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Super Bowl ads to put diversity on display

Charisse Jones
USA TODAY
Hyundai's ad 'First Date' for Super Bowl 50 features Kevin Hart.

Super Bowl ads are practically an event unto themselves. And when they unfold on the screen this Sunday, viewers will see a reflection of America's diversity.

While Hollywood faces a backlash over an all-white slate of acting nominees for this year’s Oscars, several of the TV spots airing during the big game will feature actors, athletes and characters who represent a range of ethnicity, generations, and sexual orientations.

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A Pokemon ad will show children from across the globe empowering each other to succeed. African-American comedian Kevin Hart will loan his car to his daughter's date in a humorous ad for Hyundai's Genesis.

And among the images of masculinity showcased in an ad for Axe's grooming products, will be a man dancing in heels.

Get a sneak peek at this year's Super Bowl ads

“Super Bowl advertisers get that as the face of America changes, so must marketing tactics,’’ Karen Sinisi, director of sales for multicultural marketing data provider Ethnic Technologies, said in an email.  “Advertisers know the importance of speaking to the fastest growing segments of our population.’’

Though some ad watchers say that Super Bowl advertising has had diverse casting for several years, others believe that a noticeable change occurred in 2015, when images were far less stereotypical and more people of color took center stage.

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African Americans had a leading or co-leading role in 19 of 61 commercials aired last year, as compared to just two such roles in 2011, according to a 2015 study of Super Bowl ads by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.  The objectification of women in ads also significantly decreased.

Diversity "has definitely increased,'' says Richard Lapchick, the study's main author.

In years past, there were images that were "sometimes stereotypical," he says, "and that has definitely improved significantly.'

The advertising industry has worked toward making content creators, as well as others involved in the creative process, a more inclusive group, says Tiffany Warren, founder of ADCOLOR, a group that celebrates people of color working in advertising, media and marketing.

Drake appears in T-Mobile's 'Restricted Bling' ad.

When there are opportunities for diverse minds to provide input in ads, "you’ll see opportunities to increase the relationship you have with the public,’ she says. ’

It was a glaring lack of diversity among actors vying for this year's Oscars that sparked the latest debate about parity in Hollywood. But beyond accolades, there also remains a need for people of color to have more substantial roles in front of and behind the camera, says Gil Robertson, co-founder and president of the African American Film Critics Association.

“If those characters aren't meaningful, if those portrayals aren’t three-dimensional, and relevant, you still have a problem,'' Robertson says. "People need to be represented in a real and substantive way, and not as caricatures and stereotypes.''

While there is still more to be done, corporate America has had more pressure to be accountable to the public in a way that Hollywood has not, says Aaron Walton, co-founder and partner at Walton Isaacson, a firm that provides general and multicultural marketing services to such clients as Lexus, Macy’s and Wells Fargo.

"Hollywood keeps making excuses as to why they have not stepped up,'' Walton said via email. "Corporate America can’t keep making those excuses. They have shareholders. They have consumers giving them feedback on social media. They have consumers buying products that reflect them and not spending money on products that don’t. Hollywood can often be in an insular bubble.''

But not all aspects of diversity are getting their moment in the Super Bowl spotlight.  Although SunTrust has a big game ad this year featuring a man in a wheelchair, “major brands are only beginning to recognize the purchasing power of the disability market of $220 billion,’’ Tari Hartman Squire, CEO of EIN SOF Communications, a strategic marketing and employment consultation firm specializing in disability-inclusive diversity, said in an email.

When it comes to the world of media, “TV shows are farther ahead on disability–inclusive diversity than ads or movies.’’

There is also a need for more inclusiveness in the top creative ranks of the advertising industry. According to the University of Central Florida report, of the 42 Super Bowl commercials for which data was available last year, only 7% featured exclusively a person of color as the head creative director. And 81% of the creative directors were men.

Liz Castells-Heard, president of Hispanic marketing agency Castells & Asociados praised a Super Bowl 50 ad for the Mini car brand that features a diverse cast, including tennis player Serena Williams and soccer champion Abby Wambach.  Ads for PayPal and SunTrust also showcase multi-ethnic characters or  tout messages emphasizing inclusion.

Yet, "there is much room for improvement,'' Castells-Heard said in an email. "This includes the lack of representation of Hispanics, Asians, and the LGBT community versus the overwhelming amount of ads featuring white males."

She adds: Strides were made, but we've got a long way to go." .''

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