What I Like About Naturals in Recent Advertisements and Commercials
From reading this blog and paying more attention, I've been noticing more and more naturals in print and television ads. It has been something that I view as positive and inspiring, for quite a few reasons: it exposes the public to images of beautiful black women in their natural glory; it demonstrates that we are members of society as well, not members of the margin; and it is a step in alleviating some of the ignorant assumptions about the natural black woman.
But what I am loving most about this recent crop up of natural black women in advertisements is that we are not being limited to certain types or groups of ads.
Back in the day, I would have expected a natural black woman to pop up in an ad targeted towards black women, like an Ambi Skincare advertisement. Even more disturbing, in the past the only time I noticed a natural black women in advertisements, the ads were related to cleaning products (such as the Pine-Sol lady or the Palmolive ads).
There's nothing wrong with cleaning products, because everybody uses them. But limiting the natural black woman to those type of ads seem to illicit the stereotypical idea that a natural black women should be the maids, servants, and even slaves of the world. We all know that a natural black woman can be anything she wants to be!
But now, we're seeing the natural black woman in advertisements for beauty products, cars, cocktails and drinks...all kinds of things. This demonstrates what is true for us and any woman: we are diverse and cannot be put in a box. The Natural Black Woman can be a professional or a laborer; she can be a mother or a wife or a proudly single woman; she can party it up like the girls from Sex and the City (if she wants to), or she can be laidback and cool in a poetry cafe. It's not up to society, it's up to each individual person.
Basically, the natural black woman is just as amazing as any woman made by the hands of God!
From reading this blog and paying more attention, I've been noticing more and more naturals in print and television ads. It has been something that I view as positive and inspiring, for quite a few reasons: it exposes the public to images of beautiful black women in their natural glory; it demonstrates that we are members of society as well, not members of the margin; and it is a step in alleviating some of the ignorant assumptions about the natural black woman.
But what I am loving most about this recent crop up of natural black women in advertisements is that we are not being limited to certain types or groups of ads.
Back in the day, I would have expected a natural black woman to pop up in an ad targeted towards black women, like an Ambi Skincare advertisement. Even more disturbing, in the past the only time I noticed a natural black women in advertisements, the ads were related to cleaning products (such as the Pine-Sol lady or the Palmolive ads).
There's nothing wrong with cleaning products, because everybody uses them. But limiting the natural black woman to those type of ads seem to illicit the stereotypical idea that a natural black women should be the maids, servants, and even slaves of the world. We all know that a natural black woman can be anything she wants to be!
But now, we're seeing the natural black woman in advertisements for beauty products, cars, cocktails and drinks...all kinds of things. This demonstrates what is true for us and any woman: we are diverse and cannot be put in a box. The Natural Black Woman can be a professional or a laborer; she can be a mother or a wife or a proudly single woman; she can party it up like the girls from Sex and the City (if she wants to), or she can be laidback and cool in a poetry cafe. It's not up to society, it's up to each individual person.
Basically, the natural black woman is just as amazing as any woman made by the hands of God!
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