Asian Characters: Shyon Baumann

Shyon Baumann: In a survey released earlier this month sociology professor Shyon Baumann and PhD student Loretta Ho analyzed 1,063 white, black and East and Southeast Asian characters appearing in 244 prime time TV food-related ads from 2008-2009, according to The Star. But there may be sound reasoning behind that domination, according to one marketing expert. Its a business proposition, said Ishan Ghosh, a partner at Toronto agency Barrett and Welsh, which specializes in multicultural marketing and A new study says whites are overrepresented in Canadian TV ads and more likely than blacks or Asians to be depicted in a positive light. Some experts, however, are divided on whether thats a bad thing. They found that whites, who comprise 80 per cent of the Canadian population, were in 87 per cent of the commercials, that aired on CBC, CTV and Global in Toronto, a city which is 50 per cent non-white. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.