Not sure this is really a fair comparison--these ads are not really "equal" but NOT because of the skin color...but because one shows a "reader" while the other does not--the fact that they happen to be of different complexions was of no consequence to me--I gravitated to the one which showed a "reading woman." It just so happened that she is light-skinned...I would be very interested to see what the response would be if they were BOTH presented as "readers"...