Are We Helping Stereotypes?
Essay title: Are We Helping Stereotypes?
An image to protect the general public of Vancouver, Canada states, “Are you helping thieves?” Showing a white thug teen stealing things from a lady who is helping him just walk out with her belongings is politically and morally wrong. Why not showing an image of an open, unarmed house? Everything is unlocked, everything is just lying out. Two advertisements trying to convey the same message can be interpreted entirely different from one another just because of the people shown in this advertisement. It is about time that these images are shown to people. It is about time that people get upset with them and want to fight back. Ageism, classism, racism, and sexism will all be tackled, and this ad will be destroyed.
This advertisement portrays many stories in concern to race, class, gender, etc. It tells stories that both support and fight stereotypes. Starting with the thief, it supports stereotypes and classifications of class, sex, and age. It is classist by showing that thieves are of a lower class. It is only the financially unfortunate individuals who steal from people for whatever reason. “The number of Americans in poverty is a group so large it would take the combined populations of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas, plus Arkansas to match it” (Sklar, 2007:117). Why is the Vancouver Police Department going to just put that much more negative attention on a group that needs some positive attention as well as some positive help? It is sexist by showing that thieves are males. People have somewhat turned their heads when it comes to seeing females as thieves. Females are given the innocent label of never stealing. Lastly, it is ageist. Teens and people in their early 20’s are thieves. Why would anyone above, or below, that age group want or need to steal anything? Again, that is the image we have been given.
The woman in this picture must fight stereotypes of classism, sexism, and racism. This woman fights classism because we see this image of people who have money, or jewelry as we see in this ad, are naпve. It is like they don’t know what is going on. This woman fights sexism because it is saying that only women are naпve. Of course men would know a thief when he sees one stealing things from his house, but a woman would not. The color of her hair could also suggest that she is blond, and we all have heard jokes about blonds before. If anyone would be completely naпve and lost when it comes to a thief, it would be the blonds. Finally, this woman fights racism. Any female other than a white female would know that there was a thief in her house stealing her belongings.
However, this ad fights the racist image of thieves. It could also be due to geography, because population variations of certain ethnic groups in areas. This ad shows a white male stealing from the lady. America has been engraved with images of thieves other than white people. People are usually fed images of Black or Latino thieves, but never white. Because of the area, a while male may be more suiting, again due to geography and ethnic breakdowns. If the case is indeed that there is a low Black or Latino population in Vancouver, then a white male may be a more suiting image, if you will. At least the Vancouver police department is not giving these people false images and just strengthening the stereotype of Black thieves.
These ideas and images only reflect and reinforce systems of power, privilege and oppression in the United States, and obviously even Canada. “We think the interrelationships among institutions are especially apparent when studied in the context of race, class, and gender. Race, class, and gender oppression rests on a network of interconnected social institutions” (Anderson & Hill Collins, 2007:268). Americans are given these images over and over again that thieves are young thugs that wear their pants halfway down their butts, undershirts, bandanas and hats. Nothing is ever done to show us that thieves exist in every class, sex, age, (dis)ability, sexuality, etc. It does fight the image of race in the sense that a white man is stealing, and not a Black man or Latino. The white man gets away with much more than he should, and never gets the severity of punishment that a Black man or Latino would. This is showing people to watch out for all races, not just one. The consequence of showing a young white male being the thief is that some people may forget to look at the bigger picture. They will forget to be cautious of other people and just see someone who fits that image as a thief.
The most simplistic, yet most powerful message of transformation or of progressive activism is stated by Elizabeth Martinez, and she writes, “Let us summon the courage to reject outdated ideas and stretch our imaginations into the next century” (Martinez, 2007: 106). This both fights and supports this ad and the stereotypes and “-isms” it presents.