Racist or Trivial?

Here we have a billboard that was created for the new white version of Sony's PSP and PS3. As many of us know, these products were first marketed as a black product (the actual color of the device) and now, they seem to be coming out with a white version as well.

As the image shows, this ad consists of a white female, dressed completely in white, with her hair colored white as well, as she is seemingly grabbing a black man, dressed completely in black, by his face. The woman is obviously the focus of the image, as she is brighter, bigger, and more in the foreground that the black man who is hardly visible and has been placed in a way as to make it seem as if he has a smaller stature than she does.

Interestingly, this add goes against one ideological grain, in that it depicts a woman as the strong figure, where in many media images, we might expect the opposite. But, there is a very strong ideological issue here in the portrayal of black vs. white. As mentioned before, the white woman holds the power here, and the ad makes it seem as if she is the "better" choice. Just as in the marketing plan for this product, the company is trying to push their new white device onto the market, showing that it is the new and better model. The choice that has been made in making this particular image for ad purposes is incredible. Millions will likely see it, and millions will be told that white is better than black. When will this nonsense end?