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Who Is Marketised in Colour-Blind Sweden? Racial and Ethnic Representation in Swedish Commercials 2008–2017

Osanami Törngren, Sayaka and Ulver, Sofia LU (2020) In Genealogy 4(4).
Abstract
From a social equality representation perspective, advertising should ideally mirror themulticultural composition at the national market, because mass-mediated identity representationsmay act as cultural resources for those with marginalised identities. To investigate the observanceto such an ideal in a context where the ethnic and racial composition of the population saw a rapidchange, this article examines 676 Swedish TV commercials in over the period 2008–2017, and analysesthe representation of non-White persons of colour (POC). Through this quantitative and qualitativeexamination, we find that POC are indeed visible in the commercials, but predominantly in thebackground or playing minor roles. With the, at times, unproportionally high... (More)
From a social equality representation perspective, advertising should ideally mirror themulticultural composition at the national market, because mass-mediated identity representationsmay act as cultural resources for those with marginalised identities. To investigate the observanceto such an ideal in a context where the ethnic and racial composition of the population saw a rapidchange, this article examines 676 Swedish TV commercials in over the period 2008–2017, and analysesthe representation of non-White persons of colour (POC). Through this quantitative and qualitativeexamination, we find that POC are indeed visible in the commercials, but predominantly in thebackground or playing minor roles. With the, at times, unproportionally high representation ofracial and ethnic diversity in Swedish advertising, we find significant tokenism, or in other words,the structurally ineffectual approach common in market-based multiculturalism. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Multiculturalism, Advertising, Race, Ethnicity, Marketing, Representation, Sweden, advertising, persons of colour, representation, Sweden, tokenism
in
Genealogy
volume
4
issue
4
pages
20 pages
publisher
MDPI AG
ISSN
2313-5778
DOI
10.3390/genealogy4040100
project
The Multicultural Imaginary
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8bc82797-18f0-4657-81e6-aea624eae36f
date added to LUP
2020-11-18 18:19:59
date last changed
2020-11-19 09:32:24
@article{8bc82797-18f0-4657-81e6-aea624eae36f,
  abstract     = {{From a social equality representation perspective, advertising should ideally mirror themulticultural composition at the national market, because mass-mediated identity representationsmay act as cultural resources for those with marginalised identities. To investigate the observanceto such an ideal in a context where the ethnic and racial composition of the population saw a rapidchange, this article examines 676 Swedish TV commercials in over the period 2008–2017, and analysesthe representation of non-White persons of colour (POC). Through this quantitative and qualitativeexamination, we find that POC are indeed visible in the commercials, but predominantly in thebackground or playing minor roles.  With the, at times, unproportionally high representation ofracial and ethnic diversity in Swedish advertising, we find significant tokenism, or in other words,the structurally ineffectual approach common in market-based multiculturalism.}},
  author       = {{Osanami Törngren, Sayaka and Ulver, Sofia}},
  issn         = {{2313-5778}},
  keywords     = {{Multiculturalism; Advertising; Race; Ethnicity; Marketing; Representation; Sweden; advertising; persons of colour; representation; Sweden; tokenism}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  number       = {{4}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Genealogy}},
  title        = {{Who Is Marketised in Colour-Blind Sweden? Racial and Ethnic Representation in Swedish Commercials 2008–2017}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genealogy4040100}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/genealogy4040100}},
  volume       = {{4}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}