Text A

Racism and Sexism in Advertising

21 世纪大学新英语读写译教程 Book IIUnit 7 Racism and Sexism

Part I Lead-in

A. Describe and comment on the following pictures.

B. Questions for Discussion

1. Do you think women have achieved genuine equality with men in such fields as career, ideology and legal rights?

2. Do you know any commercials projecting sexy women’s images or housewives roles to sell products? What kind of products are promoted in these ads?

3. Have you watched 喜羊羊与灰太狼 ? Do you feel any sexist attitude in it?

Part II Background Information

A. About the author

Shafeeq SadiqThe son of Pakistani immigrants, Shafeeq Sadiq was born in 1977 in Stockton, California. He grew up in Stockton, graduated from high school in nearby Manteca, and obtained an A.A. degree from San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton. This essay was published in the 1997 Delta Winds, a collection of student writing from San Joaquin Delta College.

B. Cultural notes

Geo Storm:

吉优车 (日本五十铃汽车公司生产的一种汽车品牌 )

MCI:

( 美国 ) 世通公司 MCI, Inc. is an American telecommunications subsidiary of Verizon communications that is headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia.

B. Cultural notes

Black Entertainment Television :

(美国 ) 黑人娱乐电视台 (commonly referred to by its acronym BET) is an American cable network based in Atlanta, Georgia, and targets young African- American audiences in the United States. Robert L. Johnson founded the network in 1980. Most programming of the network comprises mainstream rap and R&B music videos and urban-oriented movies and series.

Part III Writing Features

This essay provides striking evidence of how advertisers send implicit messages that perpetuate racist and sexist stereotypes. His essay is used in English courses across the US as it has been reprinted in a college textbook, The Compact Reader: Short Essays by Method and Theme by Jane E. Aaron and published by Bedford/St. Martin’s Press.A model for student writing, Racism and Sexism in Advertising shows us how to organize the essay into a clearly defined introduction, body, and conclusion. The body paragraphs contain very specific details and transitional devices to add unity to the writing.

This text is typical of persuasive writing, which tries

to convince readers to believe what the author believes

about a certain issue. The text consists of 8 paragraphs,

with the first paragraph having a theses statement:

Television, magazines, and billboards no longer show

products, but rather show gimmicks in order to sell their

product. In general, these gimmicks seem to enforce

racial stereotypes and to view women in a negative way.

An introduction (Paragraph 1) is followed by 6 body

paragraphs, in which the author provides examples and

analyses to support his arguments. The last paragraph is

the conclusion with a clincher statement.

Parts Paragraph (s) Main Ideas

1 1

2 2

3 3

4 4-6

5 7

Minorities and women are constantly being

exploited in everyday advertisements.

Advertisements, though seemingly aimed towards women, are actually exploiting them en route to their actual target: men.

Beer companies have been notorious for

Exploiting women in their everyday

promotions.

Advertisements, though seemingly aimed towards women, are actually exploiting them en route to their actual target: men.

Racism and sexism must be dealt with.

Part IV Difficult Sentences

1. (Line 1, Para 1) It seems as if everywhere you turn, someone is trying to be politically correct.

It seems wherever you are, people are extremely careful not to offend or upset any people in society who have a disadvantage, or who have been treated differently because of their sex, race, or disability.

2. (Line 2, Para 3) Watching a football game, you can usually find an attractive young lady being swept off her feet by a less than attractive man after he opens the beer of his choice.

When you watch a football game on TV, such advertisement may pop out that shows an attractive young lady feels strongly attracted to an ordinary man after he opens the beer of a particular brand.

3. (Line 1, Para 4) Black Entertainment Television frequently airs malt liquor commercials directed at African-American buyers.

Black Entertainment Television, which is an American cable network targeting young African-American audiences, often broadcasts commercials about a type of beer with high alcohol content to attract black buyers.

4. (Line 7, Para 5) This advertisement insinuates that if these parts were made in an Arab country, they would somehow be inferior.

This advertisement suggests in an indirect way that these parts are not made in an Arab country, and the quality of parts made in Arab countries is poor.

5. (Line 2, Para 6) To my recollection, there has never been a major commercial involving an Indian-American who didn’t speak with a ridiculously exaggerated accent.

As far as I can remember, there has always been a major commercial involving an Indian-American who spoke with a ridiculously exaggerated accent.

Part V Language Points

1.exploit: v. to use someone or something unfairly for your own advantage（为获取利益而）利用

e.g. Christmas has been exploited for commercial reasons.

At the same time they also exploited the current political situation for their own ends

.

2. racism: n. a way of behaving or thinking that treats people belonging to some races unfairly 种族主义

e.g. The government has promised to continue the fight against racism.

The company has been accused of racism after firing three Algerian workers.

3. gimmick: n. a trick or something unusual that you do to make people notice someone or something （为吸引注意的） 花招，噱头，手法

e.g. advertising gimmicks They give away free gifts with children’s meals

as a sales/marketing gimmick.

4. enforce v. 1) to make something happen or force someone to do something 强制，迫使（某事发生或某人做某事）

e.g. It is unlikely that a record company would enforce its views on an established artist.

All have failed so far to enforce that deadline.

2) to make people obey a rule or law 实施，执行（法律、规章）

e.g. Parking restrictions will be strictly enforced. It isn’t always easy for the police to enforce speed

limits.

5. stereotype: n. a fixed idea that people have about what someone or something is like, esp. an idea that is wrong 定势观念，老套

e.g. racist stereotypes in the media The film is full of stereotypes: a stupid blonde and a

fat American tourist. v. to decide unfairly that a type of

person has particular qualities or abilities because they belong to a particular race, sex, or social class 对…产生成见，把…模式化

e.g. Homeless people are stereotyped as alcoholics or addicts.

6. routinely: adv. regularly or often 惯常地，例行地

e.g. The staff routinely ignored my requests. Health and safety rules are routinely ignored on

the building site.

7. fit in with: to be correct, suitable, or sensible in relation to something else 和…相符，和…一致，符合

e.g. A new building must fit in with its surroundings.

We must fit new buildings in with the styles and scale of buildings that have been

here for two hundred years.

8. more often than not: on most occasions or in most situations 往往，在大多数情况下

e.g. More often than not, advertising is found to be “larger than life” — it does not just “mirror” the reality, but exaggerates twists or even

distorts it. A TV ad, more often than not, is an interruption and TV advertising is essentially an uninvited guest.

9. notorious: adj. famous for something bad 臭名昭著的，声名狼藉的

e.g. one of Britain’s most notorious criminals The company is notorious for paying its bills

late.

10. sweep off someone’s feet: to have a strong effect on someone so that they quickly become attracted to you 使某人狂热（或激动），给某人深刻的印象

e.g. He brought me flowers on Mondays, and really swept me off my feet. Donald absolutely swept me off my feet.

11. be confined to: to exist in or affect only a particular place or group 局限于，限制于

e.g. Thirty years ago, legalized gambling was confined to a few states and was viewed by most of society as a “recreational activity.” A man who is confined to a wheelchair has been able to use voice technology to carry out chores around his house.

12. subdue: v. to prevent your emotions from showing or being too strong 克制，抑制（情绪）

e.g. an excitement she could not subdue

13. to my recollection: used when you are unsure if you remember correctly 如果我没记错的话，就我记忆所及

e.g. Not one of them, to my recollection, gave a second thought to the risks involved. Pray for a girl, was all he said, to my recollection.

14. accent: n. the way in which people in a particular area, country or social group pronounce words 口音，腔调

e.g. a slight American accent He’s got a strong French accent.

15. descent: n. being related to a particular person or group of people who lived in the past 血统

e.g. young men and women of Asian descent They’re Irish by descent.

Part VI Practice

A.Translation skills

1. This commercial would routinely air during sporting events, when the majority of the viewers are male.

这种商业广告通常会在体育赛事期间播放，此时绝大部分观众是男性。

在翻译此句时，要注意一些词的意义。 air 是动词，意思是“（在广播或电视上）播发，播出”， events 意思为“ a performance, sports competition, party etc at which people gather together to watch or take part in something”， sporting events 译为“体育赛事”。

2. Or, if you are lucky, you can witness several young

women materialize on a desert island with the male

drinker after, of course, he opens his can of beer.

倘若有幸，你还可以亲眼目睹几个年轻女子与一位男性饮酒者突然现身在一个热带无人居住的小岛，当然是在他打开那听啤酒之后。

译文“ Or, if you are lucky” 译为“倘若有幸”，与主句合并，这样译文显得较为简洁通顺。“ a desert

island” 是“ a small tropical island that is far away

from other places and has no people living on it”

3. This advertisement insinuates that if these parts were

made in an Arab country, they would somehow be

inferior.

这则广告暗示如果这些零件是某个阿拉伯国家制造的话，不知怎么的，质量总比较差。

原文中被动句“ if these parts were made in an

Arab country” 在译文中处理为“如果这些零件是某个阿拉伯国家制造的话”，这样更符合汉语的表达习惯。

4. The only winners in these types of ads are the

advertisers themselves, who make money when you

buy the product.

这些类型广告的唯一受益者就是广告商他们自己，因为当你买了这产品，他们就有钱可赚。 根据原文的意义，我们把原文中的定语从句“ who make money when you buy the

product” 处理为表示原因的从句。

B. Writing techniques

This unit talks about how to discuss the similarity or differences between two things. This is a very common writing task for college students. Students need to know the difference between the 2 words: compare means focusing on similarities, while contrast means focusing on differences.

In the structure part, we have listed three points,

namely comparability, features, and order. The second

point requires students to find out what to compare, and

to make sure that the discussion should be complete:

they should not talk about a particular feature of Object

One but leave out the relevant information on this

feature of Object Two. The third point can be said to be

about how to compare. It is especially important to get

familiar with the patterns of development. For example,

suppose we decide to talk about three features of 2

objects as shown in the following table:

Object One Object

TwoFeature A

Feature B

Feature C

Feature A

Feature B

Feature C

In this case, we may have two possible outlines as shown below:

Outline for Block Comparison Outline for Alternate comparison

I. Object One I. Feature A A. Feature A A. Object One B. Feature B B. Object Two C. Feature C II. Feature BII. Object Two A. Object One A. Feature A B. Object Two B. Feature B II. Feature C C. Feature C A. Object One B. Object Two

Besides the orders available, it is also important to

select the order for specific writing task. Students need

to be told that they cannot simply regard one as better

than the other, and that two guidelines may help them

in this aspect: use block comparison when not many

features are involved, and use alternate comparison

when many features are involved, or when the

paragraph tries to emphasize differences.

C. Assignment

1. Writing Practice: Write a paragraph on one of the following topics.

1) Contrast two courses, one you like and the other you dislike.

2) Compare / contrast two teachers. 3) Compare two cities (eg. your hometown and your

college town). 4) Compare /contrast two novels or movies.

2. Questions for Text B:1) What does the title mean?2) How many incidents are described in the essay?

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