The time and space constraints of advertising and any other commercially driven message simply cannot allow for a complete representation of people from any given social group, but stereotypes can clue in to the importance responsibly. Depending on how they are formed and used, stereotypes can present problems. They can be used in functional or dysfunctional way. The functional aspects of stereotypes; stereotype is valuable to create classifications of individuals and serves as conventional characters. So, they are functional when they are accepted as a natural way to guide our expectations. Dysfunctional stereotype, a stereotype in which abnormal or impaired aspects of a culture are emphasized. So, they are dysfunctional when they are used as the sole way to wholly judge individuals incorrectly, seeing them only as part of group.
An example of a functional stereotype is that the Germans are punctual, which is correct. On average, they are more punctual than many other peoples. Certainly, the Italians and the Spanish have a different concept of time. For the Spanish, knowledge of this aspect of the German culture means that they can adapt their behavior: when they are expected for dinner, 8 o’clock means 8 o’clock, and not 9 or 10 as it does in Spain.
An example of a dysfunctional stereotype is the British saying that the French are dirty, oversexed, and ludicrously obsessed with their culture, and the French saying that the British are cold, uncultivated, hypocritical, and unreliable. Yes, the British are more reserved in the eyes of the French, just like now, Hong Kong people think the mainland people are dirty, low education level, no civic sense and so on --- all these are dysfunctional stereotypes.
However, it is necessary for the advertisements to consider the fact that the dysfunctional aspects of stereotypes far outweigh the