ads are supposed to be about selling products
you will have a hard time convincing me these ads are not designed by like minded Genx and Y urbanites and social engineers
Of course. But ads don't work if consumers don't notice them and remember them. If Joe Consumer is standing in the soap isle at the store, browsing 30 varieties of essentially the same product, he may just end up picking the only name he recognizes. And I imagine that's why a lot of ads use bizarre humor, jingles, sexual imagery, trick photography, etc. These are just ways to make mediocre products stand out above the rest in the consumer's mind.
And depicting interracial couples is a great way to catch people's attention. Like I said before, it's noticeable because it is so rare in real life. It also excites a lot of people for some reason. It's just another way of making the product stand out amongst its competitors.
you will have a hard time convincing me these ads are not designed by like minded Genx and Y urbanites and social engineers
I guess it could be a social engineering project. Even if I knew the individuals behind these ads I still wouldn't be able to look into their minds and understand exactly why they choose to show interracial couples in commercials. There's no way to be sure.
But I do think there is another equally plausible explanation for the prevalence of interracial couples in ads- because it makes the ads more effective.
But even if it is part of a social engineering plot by Gen Y advertisers...why be concerned about it? It seems like a pretty benign plot. I see nothing wrong with the idea of more interracial couples in this country.