| Represent! Represent! |

I watched very little television the entire time I was in Germany. Something about watching Charlie Sheen speaking in a high pitched German voice, on a delay, was unappealing. The only thing keeping me even remotely aware of television was the World Cup, which was typically watched in public setting. However, in between the matches and at halftime I did manage to see some television commercials. From what I can remember, not a single individual depicted was anything but a white German. This also held true in most billboard advertising I saw as I traveled around the city. I can honestly say as a person who traveled around Berlin for about a month paying extra attention to its advertising, that I saw a complete lack of ethnic diversity in their campaigns.

In preparation for this trip I did read an article on npr.org that discussed the large Turkish population in Germany and a lack of representation in the media. The article discussed a phenomenon which exists in what western culture considers “racist” and what Germans misunderstand, as they consider their country monoracial. Therefore, they consider all Germans to be one race, and do not recognize or are generally unaware of the need to represent, what they describe as, “people of migrant origin.” This was no less truth after realizing that we, students of Florida International University, were staying in the very area of Berlin in which the article was written about, Wedding.

In a related blog, I discussed my encounters with a few Palestinian residents who hung out at a local bar in reference to where we were staying. In that entry I mentioned a discussion I had with those individuals about their advertising preferences, particularly how they felt they would be more likely to remember a product if they felt represented in its advertising. I even asked about products they purchased and which products they preferred, all of whom admitted they preferred brands from their country of origin. Essentially, despite specific targeting they were more likely to purchase culturally familiar brands.

In addition, I examined a global brand called H&M, and with another student, we attempted to breakdown how they managed to be so successful despite using one race in their advertising. While presenting that case in class there were students from other countries who recalled seeing advertising in their native country in which H&M had diversified their choice of models. The conclusion I drew from this was that financially this strategy must be working, otherwise it would be reexamined.

In summation, I would have to say that although Germans of “migrant origin” or “New” Germans feel underrepresented, advertisers have not stepped up their efforts to include this target. Either due to their preference in their own native brands, or due to the simple fact that corporations may not feel it is necessary as it relates to their bottom lines, I see no sense of urgency to remedy this situation. Even following our agency visit to McCann Erickson, in which we were given a sneak peak at their 2011 Lufthansa campaign, it was pointed out that roughly 1/10 images contained a non-white person. That one exception might have even been specifically targeting another country. This does not seem to be a concern for corporations selling products within predominantly white societies, although it should considering the rapid incline in “people of migrant origin.”

references:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99189265