Smart Asian Girl…check!
Black Basketball Player…check!
Hispanic slut in mini-skirt and heels…check!
White/blonde cheerleader…check!
I was talking to someone earlier this week about the intersection of anthropology and marketing…how to market to people of different backgrounds without perpetuating stereotypes.
“How do you do that?” he asked.
While marketing should always start with your objective in mind (rather than a cookie cutter approach), there were a couple of things to consider, at least as a start:
- Don’t do anything blatantly stupid (black baby doll eating a banana called “l’il monkey?” Are you kidding me?)
- Purposely mix things up. The stereotypes in this Allergan ad for Aczone prescription acne medication are tired, and by relying on them the ad ends up tired at best, or potentially alienating.
According to Brandfreak, “Allergan has found a way to make acne fun with a nine-part, star-studded (it has Michael Welch from Twilight!) High School Musical homage.” Aczone the Musical! is now running on MTV.com, Facebook, Yahoo! and YouTube.”
