Note from BW of Brazil: One of the principal aims of this blog has been to expose the huge difference between what the Brazilian population actually looks like and how its media portray the nation’s people. And if it is true that the media is “a vehicle to communicate the messages of how a nation sees itself and its place in the world”, judging by images represented in Brazil’s mass media, the push for a white future remains the objective. A few weeks ago, one particular commercial exemplified not only the ongoing “dictatorship of whiteness” in the media, but also how the nation’s centuries old concept of “masters” and “slaves” continues to reproduce itself in the social imagination. The commercial was consequently taken off the air but not before protests mounted against the images produced in the ad (see the ad and reaction to it here). To address this continuing problem, one of the agencies that released the original research results initiated a contest with the objective of showing what Brazilian women want to see in TV commercials. See the details below.
Riachuelo commercial is an example of advertising detachment captured in research
Courtesy of Patrícia Galvão Institute
Research agencies have already analyzed the gap between TV commercials and black Brazilian women
A controversial campaign by the popular retail store Riachuelo confirms the results of original research conducted by the Data Popular (Popular Data) and Instituto Patrícia Galvão (Patrícia Galvão Institute) showing the conflict between what the audience sees and what they would like to see in the advertisements showed on TV.
Conducted by Datat Popular and the Patrícia Galvão Institute in May of last year, the representations of women in advertisements on TV survey found that 56% of respondents, men and women, consider that TV ads do not show real Brazilian women.
The invisibility of black women was also highlighted in the survey that found that 80% of respondents consider that television advertisements show more white women, while 51% would like to see more black women in the commercials. Most respondents also like to see more women with cabelos crespos/cacheados (curly, and kinky/curly hair) in advertising, but 83% see more models with straight hair .
For the vice-director of the Patrícia Galvão Institute, Mara Vidal, the controversial campaign in “homage” to International Women’s Day produced by the Riachuelo – removed from the air after a wave of protests by Internet users – reinforces the results of the research. “It’s the reiteration of the invisibility of black women and the stereotype that the social role of blacks is to serve whites,” she says.
About the research
Commissioned by Data Popular and the Patrícia Galvão Institute, the poll surveyed 1,501 men and women over 18 years of age in 100 counties from all regions of the country, between May 10 and 18 in 2013.
Registration deadline for the contest “The Brazilian woman want to see herself in TV advertisement” extended
Courtesy of Patrícia Galvão Institute
The Patrícia Galvão Institute announced the extension of the deadline for entries for the 1-minute video contest, “The Brazilian woman wants to see herself in TV advertisements” until next March 25th. The initiative, organized with support from the Ford Foundation, will award the top six audiovisual proposals addressing women’s representation in television advertising.
Videos must be original and address how women are depicted in advertising on Brazilian TV. The main reference for the realization of the contest is the research study “Representations of women in TV commercials”, conducted by Data Popular and the Patrícia Galvão Institute with the purpose of capturing the perception of women and men and the gap between the wishes of Brazilians and television advertising.
The material can be produced in video slide format (compilation of photographs in audiovisual support), testimonial, documentary, report, animation, advertising piece etc. at the choice of the team/individual. There is also no age limit for participants, although the initiative has among its main objectives dialogue with students of Social Communication.
The documentation related to the produced material will be required only to selected projects to receive one of the prizes established in regulation. .
Individuals and companies – associations, registered groups, NGOs, producers of audiovisual, foundations and other organizations – private or public owners of the property rights of audiovisual works to be entered, can participate in the contest.
Source: Agência Patrícia Galvão, Agência Patrícia Galvão (2)
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