Racial Stereotypes in Children's Television Commercials

In our increasingly diverse society, children are deeply engaged in television viewing and their consumption of television programming varies by ethnicity. Ethnic portrayal in children's advertising is an important public policy and self-regulatory topic that may influence children's self-perception and brand perception. This research examines frequency of ethnic representation, as assessed by the proportionality criterion and type of role portrayals by ethnically stereotyped groups in 155 children's commercials. Results indicate that all diverse ethnicities were underrepresented compared to Caucasians. Ethnic representation is also examined by advertised product category, ethnic interaction, and importance of role portrayed by ethnic characters. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]