Because Families Aren't Perfect

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     In 2004 the Ad Council launched their Adopt US Kids campaign. This campaign sought to raise awareness and adoptions of American teens in foster care. I argue that this campaign was rhetorically effective in two ways and a rhetorical failure in one. This campaign was effective in that it accurately depicts an imperfect family; it was also effective in that it showed that perfection is not required to be a perfect parent to a teenager in foster care. However, this advertisement failed in that it did not depict any families where the adopted child was a different race than the adoptive parents. This could act as a subversive deterrent for potential adoptive parents because it plays into the visual sameness of the perfect parents with their children.
     This particular advertisement shows a mom and her children playing outdoors. In the true spirit of All-American activities, an ice cream truck drives past and the kids beg their mother for some ice cream. Of course it's almost dinner time so she says no that they might spoil their supper. Cue dad bursting out the door and chasing down the ice cream truck. The look the kids throw at their mother before following dad and the guarantee of ice cream shows that they know he isn't perfect and that he will totally be in the doghouse for this. Yet this is their family.
     This scene serves two purposes. It shows that families are imperfect and it also shows that this is okay; these are still the kids' parents. The children even call the woman "mom" instead of "ma'am" or by her name.
     While this campaign has surely raised awareness and alleviated fears of not being a good enough parent, the issue of the lack of racial diversity in the advertisements is a sticking point for me. Every family is unique, and no family is perfect, but being of the same race is not a qualification for being a good family or a good parent. This campaign fails to take this into consideration and its only multiracial family is in cartoon form. This says to me that multiracial adoptive families are so rare they couldn't even be bothered to find actors to portray that possibility.
     As an adopted child this subject immediately piqued my interest. There are thousands of teenagers in foster care because past a certain age these children are regarded with a social stigma of being "broken" or "difficult." Yet there are no studies on how adoption advertisements have affected adoption rates. There are very few collections of adoption rates to begin with, yet this campaign claims to have placed 25,000 teens since the campaign launched (Campaign Website).

Discussion Questions

1) Why might it be important to depict multiracial families in the campaign's advertisements?

2) What does the use of same-race families say about the cultural expectations of families in American society?