Racialised representations in British and American advertising

Summary This paper discusses the relationship between advertising and 'race', using as its foundation the replication of a study conducted in the US which used content analysis to examine the representation of Black characters in television advertisements. The replication facilitates a comparison of the British and American cases, revealing significant differences in the frequency and perceived importance of such representations. It can also help draw out the specificities of the UK situation. The paper attempts to convey the complexity of the interplay between advertising and racialisation, and emphasises that while such quantitative, textual studies offer a useful basis for further research, they are limited by their failure to address the motivations of producers and how advertisements are read by different groups in different places.