Assignment
In the course of study
Advertising for Graduates
Topic:
Stereotypes in Advertising illustrated using the example of the Citroën C5 TV Commercial

Word count: 2.661 words

I Table of Contents
I Table of Contents III
II Tables of Illustrations IV
1 Introduction 1
2 Types of stereotypes used in advertising 2
2.1 Children in Advertising 2
2.2 Men in Advertising 2
2.3 Women in Advertising 3
2.4 Ethnic Stereotypes 3
3 Use of Ethnic Stereotypes in Advertising 4
4 Example: TV Commercial of The Citroën C5 4
5 Conclusion and Controversy 8
III References V
IV Appendix VI

II Tables of Illustrations
Illustration 1: Citroën C5 advertisement 1/5 5
Illustration 2: Citroën C5 advertisement 2/5 6
Illustration 3: Citroën C5 advertisement 3/5 7
Illustration 4: Citroën C5 advertisement 4/5 7
Illustration 5: Citroën C5 advertisement 5/5 9

1 Introduction

“The human being learns with his mind to view huge parts of the world, he never before saw, touched, smelled, heard or could have remembered. In his head gradually he creates a picture of the world which is out of his reach according to his own taste.”1 Lippmann
Stereotypes and clichés are parts of our daily life and as the quote of Lippmann indicates they are images created in the minds of people. Often they are negatively related and not adjusted to living in a multicultural society or globalised world where it should be more important to have individual opinions. Quite often stereotypes ensue from assumptions and prejudices people have against others, sometimes they might be proven by personal experience. However, most of the times people know certain clichés, stereotypes or prejudices about people of a foreign country, region within a country or a particular population of a city before they have ever met them. In Europe there are lots of examples regarding stereotypes and/or prejudices: Germans are supposed to be hard working, boring and without any sense of humour, Italians are supposed to be lazy but gifted with a lot of temperament, French people are known to be very emotional and cannot park a car properly without hitting other vehicles surrounding them, Russian people are supposed to drink too much vodka, and last but not least the Australians are famous for their Barbeques.
In marketing, stereotypes are of great importance as well. Advertisements often use signs and symbols in order to convey certain images, emotions or associations. Due to the short time frame advertising has to communicate its contents expeditiously and clearly, stereotypes are particularly suitable for this purpose. Culturally developed and simplifying mechanisms, stereotypes enable the recipient to create associations quickly.2
The following assignment deals with stereotypes in advertising. Therefore, different types of stereotypes will be explained. Accordingly, the focus will be set on ethnic stereotypes in advertising accompanied by an example of an advertisement from a French car manufacturer using German stereotypes, the Citroën C5.

2 Types of stereotypes used in advertising

Stereotypes can be used in several ways in advertising. Marketers use stereotypes in order to make the advertised product unique and more identifiable for the target group. Therefore, stereotypes are used to address the needs of the target market for a product and to add humor to the advertisement. Most stereotypes are based on gender or ethnical characteristics. In the following the major types of stereotypes will be described.3
2.1 Children in Advertising

Children are often used in advertising to promote toys. Boys facilitate a tough and adventurous character whereas girls convey more daintiness and femininity. Therefore, many boys play part in advertisements, which promote toys like cars, castles or mountain bikes. Customers also refer certain colors like blue, grey or black to boys. Thus, advertising with boys usually contains these colors. Gils normally take part in advertising for