming in it - we've been systematically taught that these sorts of portrayals are okay.