Afrotizing
Afrotizing (Noun): The unwritten advertising industry rule that for every white person in a commercial, you need a specific ratio of Black actors with conspicuous natural hair/afros visible in frame. Started creeping up in the 2010s and became the holy gospel of marketing departments by the early 2020s.
The ratio can only go up, and never down.
There's a mathematical formula advertising nerds use:
• C = white people in frame
• A' = Black people in frame
• A" = total afro radius in inches
• 2025 standard: A' × (1+A") ÷ C must be > 25
• Indexed for afro inflation, 2026’s ratio will become 27.5
For example, you have 1 white actor and 2 Black actors with a 5-inch and 2-inch afro respectively. You're sitting at only a 16 afrotizing ratio and some marketing exec is gonna have a panic attack.
The ratio can only go up, and never down.
There's a mathematical formula advertising nerds use:
• C = white people in frame
• A' = Black people in frame
• A" = total afro radius in inches
• 2025 standard: A' × (1+A") ÷ C must be > 25
• Indexed for afro inflation, 2026’s ratio will become 27.5
For example, you have 1 white actor and 2 Black actors with a 5-inch and 2-inch afro respectively. You're sitting at only a 16 afrotizing ratio and some marketing exec is gonna have a panic attack.
"We had to reshoot the whole Burger Clown commercial because we failed the afrotizing test. Apparently, Karen from accounting wearing an afro wig doesn't count."
"The client rejected our ad because our afrotizing ratio was 16 instead of 25. Now we gotta find someone with a bigger fro or digitally remove the white guy."
"I swear every commercial now looks like they ran it through some afrotizing algorithm. It's so formulaic you can spot the math."
See also: corporate diversity theater, checkbox casting, algorithmic inclusion, marketing mathematics
"The client rejected our ad because our afrotizing ratio was 16 instead of 25. Now we gotta find someone with a bigger fro or digitally remove the white guy."
"I swear every commercial now looks like they ran it through some afrotizing algorithm. It's so formulaic you can spot the math."
See also: corporate diversity theater, checkbox casting, algorithmic inclusion, marketing mathematics
Afrotizing by Wing Lung and his Camry August 4, 2025
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