Introduction
One of the most prevalent paradoxes of modern culture is how the online personas of friends, family, businesses and organizations flood social networks with images of warmth, consideration, kindness and altruism yet in reality their behavior and priorities are seemingly different. It is well-known that Facebook and Instagram were primarily designed for sharing images, not text. These social networking platforms and others like them flood accounts with powerful images, often carefully orchestrated to create a very specific effect. In the case of airlines, the differences could not be starker between perception and reality. The intent of this analysis is to evaluate how pervasive the power of images are in our culture, and how airlines use these images to portray a reality they intend to project yet don’t support with systems and policies internally.
Analysis of the Power of Images – Racial Equality in the Skies
On a recent United Airlines flight, the myriad of images showing overt racial equality in passenger selection in safety videos, stewardess and steward selection, and racial equality in passenger service was blatant. It has become obvious that all airlines are trying to be so inclusive that the images are nearly becoming stereotypical in their own right. The image from the United Airlines site today shows an African-American male as steward, while another African-American man sits in business class. This image suggests an airline that sees itself as progressive and attempts to promote this image through a kaleidoscope of imagery across all social media platforms as well.
These images contradict a recent experience on this airline that showed how powerful images are in our culture. Seated at the bulkhead of the coach section of a recent United flight landing in New York, a young black Muslim man sat next to me. As we had been