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Who Looks Like a Millionaire?
by Clare Shepherd
About a year ago, during the course of co-presenting a series of workshops on diversity in the media, I became intrigued by the wildly popular TV program "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" The show's host, Regis Philbin, had made an appeal on television for more people of color to apply as contestants. I found this unusual because white people, especially on network television, rarely admit how exclusionary they are of other races. It's one of those invisible privileges-always being able to see yourself reflected in the media-that whites are born with in this country. I wasn't sure if Philbin's motives were in the spirit of diversity or in the spirit of increased ratings, but I decided to do an analysis of the diversity in the advertisements shown during the show. It seemed reasonable to me that if the producers wanted a more diverse contestant pool and audience, they might seek sponsors that reflected that diversity or that intentionally appealed to a wider spectrum of people.
Such was my thinking at the time. I'm a white woman. I base my choice of television viewing on what informs or entertains me. Although I'm not sure what influence advertising has on my choice of programs, I'm fairly certain that were I constantly un- or under-represented, it would influence my self-image and self-esteem and eventually result in my tuning out the offending source. I rarely, for example, watch war movies because there are generally no women in them. I can't get a hook into the film. I don't identify with any of the characters. It's probably not an uncommon experience.
I settled in to watch "Millionaire," notebook and pencil close at hand. An exhausting hour later, I was, sadly, not surprised by the results. Of the 38(!!) commercials during the show, 34 (90%) had people in them. Of those, 26 (76%) had only white people, 7 (21%) had a mixture of people, and one (3%) had all African-Americans. This last was an advertisement for "The Hughleys," a show with a predominantly black cast. When mixed, the groups were still predominantly white. Of the seven that showed mixed groups, three were the same repeated commercial. Even an ad for "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" showed no people of color!
I made a few other observations I had never been aware of before. The greater the number of people in the ad, the greater the likelihood there would be people of color. But all the ads with single individuals were of whites only. In addition, when people of color were shown, it was often in a short scene that separated them from the other characters. For example, different groups of people might be shown in a park. A young white couple might walk by, then an older white couple might be shown sitting on a bench, and then a black family using the playground. Rarely did the characters interact with someone other than their own kind. A revelation to me was the fact that body parts shown in isolation, such as a hand stir-frying, were always white. I have noticed this repeatedly since.
My conclusion a year ago was that Regis Philbin needed to appeal to his advertisers for more diversity before he would be able to convince people of color that his show was really for them.
Recently, I tried this experiment again. This time it happened to be celebrity "Millionaire", where the contestants, no doubt, were solicited. There were three black contestants and seven whites. I wondered, since the producers and advertisers would have known well in advance there were people of color on the show that might attract a diverse audience, would the ads reflect (and presumably appeal to) that audience? Back to the pencil and paper and an hour of observation. This time, out of 36 commercials, 33 (92%) featured people. Of those, 23 (70%) showed only white people, 8 (24%) showed mixed groups, and 3 (9%) showed only people of color. There did seem to be a slight trend towards more diversity in the commercials. I also noticed that there was more interaction between people. A black man and a white man discussed investments, a mixed group of women exercised together, and a mixed group of people discussed Internet services. While one of the 'all people of color' ads was for a television show with a black male lead, one was for McDonald's and one for an insurance company. I also observed that the 'all white' ads were often for other television shows, particularly sitcoms and the news, suggesting the lack of diversity on television in general.
So what does all this mean? Well, I think the numbers reflect the belief by advertisers that people of color will respond to 'white' ads, but that whites will somehow be turned off by ads featuring people of color, especially if the ad shows only people of color. I think the way people were used represents the belief that whites are the norm, as shown by the use of only white body parts when the whole person wasn't shown. Beyond the norm, there was a strong implication that being white should be the aspiration for everyone, that white was the best way to be. I was somewhat encouraged by the increased interaction between different people from one year to the next, though I certainly recognize that I don't have a comprehensive sampling of commercials in general. I also wondered why these disparities in representation seemed so important to me. After all, they're just TV ads encouraging consumerism and materialism and trying to separate people from their hard-earned money. Maybe people of color are better off being left out of it. But in my heart I knew that wasn't true. Advertising is such a powerful and pervasive force in modern life that being left out of it (and most other media offerings) must have an isolating and disempowering effect.
Is there anything we can do about this? As consumers we have choices about the things we purchase and the shows we watch. We can start a personal boycott, write letters of concern, and talk to our friends. As a white person, I find that anything I do to heighten my awareness, both of my hidden privileges and of the reality for people of color, changes my perspective on the world and encourages me to find opportunities to effect change. Just engaging in this exercise has led to powerful discussions with white people who believe that race is no longer an important issue. Then too, as an educator, it is important for me to continually improve my understanding of all of our learners' life experiences.
And I think I'll send a copy of this article to Regis Philbin.
Clare Shepherd has worked in adult education for over fifteen years. Currently, she is the manager of ABCD's LearningWorks center where she provides education and training opportunities to low-income Boston residents.
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