More ‘racism’

Following on from that VW commercial we have a new American ad for a massive brand that is ‘racist’:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8-SaUrvQck

It’s just been pulled, apologies all round etc.

I have to say that although I see what the racism-accusers are saying, I find its offensiveness more obscure.

The problem is that it reinforces stereotypes (black criminals, white victim etc.), but I was too busy watching the strange and somewhat disturbing goat to notice all that.

Back in ‘the day’ (1996?) there was a poster campaign that depicted several fake ads where a white person was gaining some advantage over a black person (one for a recruitment company showed a white woman climbing over a black man to ascend a ladder). These were then revealed to be fake, along with an accusation that if you saw them and didn’t report the ‘racism’, you too were racist. Well, I didn’t see/report the racism because I didn’t see black and white people, I just saw people, and therefore saw no problem. Maybe that makes me a lazy observer of latent racism but I’m unconvinced.

So back to the goat ad: I just saw a situation and some people (and a goat). The skin colour didn’t occur to me as problematic because it didn’t occur to me at all. There are many depictions of black people as criminals. Many black people are convicted criminals. Many white people are convicted criminals. I suppose the racism-accusers would have been OK with a white line-up and a black victim. I just don’t think I’d have noticed either way.

But I’d love to hear what you think, dear reader.