This study examines the effects of size and wealth of the black audience on minority representation in 88 popular national magazines. We find that 1) size and wealth of the black audience are positively associated with greater representation of blacks in feature articles, on covers and in advertisements; 2) as size and wealth of the black audience increases, so do Stereotypie role-portrayals of blacks and 3) magazines with primarily white audiences are especially likely to depict black Americans in Stereotypie roles. Ironically, we conclude that increased representation of blacks in popular magazines is actually counterproductive, because it reproduces stereotypes that are limiting for the black community.
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