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How Media And Advertising Play A Negative Effect Of Racial And Ethnic Divisions Essay

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Media and advertising play a significant role in the persistence of racial and ethnic divisions, specifically concerning reality TV. Racial stereotyping is a common problem in today’s society in regards to reality TV, and plays a bigger part in the media than we often realize. Stereotyping individuals can be a very misleading and dangerous thing to do. It causes unnecessary drama among the contestants on shows such as America’s Next Top Model, Big Brother and Survivor, and gives the public a false image of what these people are actually like. Through the analysis of the reality television show Survivor: Cook Islands, contestant stereotypes can be seen as portrayed in a negative light to the public, as shown by the way these people interact socially with each other, and how their level of competence on the show compares to people of other races. It is important to, first, clarify what a stereotype is. In a sense, stereotyping is a way to identify groups by putting a label on certain ethnic divisions as a whole. “Group identification may be based on such factors as race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, age, physical challenge, gender identity, occupation, education, and so on,” (Lee et al., 65 ). According to the journal article Activating Racial Stereotypes on Survivor, this is what the definition of a stereotype embodies. It is the preconceived judgement of an individual for qualities they have little to no control over. Stereotyping is very common among people in

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