| Due to the vast amount of stimuli individuals come in contact with daily, people often tend to look for easy-to-process cues to help them make quick judgments about what they are seeing (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). While this can sometimes be helpful, it is not always so. For example, if someone makes a snap judgment about another person based on the color of their skin, it is possible they will fall prey to stereotypes. In the case of African-Americans, a number of negative stereotypes have been perpetuated through the years, contributing to prejudice (Devine, 1989). This study sought to answer the question of whether viewers of a print advertisement would use the race of the ad's spokesperson to reach stereotypical conclusions about the model more often when he was African-American than Caucasian. Findings from a quantitative analysis suggest that African-American spokesperson's are generally viewed more stereotypically, although with more contemporary and in some cases, more socially acceptable stereotypes, than a Caucasian. This finding was not affected by the race of the viewer or how heavily they had been exposed to the media.;The implications of these findings, as well as study limitations and suggestions for further research, are also offered. |
