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In this ad from Outside, IBM is calling attention to their e-business program, of which REI is a client. This ad, appearing in this magazine, makes perfect sense because REI (Recreational Equipment Incorporated), a national co-op and retailer of outdoor recreation equipment, is very popular among outdoor enthusiasts. The ad features a couple on a backpacking trip, presumably making use of equipment they purchased from REI, with the perhaps unknowing help of IBM. In Outside, the overall percentage of white models depicted in the ads is 95.2%, and the percentage of white models depicted in ads which are set in the Great Outdoors is 98.7%. So it is not suprising that both models in this ad are white. |
Outside: October 1998, p. 81 |
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In this ad, appearing on the very next page, IBM is once again touting their e-business program, now featuring Motorola as the client. This time, the ad is set in a busy downtown, no doubt because Motorola phones are much more at home in an urban area than are the REI backpacks from the previous ad. Also, instead of the white outdoorsy couple, this ad features a black female model. This is somewhat surprising considering the fact that the percentage of black models appearing in the Outside magazine is only 4.8%. That she is in an urban setting is no surprise however: only 11.6% of the black models depicted in the magazine are shown in the Great Outdoors, compared with 46.7% of the white models. |
Outside: October, p. 83 |
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In this ad from Time, GTE seems to be making a statement about their technology, about how it makes life easier, which provides more free time for us to do the things we really want to do. In this case the "us" is a white female who, perhaps as an indication of just how much she is NOT "interested in how technology works," has chosen to get as far away from it as possible by taking to the Great Outdoors. That the advertising company chose a white model for this ad is not surprising, given that 91% of the models depicted in Time are white, but the fact that the ad is set in the outdoors makes that choice a certainty. None of the black models depicted in Time are shown in the Great Outdoors. |
Time: September 11, 1995, p. 34 |
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This is another ad for GTE, also from Time, and also plugging their technology and how it makes life easier. Like the subject in the previous ad, this model does not care how technology works ("as long as it works"). According to the text, GTE phone modems have provided him with more free time which, again like the previous subject, he chooses to spend away from the urban environment. However, the furthest away he could get was a rural setting, some sort of farm judging by the rock wall and the hay bales in the background. And notice that his style of dress is quite different from that of the outdoorsy hiker above; she looks much more like a resident in her environment, while he looks like a visitor in his. |
Time: August 21, 1995, inside cover |
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