Do Instagram’s Ads Reinforce Harmful Stereotypes?

The article was written on June 19, 2019, by Kalev Leetaru, a contributor to Forbes, an American business magazine, and his article discusses the potentially harmful stereotypes Instagram and other social media ads reinforce, especially on young people, and manipulate people’s way of thinking.  He references people, sometimes minors, being targeted by advertisements that rely on stereotypes rather than actual interests.  He explains by referencing the BBC (2019) article, Girl, 12, flooded with beauty ads on Instagram, in saying “a 12-year-old girl, who having just joined Instagram, was bombarded with advertisements for beauty products, despite actually being interested in athletic and academic pursuits.”  Leetaru continues the article by calling attention to the ugly side of social media and that our focus on just user content is misguided.  He points out that, “social media platforms have become the hotbed of racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and every other imaginable horrific kind.  He continues, “Most of the public debate over social media’s toxic underbelly have focused on user-contributed content, not the advertising that saturates our social environs” (Leetaru, 2019).

Leetaru (2019) continues the discussion by asking many questions to society and again points to advertisers who wrongly target young people based on their gender or sexual-orientation stereotypes by saying, “What happens when those young girls see nothing but imagery of airbrushed impossibly perfect models featured in ads telling them how imperfect they are and how much they need to focus on their appearance to succeed in life?”  In addition, “What happens to LGBTQ individuals when algorithms relentlessly saturate them with the lifestyle of a different gender or orientation they don’t identify with?”

Leetaru (2019) answers his own questions by saying,

“The answer is that society is increasingly realizing that certain targeted advertising can be harmful and that we may have interests we have not publicly exposed in ways algorithms are aware of. A young girl who is interested in engineering, but never sees the advertisements for engineering-related activities and pursuits that saturate her male peers will be at a considerable disadvantage, which in turn would lead algorithms to reinforce their sexist stereotypes of what her interests should be.”

Another key point that he calls attention to is the revenue generated by advertising and how it is a key reason why companies, especially Facebook, are slow to enforce rules on the advertiser activities.  He explains, “Given that advertising comprises the majority of parent company Facebook’s revenue, it is unsurprising that the same company that touts its efforts to police user content would steer clear of commenting on the ways in which its advertising business perpetuates harmful stereotypes.  After all, it is those harmful stereotypes that generate the revenue that keeps it in business” (Leetaru, 2019).

He concludes by saying that until money is not the priority business will continue as usual and these harmful stereotypes will not stop.  “In the end, the simple fact is that Instagram profits monetarily from harmful stereotypes and until society forces the company to place the good of society over its own short-term profits, there is simply no reason for it to change.”

The reason I chose this article is the relevancy to the class by its discussion of stereotypes, advertising, and social media.  In the class we have discussed how harmful stereotyping can be too populations, especially vulnerable ones.  Per the Brandwatch (2019) blog article, 49 Incredible Instagram Statistics, “Instagram has 1 billion active users, 75% of all users being between the ages of 18-24.  In addition, 25 million brand accounts are active on Instagram, and in total Instagram has an ad revenue of approximately $10 billion.”  These statistics tie into what Leetaru was discussing, and he made an extremely valid point that young people are susceptible on this platform, and these advertisements more than likely will influence them negatively.

Personally, I also believe it is risky and wasteful for the company to advertise in such a “broad-brush” manner using algorithms that clearly are not fully encompassing of the profile, which leads to a higher potential of missing the targeted audience.

I hope you have enjoyed reading!

Feel free to comment to add to the discussion!

ALSO:

Please check out Leetaru’s full article here:

To see more cool Instagram stats check out the Brandwatch blog here:

 

Sincerely,

Stephen Watts

@jaylee4515

#COMM837S19