While the advertising industry has made strides to diversify its content in the past few decades, the representations are far from perfect. Trends that were prevalent in 1960s and 1970s advertisements are still present today, just in more subtle ways. The sources below provide links to current issues in the advertisement industry surrounding female representation and racial diversity, and the harmful effects that whitewashing and stereotypes still have today. 

1. The US struggle for diversity, read article here

2. Criticism of Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign and its lack of diversity when defining “real beauty”

• “Why People Hate Dove’s ‘Real Beauty Sketches’ Video” here
• ” Dove’s Fake New ‘Real Beauty’ Ads” here

3. Dove’s “Racist Ad” controversy here

4. Erasure of African American women in Pepsi’s ad

• Ad can be viewed here
• Ad criticism article here

5.  African American women stereotypes, read article here

1. The issue surrounding body image and ad photoshopping

• “Is Photoshop Destroying America’s Body Image?” here
• “Survey Proves We Still Really Need to Talk About Photoshop” here (tip: scroll down to the bottom for a powerful model photoshopping video) 

2. Advertising’s effect on eating and body image, read article here

3. Unattainable beauty standards in today’s media, read article here 

4. Body image and advertising, read article here