Mixed Race Couple Ads Are Cynical Black Exclusion

Mixed-race couple ads pretend to be inclusive of Black people. But in reality, they are cynical Black exclusion.

Companies today are facing two opposite demands when it comes to ads. The norms of our time require that commercials be more diversified; that they include more Black people.

But there is a problem with including more Black people in ads: white people (who are usually the most important customers for a lot of companies) don’t relate to Black people/characters.

That is to say, if white people watch an ad for a product with an all-Black cast, they will assume that product is meant to be used by only Black people.

So companies have two opposing needs: the need to be seen as inclusive and the need to appeal to the “average consumer”, i.e., white customers.

Thanks to mixed-couple ads companies can meet these two conflicting demands. Mixed-race couple ads meet the demand for “diversity” and at the same time appeal to white customers. That is because the white partner in mixed-couple ads serves to meet one of the two demands and the Black partner serves to meet the other need

So basically, instead of doing REAL diversity by using monoracial Black family/couples in their ads, companies use interracial couples which gives the ads a facade of diversity. But a facade of diversity is not real diversity.

In other words, mixed-couple ads are not inclusive of Black people. They are Black exclusion. They exclude monoracial Black couples. They exclude monoracial Black families.

That is what makes these ads so cynical for me. They look inclusive of Black persons when in actuality, they are excluding the overwhelming majority of Black families which are made up of…

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