The subjective nature of perception is demonstrated by a controversial advertisement
developed for Benetton. Because a black man and a white man were handcuffed
together, the ad was the target of many complaints about racism after it appeared in magazines and on hoardings, even though the company has a reputation for promoting racial
tolerance. People interpreted it to mean that the black man had been arrested by a white
man.1
Even though both men are dressed identically, people’s prior assumptions shaped
the ad’s meaning. Of course, the company’s goal was exactly that: to expose us to our
own perceptual prejudice through the ambiguity of the photo.