The use and usefulness of the racial other: the strategic deployment of racial tropes in print advertising and branding campaigns within the context of globalisation

This thesis examines print advertisements and branding materials to analyse the use and usefulness of imageries of the racial Other in historical and contemporary advertising and branding campaigns. At its core, the research seeks to delineate both the continuities and changes in what is termed the ‘colonial racial script’ within advertising representations. The origins of that script are traced back to the 18th century and key moments in its genealogical production are identified. The thesis poses the question as to whether the concept of the ‘racial Other’ deployed in print advertising and branding campaigns has changed within the context of contemporary globalisation and, if so, in what ways?<br><br>Using a combination of critical media analysis that draws strongly upon semiotic interpretation and Foucauldian-inspired genealogical approach, the research interrogates a wide range of advertising data to examine the uses and usefulness of imageries of the racial Other. It offers a detailed analytical snapshot of an important dimension of everyday and popular culture in order to assess whether – as some have claimed – that the world has moved on to a ‘colour-blind’ era where the concept of ‘race’ ceases its relevance or, conversely, whether racial politics continue to be a pervasive dimension of current advertising media representations.<br><br>The research discovers that the strategic use of imageries of the racial Other in a range of public interest and commercial campaigns confirm the currency of race as a commodity-sign in the age of globalisation and the value that the racial Other possesses continues to hold and in some instances grow. The thesis evidences this through its identification of a number of thematically organised types of reworking of the existing colonial notions and visions of the racial Other within global media culture.<br><br>While, at a cursory level, the representation of the racial Other in the materials examined, which date from the 1980s onward, does to some extent differ from earlier ads it does so more in terms of variation than outright change. The analysis reveals more similarities than differences in terms of colonial and existing racial representations. Significant residual traces of the colonial racial script are in evidence – the legacy of stereotypes continues and mutates through recycling and remodeling. At the same time, racial stereotypes being coded in contemporary advertising language are found to be more fluid and vulnerable to manipulation.