Evolution of afro-descendant representation in print advertising between 2001 and 2015 and Estatuto da Igualdade Racial de 2010: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Beyond its business importance, advertising plays an important sociocultural role by serving as a vehicle for disseminating values, attitudes, stereotypes and ideologies such as racism, but there is still a lack of studies integrating publicity and racism. This exploratory study investigates the evolution of Afro-descendant representativeness in print advertising through a Systematic Review of Literature (SRL) between 2001 and 2015. In the results, a modest volume of annual research output was found, 3.7 per year, with 85 % of empirical articles using qualitative methods (92.7%) in addition to the quantitative ones (7.3%) reveals: 1) 85% of them insists in a continuous numerical underrepresentation (average presence of 7% in advertisements), although they represent 53.1% of the population; 2) unanimity regarding the continuous use of flagrant and subtle stereotypes that lead to a disguised and naturalized advertising segregation even after the Estatuto da Igualdade Racial. The main problems and challenges are discussed and recommendations designed to guide future studies.