Hispanics and Blacks in Television Commercials

Abstract

Although there are studies of the portrayal of blacks in magazine ads and television commercials, information regarding Hispanic portrayals in this regard is quite limited. This paper uses content analysis to determine how both of these minority groups were portrayed in network television. Based upon an assessment of three hours of prime-time programming for one week on the three major U.S. television networks (ABC, CBS, NBC), commercials with blacks continue to increase (26 percent of all ads with live models) and are increasingly likely to be racially integrated. Blacks are portrayed more in large groups, mainly in minor or background roles. Hispanics appeared in only six percent of the commercials with live models, primarily in background roles. A second analysis using three new coders indicated that coder ethnicity or race may affect the judgments made in content analyses involving minority groups. While the Anglo coder produced essentially the same results as did the Anglo coders in the first study, the black coder saw blacks in more significant roles than did either the Anglo or Hispanic coder. Similarly, the Hispanic coder identified more Hispanics and saw them in more important roles than either the Anglo or black coder.

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