What's with the Racism?

Race has a very interesting role in advertisements. In the earlys 1900's it was used as a means of selling a product based on a racist stereotype that consumers could relate to. One example is in the rat poison ad where a Chinese man, who at the time were unwanted immigrants, is eating a rat and the words, "They must go" written above his head, referring to the rat and to the Chinese man. This was unfortunately something that would catch the consumer's attention. By using race as a tactic, advertisements such as Uncle Ben's Rice may appeal to a certain social group by having a black man seem like he is serving you this delious rice and is more than happy to do this for you. This catches the buyers' eyes because beig served by a black man is something that he is used to and can relate to to make him happy. Today, the use of race in an ad has changed its purpose. Now producers put different races in their ads in order to sell their product to that community, to have a larger range of consumers. For example a new Old Navy had Lil' Kim rapping about the new and low priced winter line. By using Lil' Kim, Old Navy is hoping to reach out to the Black communities and get them to start purchasing their items. Truthfully, I believe things had to change, now most people would never buy a product that was being sold to them through racism and degradation.