by Latoya Peterson
Deesha sent in these two ads for the skin-lightening product Fair and Lovely. Targeted to the Indian market, the ads promise job advancement (and the perception of beauty) after you lighten your skin by a few shades.
This ad is in English:

Notice, when the actress mentions that four is her lucky number, they […]

by Guest Contributor HighJive, originally published at MultiCultClassics
To commemorate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, it seems appropriate to note the debate ignited by Chicago Sun-Times advertising columnist Lewis Lazare. The writer recently criticized a new commercial for Quiznos starring an Asian American woman working at a Laundromat. Created by Cliff Freeman Advertising, it can be […]

by Guest Contributor HighJive, originally published at MultiCultClassics

Way back in Essay Fourteen (March 2005), MultiCultClassics noted DiversityInc.com called out Advertising Age and Adweek for the publications’ lack of minority representation in editorial content. Why, MultiCultClassics even generously offered suggestions in Essay Seventeen.
Since then, Advertising Age has shown dramatic progress. The enterprise has provided consistent, detailed […]

by Latoya Peterson
Reader Omer sent along an interesting post from Towleroad, which discusses some very provocative images being used by Hanes to promote their new tagless underwear line in India. Here is one of the images:

Other (NSFW) images and analysis after the jump.

by Guest Contributor Brigitte, originally published at Make Fetch Happen
I’d noticed these Old Navy ads a few days ago. First because the dark skinned model in the ads, Nina Keita, has been featured in quite a few Old Navy ads recently and second, because her “love interest” in the ad is white.
I guess I’m so […]

by guest contributor HighJive, originally published at MultiCultClassics

The General Market ad shows the Kleenex being hurled like a snowball. The Latino version? A soccerball, of course.

by Racialicious Special Correspondent Latoya Peterson

Fast Company recently profiled Alicia Morga, founder and CEO of online-marketing firm Consorte Media.
The opening paragraphs of the article reveal exactly what is wrong with the advertising industry:
Every marketer, pollster, and advertiser knows this much about Hispanics living in the United States: They are deeply family oriented, and their families […]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
It was just Thursday when we wondered why fashion designers and editors don’t seem to be able to use models of color without exoticizing/exploiting their race or culture. And last summer, we discussed Vogue’s obsession with romanticizing colonized Africa and Asia.
Folks at Hermes must have been reading closely because they managed to […]

by guest contributor Brigitte, originally published at Make Fetch Happen
Last season Vivienne Westwood raised a few eyebrows when she publicly lambasted fashion editors, calling them racist for refusing to use black models on their pages. Westwood even went as far as to call for an affirmative action of sorts, to force editors to use a […]

by Racialicious special correspondent Wendi Muse
A few weeks ago, while walking along the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, a well-known strip for the burgeoning fashionista or the credit card terrorist, I stopped dead in my tracks. Though normally oblivious to any movement around me on the streets near my office, especially as most of […]

Bud Light Super Bowl Ad: Immigrants with Carlos MenciaAdd to My Profile | More Videos

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
You all were right about that. *shudder*

SalesGenie Superbowl Commercial: Boss Threatens to Fire SalesmanAdd to My Profile | More Videos
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Wow, my inbox was flooded last night with emails decrying this SalesGenie.com ad that aired during the Superbowl last night.
What do you all think of the ad?

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Those of you who will be watching the Superbowl this weekend should brace yourself for this stinker of an ad from Taco Bell. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
(Hat tip to MultiCultClassics)

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
We’ve been pretty critical of American Apparel on this site for its exoticization of multiracial people, its pseudo-pornographic ads, and founder Dov Charney’s overall ickiness.
But what do you think about their latest ad campaign (click pic for full-size image), which deals with the immigration issue? From The New York Times:
…The black-and-white quarter-page […]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Black girls and other thongs?? WTH?
(Screenshot from my gmail account.)