The commodification of racism, reprehensible as it may be, should surprise no one. These advertisements make money for faceless corporate clients and advertising agencies can duly congratulate themselves that they have contributed to egalitarianism. The images and messages cushion casual stereotyping and racialize identity. Fortunately, they are not as prevalent on Canadian television as they are on American television. I go to bed grateful that I live in Canada.

Where are the gay people? Or isn't there an agency that specializes in "them."

'Culture, he added, “is a very complicated and hard thing to understand and get right.”' Brings to mind our oh so sensitive president, who tweeted a picture of himself feasting on a taco during Cinco de Mayo. Way to go, Donald!

I like that brands are attempting to be inclusive, but there's something off/counter-intuitive to celebrating diversity by creating separates ads for separate ethnicities—and then using TV stats/demographics to target those same ethnicity. Who knows exactly what the ad buys are, but if the idea is to celebrate diversity, wouldn't it make just as much sense to run the ad with the Asian dad and kid during Scandal?

So it's o.k. when advertising and commercials obviously segregate us by race for sales purposes but then we're all supposed to pretend we are all one and the same and colorblind. Which way is it?

Does Toyota sell more cars than any other auto manufacturer? They are simply using an old selling ploy: whatever works.

Overall I think the ads I just watched here are great. One observation though was that all the ads seemed to portray 'speed' as a source of 'thrill' (the sound of the engine revving, the image of the speedometer climbing) which, while understandable for race car enthusiasts, is really not a good message to send out for purchasers of everyday vehicles. Beyond that, my biggest complaint about 'ethnicity' in commercials is the prevalence of asian females being paired up with non-asian males. It's very noticeable and clearly calculated. Some may say 'oh, it's only imitating life', but others may disagree...that viewers are internalizing the 'messages' they are getting by way of the commercials.

After seeing these ads, I'm thankful I just bought a Chevy.

It’s not a little amazing how much effort and, no doubt, money Toyota pours into advertising. The approaches from the different agencies that focus on particular ethnic markets was very interesting as well. Fascinating article.

Using race to target a demographic and sell a product has always been the name of the game. The only thing that has changed is the color and ethnicity of the consumer. When I watch a commercial or read an advertisement aimed specifically at "whites" or an any ethnic group it becomes a violation of my principles. The president of the USA uses race to sell his agenda and WE the People aren't buying it.

Recently saw an ad in NYer mag for makeup--Clinique, I think: A young, blonde, white woman applies the product and afterwards sits at a table smelling a flower, a cozy picture of her and a guy on the wall behind her. An Asian woman applies the product and afterwards sits at a table with a calculator and a calendar on the wall behind her. A black woman applies the product and afterwards dances away. I found the blatantly reinforced stereotypes condescending and insulting.

“We always make sure we portray African-Americans in a positive light when we do any kind of media, as well as be very authentic to the stories we tell,” Mr. Williams said. "Always positive", "Authentic". Pick one. You can't be real and also sanctify.

The adds are insulting and the person who designed the front of the car should be in prison.....and I own and like Toyotas. My next car will likely be fully electric without all that ugly grill in front. Get to work car makers....the future is upon us....I hope more people will buy cars based on engineering rather than paint color and leather seats....well I can dream can't I? By the way if I wanted to empress women the last car I would have would be a Camry.

They should mix it up! Cross-advertise! I could even be a category!

Only in America is this seen as a necessity....terribly obvious who we are.

Very nice idea and ads. However, people of South Aisan descent most of whom do not share any similarities in physical features with those from the Far East or the South East Asia are not always thrilled to see 'Asian' always representing the latter in the U.S.A. and may be Europe as well. South Asia and the Middle East also are Asian. Please spread the word!

Re: the Latino male car ad: the guy should not be taking phone calls while driving to start with. Add to that the old hijo-pushy mama trope and that turns me off the Camry real fast.

Just what we need - ever more divisiveness and identity breakdowns. It's good to show different types of people using common products like cars (though the ageism some have noted is striking as always) but surely the ad companies can achieve this without having to tailor make ads in this manner. It might just turn more people off than it excites.

Does anybody conscientiously watch or look at mindless commercials? Seriously folks, it is a perfect time to change the channel, get up to do something or turn off the device. Living without the noise and distractions is living better.

Since time immemorial- or perhaps the television age- advertisers have always targeted audiences based on either groups they know will buy their product or groups they want to buy their product. Race and ethnicity are just a bit less subtle. Media today use analytics to target advertising, and the advertising garners statistics. A few years ago Toyota targeted older, empty nesters for their Veneza. Ads for Barbie dolls usually depict 10-12 year old girls, although 10-12 year olds rarely still buy Barbies- BUT 6-8 year olds want to be like the older girls so- successful ad. As far as varying ethnicies/race and focusing on young- remember Toyota spent years cultivating a more mature driver and now is looking to attract the younger driver again.

While understanding Toyota's motivations, I found it disturbing that the three ethnicity-focused ads all had relatively young and male drivers from asian, black and hispanic cultures. - Maybe the auto industry knows that us older folks buy cars less often as we drive less. - Maybe they are competing for the first or second time car purchaser. - Maybe they view women as purchasers who rely on a male friend or relative to help them purchase a car. - Maybe they think that orthodox Jews, Sikhs and Muslims do not purchase cars. What about their pickup trucks? Are they going to run ads in rural areas for their pickup trucks with a gun rack and a dead deer? Or run ads in Colorado, Oregon and California with some bags of commercially-grown cannabis? Or in Brooklyn with hipsters moving furniture into a newly rented loft? Ads often reinforce stereotypes. Maybe advertisers should try to avoid such stereotypes - not by inverting them (the hispanic man who does not take the call from his mother, the asian man who shows affection to his daughter) but show a diverse range of humans using their products.

Clearly, the African-American ad was the most disturbing. Rap music, peacock, boisterous, strut? This feeds into the myopic vision white advertisers (and unfortunately some blacks) have of a community that is incredibly diverse. How visionary is an ad like this that speaks not to who African-Americans are but how advertisers would like to pigeonhole and stereotype them to be? What about, family, creative and intellectual genius, humor, community? Try again.

Baseball is favored among all Asians? So hilarious... people originally from the mainland of China have no idea what baseball is.

The really radical version of these ads would show how differently each driver is treated after they are pulled over for speeding.

What these first three ads all have in common is a sense that men are drivers and women are peripheral at best. None of the women/girls in these ads have any agency of their own -- the beautiful woman in the first ad exists only to be impressed by the man in his flashy car; the girl in the back seat is a captive audience for her father's showing-off; the man in the last ad shows how radial he is by rejecting a call from his mother. Now that you've apparently got this race thing all figured out, Toyota, consider the possibility that women are human beings who sometimes buy cars too.

Ah, such diversity! What won't you see? Anyone much over 40, despite the fact that the average buyer of a new Camry is over 50. Want to know why? Because in the ad industry there is one enduring prejudice: Ageism. Toyota says it targets "Americans 25-49". So even the brand manager can't bear the thought of pitching to the customers he's really got. Trust me, I have turned the study of older consumers into my entire business; there are as more Camry buyers over 60 than under 40. So why isn't there even one customer portrayed who's at least the average age of a new Camry buyer? Because the ad agencies where these spots were created can't imagine it. I can flat guarantee you that there's not one person with an actual hands-on role in the creative departments where these spots were conceived who's over 40. Saatchi? Burrell? Conill? interTrend? Feel free to prove me wrong, but puh-leeze don't trot out that one grey-haired VP Creative who sat in on the presentation. Show me a copy writer, AD, CD who actually banged around ideas. If Toyota really wanted to move the needle, it should've found a creative team that was forced out of the ad business when they turned 40 about a decade ago -- there are lots of ex-creatives who'd love getting a brief that read, Create a Camry ad for our real core customers: People about 60 who can actually afford a new car.

So instead of promoting inclusiveness, they are promoting separation.

for some time I've noticed (or think I have) the large number of commercials with many more black people in them during football games than elsewhere...after reading this I guess that's true...as an old white guy I do think this practice is offensive...why shouldn't everyone, watching any program, see all different ethnicities and colors on the screen?...makes me wonder, as a resident of a largely white New England state, if the commercials I see are also programmed so I see only what I might see when I wander around my state...I would hope this practice changes in the near future (though, of course, sadly I remember a time when it was a shock to see any person of color in any commercial so any progress is welcomed)...

Toyota thinks there is no "Caucasian market?" What about all those white professionals and academics who buy Toyotas because they think they're being "PC" when they buy a Prius? It's no accident that some people snicker and call that model a "Pious." How about the aging or elderly whites who think Toyotas are safe, reliable cars with a good resale value if they live that long? I mean, how can someone driving a car a good 5-10 mph under the speed limit while riding their brakes and slowing down to almost a stop at a green light POSSIBLY get into an accident? Or, as the article implies, does Toyota think that their cars are great for people who have more important things on their minds than driving according to the Rules of the Road and local ordinances? "as they enjoy separate, unworried joyrides in a Camry, until their phones ring and a reunion takes place." How many times have I seen someone driving a Toyota while sitting at a green light because they're too busy texting to move? Sure, Toyota drivers aren't the only ones who do this, but if you live in a university town, there are going to be more Toyotas than just about anything else. I guess it all really doesn't matter in the long run. Toyotas are cars for people who don't want to think about what they're driving, or how they drive. The perfect "middle of the road" cars. Yeah, drive on that dotted line...

"Different Ads, Different Ethnicities, Same Car Toyota recently unveiled four ads for the same car — its flagship Camry. Each ad speaks to a different audience, offering a glimpse into how race and culture figure into American advertising today." Header was fine, recognizing the scientific illegitimacy of the term race. Then the slide into the position of further enabling the fallacy that "races" exist withing the human species. Race used, even without quotation marks instead of the "ethnicity."

Speeding and noise pollution is definitely not cool.

How about a real world ad: stuck in traffic?

These ads are horrendous on multiple levels. 1. They rely on racial and ethnic stereotypes. Even the music traffics in them -- rap, Queen, etc. 2. They try too hard to turn a family sedan, the Camry, into a sports car. Focusing on the *red* version, quick cuts to exhaust pipes, and using fiery graphics show this nonsense. 3. They embrace driving *fast*, truly troubling given 30,000+ vehicle deaths annually. The Asian-American ad has father and son thrilled he is accelerating hard. The ad targeting Blacks has a fast car catching a woman’s eye -- yet, we're way past the point where a hot car = sex appeal! It demeans women. 4. They emphasize bad consumer habits -- eating pizza, driving to get it rather than it being delivered, speeding along deserted streets, etc. 5. They blatantly promote the hollow, shopworn idea that cars make people happy, that they stand for something beyond functionality. Promoting a car this way is embarrassing for a company of Toyota's quality. Overall, they are more offensive than the recent Dove ads, whose controversy was manufactured by cherry-picked stills. What was the point of this story? Reading between the lines, it shows that modern advertising continues to rely on racial and sexist stereotypes, is designed to manipulate consumers, and created by people who drape manipulation in rhetorical flourishes. But instead of bringing that into sharp relief, the article served mostly as free advertising for Toyota and the ad firms!