Apartheid in the Great Outdoors: American Advertising and the Reproduction of a Racialized Outdoor Leisure Identity

This article provides evidence of a racialized outdoor leisure identity perpetuated in magazine advertisements. The evidence is based on a content analysis of 4000+ advertisements from three magazines (Time, Outside, and Ebony) published between 1984–2000. Advertisements taking place in the Great Outdoors or featuring models participating in wilderness leisure activities rarely include Black models, while advertisements featuring White models regularly make use of Great Outdoors settings and activities. That Black models are confined to urban and suburban environments (within the pages of magazine advertisements), while Whites have exclusive domain over the Great Outdoors, potentially has consequences for how Blacks and Whites perceive wilderness recreation and wilderness spaces.