Presencia y estereotipos de grupos étnicos en los anuncios de prensa en Panamá Años 1998, 2008 y 2018

Abstract

The research focuses on the presence and stereotypes that different ethnic groups have and how they are projected in Panamanian advertisement /media. The main objective is to evaluate the role assigned to these groups within the printed publicity in Panamanian newspapers and if they are represented in roles that relapse into stereotypes. An integration of quantitative and qualitative methods was made in which a content analysis was carried out. This entails 360 copies of the 4 most popular newspapers in Panama during a period of 3 decades. Subsequently, 6 creative directors were interviewed who broaden the topic of the use of ethnic diversity in Panama´s advertisements. The main conclusion tells us that the ethnic group that predominates Panama´s press are the whites with 60.8%, while the mestizos have a quarter of representation. Afro-descendants are present in 9.9%. Whereas, the Indigenous group and Asians have a much inferior presence with 1.4% and 1.1% of participation respectively. In addition, these numbers in advertising is not a reflection of the reality of the Panamanian demographic distribution. Moreover, it was also shown that the participation of ethnic groups in the publicity of press advertisements in Panama, does in fact depend on the category and level of prestige of the product or service offered by the advertiser.