How bad are Stereotypes in the media

I was thinking that most of my life I have believed in the assumption that stereotypes are always wrong and that they produce a big damage to society and to victim groups. But then I realized that this might not be always true. Stereotypes under certain circumstances can lead to a better understanding of other cultures and groups when there is no a previous idea about them. Actually, I think that what is bad, is not the stereotypes, it is actually the fact that some people do not have the ability to analyze them. Some people start believing that stereotypes are true, but when they found someone coming from a different background victim of any kind of stereotypes, they soon realize that the stereotypes were not true. I think that is actually very few people who insist in stereotyping. Keeping stereotypes just mean to me ignorance given the lack of contact with different groups of people. There are also many who will interiorize the stereotype and start behaving in a way according to the stereotype of their ethnic, religious or gender identity and this is because of the lack of critical analysis in people.

So, what are the benefits of stereotypes in the media? If we train our critical thinking we would be able to learn from the stereotypes portrayed in the media, avoiding making generalization, but seeing what values an cultural elements of a group can be identified, and the improving our knowledge about the identity of the group. Probably one of the cases of stereotyping that I remember the most is the case of Speedy Gonzales. This is one animated character of a Mexican mouse created by the Warner Brothers. He is always wearing a Mexican folkloric hat and saying Spanish phrases.  Speedy is clearly a stereotype of Mexicans who live in the border locations like Tijuana and for some fans of the political correctness might result offensive. However, Speedy had a great impact in divulging cultural elements of the Mexican society. Probably after this animated cartoon many American are able to tell how the national costume of Mexico looks like.