Because Asian Americans are fast becoming one of the largest growing minorities in the United States, marketers have started to look at them as a prime target audience. Marketers can pick and choose how they wish to depict Asian Americans depending on their advertising strategiea. But what if those images are limited or negative?
Asian Americans are generalized as a single group, which greatly underestimates the different ways to define one’s ethnic identity. Race has long been the center of many heated debates, especially concerning its true definition. Race may entail one’s physical or behavioral characteristics…but a new definition I found focuses on an individual’s lived experience as a member of a racial group and its social meaning. Does that mean that we create our own definition on what it means to be a part of the ‘Asian American race?’ On the other hand, people may like to define their identity based on their ‘ethnicity,’ or the culture of their country of origin. And Asians in American can be US born, immigrants, or non-citizens. These complexities are important to consider.
Do advertisers even pay attention to all these nuances? Not really. Research that looked at both television and magazine ads found that Asian Americans are greatly underrepresented. If they are in the ad, they are only in particular places and settings, specifically technology, business, or science magazines. They are only shown at the work place (rather than the home) and engaging in business (rather than social) relationships.
Unsurprisingly, this is consistent with the ‘model minority’ stereotype I blogged about in an earlier post. As with all stereotypes, it assumes that a group is only fit to play a certain role, which bars their entry into other areas of society! Maybe some statistics support the stereotype (high income and education levels, people working in managerial professions), but again, it does not apply to everyone.
Theories try to explain the effect advertising may have on identity formation. First, the Social Cognitive Theory states that simple repetition, which is a typical advertising technique, cause viewers to learn from the media. Viewers may not necessarily copy the media, but images can provide a foundation and example of socially accepted behavior. The Expectancy Theory states repeated exposure to media portrayals potentially create and reinforce social expectations in others about a group. Since Asian Americans are considered “model minorities,” they will be expected to continually perform at a superior level. Cultivation Theory suggests that eventually, repeated exposure of a stereotype will not just reinforce, but will result in public acceptance of the image as reality. Lastly, the theory of ethnic self-awareness is instant and temporary. Self-awareness relies on a prime - a model of the same race can produce perceived similarity. When viewers feel similar to the model, the more likely they will categorize themselves as the same race/ethnicity as well as feel targeted by the advertisement.
Where does my indignation come from? I don’t like the idea that research shows us how limited Asian American portrayals are in the media and that there ARE theories that explain how this could affect us. Advertisements have great power to affect our 'lived experiences' and influence our definition of what it means to be Asian American rather than us figuring it out ourselves. I understand that it may be difficult for each and every advertisement to be sensitive to every single one of us out there, because it’s simply not possible. But is it too much to ask for an image to be neutral or at least show us doing other things?
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