PrejudiceStation Portable
(3) The media I have decided to cover is a billboard
which features two female models: a black woman clad in black garment, and a
Caucasian woman clad in white garment. The latter is depicted to be dominantly
clutching the jaw of the former while bearing a threatening position. The text
“PlayStation Portable White is Coming” is written adjacent to the image.
(4) The
underlying message that I was able to derive from the advertisement is that the
company is implying that the shade of white is superior to that of black. This
can be seen by the dominant stature that the white-clad woman has over the
black-clad woman. The black woman appears to be in a submissive-like state.
(5) The lifestyle that the advertisement promotes is
one inclined to a more technological based source of entertainment such as the
PlayStation Portable. It also promotes a preferential bias towards white over
black due to the nature of the advertisment.
(6) The advertisement makes use of the fallacy of
‘Misleading Analogy or Faulty Comparison’ due to Sony’s utilization of these
models to represent their products, when in fact they aren’t truly comparable.
Sony also utilizes the authority
presented in the rhetorical appeal of ‘Ethos’ by implying subliminal messaging
to the viewers that white is superior to black in the form of a display of
dominance as seen in the ad.
(7) The prevailing message is a negative one, the
message presented through the advertisement encourages people to purchase the
new PlayStation Portable White, but it was executed in a way that implies
white’s superiority over black.(8) This advertisement empowers and gives premium to
white people and/or people who favor the color white. With that being said, it
also disempowers black people along with those who prefer black.
(9) Despite the multiple racial accusations, Sony has
been addressing these issues with justifications claiming that the image, along
with 100 or so other photos were designed and curated with the sole purpose of
showing contrast between the two PlayStation Portables. Among these photos, one
photo portrays the same two models with the exception that the roles have been
reversed. In this photo, the black woman is depicted to be standing atop the
white woman in what seems to be a show of victorious dominance. These photos
can all be accessed through the internet and the Sony website.
(10) As both a video gamer and a PlayStation fan myself, I was initially disheartened when I came across the billboard advertisement on the internet. It appeared to be an advertisement for something that I myself own, a PlayStation Portable. As I glanced at the ad, it bore a racist feel to it. As a media literate citizen, this pushed me to do further research regarding the controversial ad. As stated in the previous paragraph, I discovered that the photo in the billboard advertisement was but one out of a hundred of commissioned by Sony to depict the stark comparison between their two products. One of these photos included the same models, but with reversed roles of dominance over the other. Seeing this helped me understand the issue in a deeper perspective, making me realize that the photo had no prime intent on being racist, but it becomes racist when the viewer themselves view it as racist.
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