Latino Film Fest Mocks Stereotypes With Ads

The New York International Latino Film Festival has been running ads using Latino stereotypes in order to highlight them as the festival ramps up for its event this year. The festival, according to its website and Facebook page:

Launched in 1999, the New York International Latino Film Festival (NYILFF) is now the premier Urban Latino film event in the country. The NYILFF’s mission is to showcase the works of the hottest emerging Latino filmmaking talent in the U.S. and Latin America, offer expansive images of the Latino experience, and celebrate the diversity and spirit of the Latino community.

A story in The New York Times notes that the ads for the festival were created to be thought-provoking when it comes to the images in the media of Latinos:

To poke fun more directly at Latino stereotypes, some of the print ads feature graphics that chart things like the roles of Latinas in movies. The chart shows the “maid” category as the highest by far, beating out surgeon, judge, architect and entrepreneur. A similar chart illustrating the gardener’s name in a movie shows the names José, Ramón and Juan dominating the name Steve.

There are also video ads running in anticipation of the August 15-21 festival. To see more of the Times story click here.

As a student of how Latinos are depicted in the media, I think ads of this type are great. When I was in college I studied  the effects of media portrayals on racist assumptions, and let me tell you, they are powerful. So when you see images in the media that turn things like this on their head, at least it’s helping to give pause to people and question their own perceptions. I mean, it’s a heck of a lot better than ads depicting Puerto Ricans as drunks after all, right?

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD