The Importance of Representation

For the majority of the time that television and film have been around, diverse representation has been lacking in the media sphere. Representation is important since it's the way that mediums choose to portray reality. When people are under or misrepresented, it creates a problem for all of the diverse groups of people watching. To demonstrate, I watched two commercials, and I'll break them down to showcase how important representation is.

The Axe Body Spray Commercial

This commercial was produced and published in 2006. It shows a flock of women, those who are dressed in Bikini's, running towards a white man who sprays himself with Axe body spray. From what is shown in the commercial, this ad clearly seems to be advertising to straight white men between the ages of 18-30. While the ad may achieve its goal with what is shown, the representation of the people in this ad is problematic for many reasons. The ad showcases women in a dehumanizing way, portraying them as if the only thing that matters about them is their looks, and as if the only thing they should care about is men. On the other hand, the man is shown to be the most stereotypical white man ever, showcasing no form of diverse representation and making it seem as if the only thing he should care about is getting women. This is a big problem since it gives the target audience, straight white men, the idea that it's ok to dehumanize and look down upon women. 

H&M's "Close The Loop" Commercial.

I absolutely LOVE this commercial

The "Close The Loop" Commercial portrays people of all types of backgrounds wearing clothes from the brand. It's one sole purpose is that there is only one rule to fashion, "Recycling your clothes". This is what every single commercial should strive to represent like. Instead of relying on overdone stereotypes, the commercial showcases different groups of race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, personality, body type, orientation, and disability. This works perfectly for the ad since it not only includes and represents everyone, it also gets its very important message across to everyone, achieving a new level of inclusivity and respect. 

I really hope this level of representation is here to stay.