Netflix is facing criticism after it was revealed that it was serving recommended viewing lists to black users, with images featuring black actors even though the ads were for films and shows with predominantly white cast.
The ads which took supporting actors of ethnic minorities in order to allure the viewers of those minorities were seen as irresponsible advertising under false pretenses by many groups. For example an image of Chiwetel Ejiofor was used to advertise Love Actually, although he is the sole black actor in the film, rather than Hugh Grant or Martine McCutcheon.
Other films to be called out in this way include The Good Cop in which the principal white cast are sidelined in favor of black supporting actors, while Like Father ads replaced stars Kelsey Grammar and Kristen Bell with relatively unknown black actors.
Tolani Shoneye, host of The Receipts Podcast, told The Guardian: “It’s intrusive. It’s the dark side of marketing. I noticed it a while ago with a Zac Efron film that I’d already seen, but Netflix kept showing me it as a Michael B Jordan movie. There was 30 minutes of a romcom I ended up watching last week because I thought it was about the black couple I was shown on the poster. I want to see those stories. They know I want to see those stories. Why don’t they just make more of them?”
Netflix told The Guardian that the service does not ask members for their race, gender or ethnicity so cannot use this information to personalise their individual experience. Instead, it insisted, any tailoring of content is based on a member’s viewing history.
