Representações sociais dos negros em campanhas premiadas da agência Gana : possibilidades para a publicidade antirracista brasileira

Abstract

Understanding in recent years a dynamic of change and spatial occupation inherent to the Black ethnic group in various instances of Brazilian society, the present study analyzed the social representations of Black individuals in advertising campaigns that won the most prestigious and traditional award in the field in Brazil. These campaigns were developed by an agency composed entirely of Black professionals. The research investigated whether the occupation of positions related to the promotion and creation of advertising materials by members of this group materials that circulate widely in the media can generate shifts in the stereotypical representations of Black people in advertising. This study is characterized as exploratory and descriptive, and relies on bibliographic and documentary research throughout its course. The corpus consists of advertisements produced by Agência Gana within the 2022 timeframe, the year the agency won awards in multiple categories at the Clube de Criação Festival, Brazil’s most prestigious advertising competition, in its very first participation. To analyze the static visual and audiovisual materials comprising the corpus, the first methodological step involved applying a structured guide protocol (Gaskell, 2015), which gathers primary information and serves as a preparatory framework for the second methodological step: content analysis (Bardin, 1977) complemented by visual analysis contributions (Rose, 2012), considering the visual nature of the materials. The theoretical framework is divided into two main axes. The first draws on the Theory of Social Representations (Moscovici, 1976; Jodelet, 2022; Cabecinhas, 2004; Guareschi, 2013; Arruda, 2002) to discuss representation. The second axis articulates interdisciplinary authors who explore the relationship between Black identity and advertising (Leite; Batista, 2019; Corrêa, 2019; Gastaldo, 2004; Evaristo, 2018; Shohat & Stam, 2006; Trindade, 2019; Hooks, 2019; Kilomba, 2019; Maciel, 2016; Hall, 2006, Monsma, 2017, Bhabha, 1994; Carneiro, 2023), contributing to the debate on how this group is portrayed in the field. Through the investigations, it was found that Black individuals were prominently featured in the analyzed materials, recognized as consumers, and that there was a positive use of Black aesthetics in the branding of advertised products, suggesting signs of identity affirmation. However, the study also identified elements linked to hegemonic representations of Black people historically perpetuated by Brazilian advertising