Importance of choosing the correct target audience

When selecting the target audience of the media product you want, it is extremely important that you get it right. This is because the message that is then conveyed is in the name of your company and reputation is everything in a competitive advertising world. Brands cannot afford to get it wrong as there are always companies looking for gaps in the market, ready to take any spotlight of the larger companies making mistakes. A prime example of this would be a Dove Moisturiser advert that came out earlier this year that conveyed a potentially racist message to the mass audience of all ages. Below is a screenshot from the advert.
                                                                                                                                                                                           
My first reaction to seeing this advert was:
This advert conveys a racist message to the audience; it is implying the before and after effects of using Dove body lotion. It is suggesting that the black woman is 'dirty' and that after using the Dove moisturiser, she will be 'cleansed' and 'white'. This portrays black people in a negative light with pejorative connotations in contrast to the white woman being advertised. It may not be intentionally racist however this is the subliminal message that is coming across in this image.

Other ideas from members of my class included:

• indirect discrimination- implying a change of skin tone after use
• could lead to more casual racism in society 

Big brands can be heavily impacted by complaints of adverts and the wrong message being portrayed because of the mass audience they publicise to. Everyone has the power to contribute their opinion about media products by reporting it to the ASA- Advertising Standards Agency and sometimes it's even just other companies waiting for others to make mistakes so that they can capture the audience and portray a big brand in a negative light to gain millions of pounds.

Times have changed and gradually society has become more aware of racism, sexism, homophobia etc. This can be seen when looking at ads from the past and comparing them to ads currently in the media. Issues are looked over much more carefully in recent times since filtering and censorship has become relevant. Here is an example of an old advert published in attempt to advertise soap. This would not have been flagged up as racist back when it was published and people may not have even noticed the discrimination present in it, despite the blatant derogative connotations surrounding the image and the caption.

I want to ensure that when I am carrying out my ancillary tasks and creating my short film, that I have chosen the correct target audience and that I do not portray any of the demograph in a bad light. This is significant because I need to make sure that my message is displayed well, however this can not be done using pejorative connotations as that would put my short film in a negative light for doing so. No good marketing/advertising companies should feel the need to cause offence to anyone if their product is good enough. If not then it should be rethought as, being disrespectful to people of any age, gender, race etc is no longer tolerated in today's society and it will be rejected.