A brief review of the literature on the use of black stereotypes in mass media advertising, and the results of a current study in this area are presented. Data were gathered by analysis of 1,536 ads in six general interest magazines and 4,371 ads in the New York Times over a one month period, and 368 television commercials on three networks over a two week period. The current magazine data support the previous findings that blacks appear in relatively few ads (less than 7%) and then, usually in a crowd scene or an institutional ad. Newspaper data support some previous findings. People appeared in less than 32% of the newspaper ads, and of these, 5% had one black person in them. Again the common setting was a crowd scene or institutional ad. Television data showed 5.5% of commercials with people containing a black person. The authors suggest an increasing tendency to exclude blacks from newspaper ads and to include blacks in magazines and television ads, but usually in background roles. The limitations of this research are discussed. (DAG)