Advertisement for Strutt & Parker, a property consultancies in the UK. The advertisement was put up in the London Underground in a neighborhood names Notting Hill back in 2014. The ad was meant to reflect the high level of diversity Notting Hill was known for. Unfortunately, it was taken offensively by many who saw it in the context of race, seeing that a white man was “born” to work in this field while his black counterpart was not. The advertisement was eventually taken down.
An advertisement for the PSP by Sony back in 2006. Sony received immediate fire for the ad with many pointing out the animosity and racist overtones of a white woman grabbing a black woman by the face. The company actually defended the ad, stating that its purpose had nothing to do with race. Instead it was meant to “…highlight the whiteness of the new model or contrast the black and the white models. Central to this campaign has been the creation of some stunningly photographed imagery…”
A Nike ad released in 2017, highlighting Middle Eastern athletes, artists, and women, while also promoting their new line of sports hijabs that came out in 2018. The question “What will they say about you?” stirred some questions, but all in all the ad was very well received especially from the target audience. “[This question] is one of many barriers along with religion, race, class, socioeconomic background, basically multiple issues that Muslim women encounter to overcome and achieve whatever they seek.”