Since, well, forever, we have been exposed to stereotypes. As time goes on and social media advances, the action of stereotyping becomes more and more common. A majority of people would most likely argue that stereotyping creates negative views on certain groups of people. While this is a valid point, and pretty much true, we can all admit that we are guilty of stereotyping in some way. Even the media uses stereotyping nowadays to grasp our attention, and admit it, it works. Whether our reactions be a laugh or a gasp of appall, the reason we feel this way is because we realize it's a stereotype. Even if we are appalled by it, we're stereotyping by simply admitting it's a stereotype. For this reason, advertising has an effortless means of attracting viewers by using stereotypical characteristics in even what may seem like the most innocent of ways. Credit Princess is a print ad that was released in 2007 by Erwin Penland Advertising Agency of Greenville, South Carolina. The ad itself is one big stereotype; however, almost every viewer laughs after seeing the ad because the creators have put together a humorous piece that comes off as nothing but harmless and amusing. Credit Princess is proof that everyone, especially the media, stereotypes, and the public eye has become blind to the negative connotation that lay behind the stereotype itself. 

Credit Princess is an advertisement for Seiko Epson Corporation, a company that produces receipt printers for stores. Seiko Epson is known for the high quality of its printers- the receipts process and print quickly, and paper jams are few and far between. The point that the advertisement creators are trying to make is that Seiko Epson printers will keep the process of receipt printing at stores fast, resulting in fewer long lines and backups of customers. The ad depicts a young blonde woman, early to mid-twenties, dressed very nicely, carrying a designer purse, several shopping bags, and an array of credit cards. The ad states, "Of course she'll take her time in the checkout line. That's, like, the perfect place for, like, guys to check you out." The stereotype in this ad is clear at first glance. The young woman depicted has bleach blonde hair (far from natural, of course) and a very snobby, "I'm better than you," kind of expression on her face. She's wearing multiple pieces of gold jewelry, a pair of designer, bug eye sunglasses on her head, along with an XOXO purse. She's holding at least three giant shopping bags full of clothing and shoes she obviously isn't in need of, and in her other hand, she's showing off her, not short of six, credit cards, proving that she is, indeed, Daddy's "little princess." 

The girl is the type to drive everyone off the wall, yet humor us at the same time because, well, she's probably not the brightest diamond on the shelf. The quote next to her only proves us right. Of course she would say, "like," every chance she gets. Because no other adjectives are more accurate, right? And only a literate would associate the check out line at a store with guys checking her out. 

We all know these types of girls. Even "those" types of girls know those types of girls. Every viewer sees this girl from the same perspective, no matter what type of person we are. Why? Because she's a stereotype. She's the stereotypical "dumb blonde" who considers shopping a job a work a privilege. We joke about people like this, we have for years, but the more we consider it, the more we can acknowledge the fact that an advertisement like this can come as extremely offensive to a girl who looks similar to the one depicted in the ad. For all we know, she could have her master's of engineering degree, or she could be a neural surgeon. Her physical appearance tells us absolutely nothing about who she is as a person and what her morals are. But stereotypes lead us to believe otherwise. 

When viewing Credit Princess, nobody thinks to themself that the girl in the ad is a genius who makes six figures each year and is shopping for clothes to donate to charity. We think she's a spoiled brat, and that's exactly what the creators of the ad want. Again, stereotypes create effortless attraction of advertisements. The public eye understands what the ad is going for, and immediately responds in agreement, blinded to any sort of negativity or controversy the ad is capable of creating. 

