Images

Not only are words powerful so are images. I thought I would check out a favorite blog and came across an interesting piece on a recent Intel ad http://www.keithboykin.com/arch/2007/08/17/is_this_ad_racist.

 I tend to agree with many of Boykin’s readers that the ad is troubling. However, labeling the ad racist may be off the mark as well. 

First, it’s a lot more complicated. I assume there were black ad executives, designers or others who missed or at least overlooked the possible problems with this ad. That’s not to say that black Americans haven’t ever or won’t again participate in racist acts—but in this case what would be the objective? 

As Boykin suggested it could be that Intel or its advertising agency “just don't have the diversity of representation that would allow them to spot such an obvious error and correct it before it ever saw the light of day.” 

At least one reader suggests the ad could also have been the result of a company appealing to its perception of the instincts of its target market “white male executives.” 

Intel apologized http://www.targetmarketnews.com/storyid08060701.htm but it is hard to imagine how no one involved in the development process foresaw the potential for charges of cultural insensitivity and insult in a photo of “African American sprinters” with a white executive as a “visual metaphor” to “convey the performance capabilities of (Intel’s) processors.”  That is not the type of savvy marketing acumen we have come to expect from top flight American companies. 

What do you think?