The New York Times explores how some stereotypical images of black women featured in movies such as "Big Momma's House" are showing up in commercials for everything from rum to theme parks. Some worry such images may exacerbate misunderstanding between whites and blacks, while others say it reflects a broader acceptability of blacks in the media.
Read an excerpt from "An Image Popular in Films Raises Some Eyebrows in Ads" by Jeremy W. Peters. Excerpted from the New York Times, Advertising section on August 1, 2006.
At 200 pounds plus — most of that pure attitude — she is hard to miss.
Her onscreen presence takes on many variations, but she is easily recognizable by a few defining traits. Other than her size, she is almost always black. She typically finds herself in an exchange that is either confrontational or embarrassing. And her best line is often little more than a sassy "Mmmm hmmm."
This caricature, playing on stereotypes of heavy black women as boisterous and sometimes aggressive, has been showing up for some time in stand-up comedy routines and in movies like "Big Momma's House'' and "Diary of a Mad Black Woman.'' Often, the pieces are produced by directors and writers who are black themselves.
With black creators giving more acceptability to the image, it is now starting to appear more often in television commercials as well. Most recently some variation of this character has appeared in commercials for Dairy Queen, Universal Studios and Captain Morgan rum.
But despite the popularity of such characters among blacks, the use of the image of big black women as the target of so many jokes is troublesome to some marketers and media scholars.
"It is perpetuating a stereotype that black females are strong, aggressive, controlling people,'' said Tommy E. Whittler, a marketing professor at DePaul University. "I don't think you want to do that.''
To be sure, sassy overweight black women appear to represent only a small fraction of the African-American actresses who appear in commercials. Marketers have made strides in recent years toward making advertisements with a more diverse cast of characters.
Blacks regularly appear in commercials selling products as diverse as toothpaste, credit cards and erectile dysfunction medication. Indeed, according to several academic studies, over the last 15 years the number of blacks appearing in commercials has been roughly proportional to their share of the American population, about 14 percent.
"Over the years it's evolved,'' said Fay Ferguson, co-chief executive of Burrell Communications, an advertising agency that specializes in marketing toward black consumers. "We've come a long way in how we see black women in advertising.''
The article goes on to discuss the background of diversity in advertising.
"Some have trouble with the new commercial images in part because they are being created by white writers.
"There are images of African-Americans created for white people by white people and there are images of African-Americans created for African-Americans,'' Mr. Buford said. "And there's a big difference."
The lack of diversity on Madison Avenue has been a long-standing issue. In fact, the New York City Commission on Human Rights is investigating the hiring practices of advertising agencies in the city and is looking at how they have approached employing blacks.
Jannette L. Dates, dean of the communications school at Howard University, said that while whites and blacks could watch the same portrayal of a large black woman on television and laugh, they are laughing for different reasons.
Some whites, Ms. Dates said, may laugh thinking, "Wow, she's so ridiculous. My people aren't like that." She added: "They wouldn't consciously feel that way. But there is something going on subconsciously because that's what advertising is all about. They're trying to tap into some feeling, some emotion, some psychological hang-up."
Blacks, meanwhile, might laugh because they can identify with the character, Ms. Dates said. "It's for both the people who want to snicker and say, ‘See, that's how they are.' And for people to say, ‘There's one of us.' "
Orlando Patterson, a sociology professor at Harvard, amplified that point. "To the black audience, this may be, ‘You do your thing, sister,' " Professor Patterson said. "The white audience is laughing with her. Then they go back to reality, and they laugh at her."
But Liz Gumbinner, a creative director at David and Goliath, the agency that developed the Universal campaign, said the broad appeal of the commercials was proof they were not insensitively playing on racial stereotypes.
Noting that a black woman in a recent David and Goliath focus group spoke up about how much she liked the Universal ads, Ms. Gumbinner said: "I wonder if sometimes when you have somebody that is less conventional, they become the most memorable. We use a lot of bald men, and it's not like we have it out for bald men."
Ms. Gumbinner and Mr. Cusato of Grey Advertising, however, said no black writers were involved in either of their campaigns.
As is typically the case with racial stereotypes, who is laughing and why is complex and potentially inflammatory. Black actors and comedians have profited handsomely from creating bumptious female characters on TV and in movies, raising the issue of whether they, too, are perpetuating the stereotypes that many find offensive.
Tyler Perry, the filmmaker and actor, created a series of plays and movies, including the huge hit "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," in which the main character Mable (Madea) Simmons is a no-nonsense overweight matriarch. Mo'Nique, a full-figured comedian, has built a routine on being outlandish, brash and, at times, downright crude.
Mr. Buford, of Prime Access, said part of what makes the comedy of Mr. Perry and Mo'Nique acceptable is that it is written from a personal experience common to many blacks.
"Authenticity makes a lot of difference," he said. "It's authenticity born of having lived that life versus having been cast in that role."
