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.
I suppose you could argue that in a police line-up, all the participants should really look similar, so they’re obviously going to be the same race.
But (a) these guys all look completely different from each other, so clearly reality isn’t an issue here.
And (b) there’s a goat in the line-up.
So once you’ve reached this level of unreality, would it really have made the advert any less funny if it they’d been a mixture of races?
I don’t think many things could make this ad less funny.
There is a belief among a small but not insignificant section of society that all black people have an innate tendency to criminality.
This ad reinforces that predjudice in a fairly gratuitious way.
In my view, that’s quite an unfortunate outcome for an ad aimed at impressionable young minds.
Black people don’t need to be treated as sacred cows in advertising – see Skittles ‘Midas’ – but we can’t pretend there is not a social context for the work we produce.
Everyone’s offended on someone else’s behalf rather than actually finding anything offensive themselves.
It’s like when you try to do market research and everyone starts talking about what other people will think rather than what they see and think.
I don’t know if this is a heightened emotional state where people’s empathic reactions are overriding their own opinions. It could be a kind of politically correct brainwashed reaction where upon seeing something people automatically scan it for potential offense before forming an opinion. It’s probably somewhere in between.
I agree with you in as much as racism rarely occurs to me anymore – unless I’m at a football match or somesuch.
Just a shit ad. Maybe they thought of the racist angle so people would actually watch it.
i can’t judge since you have pointed it out.
it’s like asking someone if they can hear that annoying sound. they couldn’t. but then they can as soon as you alert them to it.
apart from that, it’s just not a very good idea.
at all.
@ Butterbean: I suppose that’s the case, but does that mean we should never portray black people (fictionally, alongside a goat) as criminals? What does The Wire do? Would we be better off without The Wire?
This ad was written and directed by Tyler The Creator. A rapper from the group OFWGKTA. He plays the voice of the strange goat, this is one of a series that he has created.
The dudes in the line up are his friends and band members.
Serious case of everyone getting carried away.
Listen to his music – he takes the piss. Thats what this ad is doing.
Pretty sure everyone is getting carried away here.
Its interesting to note the advert was created by an African American rapper Tyler the creator
@Ben. One of the things advertising has taught me is to consider things on their own merit, rather than resorting to generalisations.
The Wire is a good example. Sure, it features its fair share of identikit gangstas with do-rags and switchblades, but at the same time some of its most intelligent, principled and insightful characters are also black.
If working in the media makes puts us in charge of the make-believe world, I think we need to think long and fucking hard about what we make people believe.
This is a recurring and hugely subjective argument. My black Jamaican aunt loves the “racist” super bowl ad. She not only finds it hilarious but is proud that her culture is represented in main stream advertising. (I guess those Jamaican’s are all really laid back though).
It’s interesting to note that this ad was made by Tyler The Creator.
From my experience the guys in the US are far more sensitive to perceived racism then we are here in the UK. The US have a particularly vivid history when it comes to attitudes to black peoples.
I more interested in WTF the goat is doing?
What’s really amazing is that a piece of shit like that made it out of the conceptual stage. PepsiCo must really have its head shoved up its arse.
‘Would we be better off without The Wire?’
You just lost a reader.
Bye x
Something for the weekend (for your cat if you have one) it has cats and it has cats working out.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=rL82YimQVFI
I shot an ad that featured a dwarf once. That is, it should have contained a dwarf because that’s what was written in the script.
After the first casting session where I saw lots of dwarves of varying talent I chose my favourite one and put him forward as my recommendation.
The bloke I picked had the most personality and screen presence along with the talent to deliver a brilliant funny performance.
It just so happened that he was a black dwarf.
Then in a client meeting I had to witness a lot of white middle class people having a mass debate over their concerns about what sort of groups would be offended if we were to cast the proposed fellow.
So in the end we didn’t cast him (despite my best selling efforts).
The mood had got so risk averse that we didn’t even cast a dwarf, we ended up with a normal sized bloke in a dwarf costume.
No one got offended, there were no letters of complaint….but somewhere there was a talented black dwarf that wasn’t getting paid £10,000 to do a job that he was obviously right for.
Gawd knows what my point is.
I’d say this is far far worse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z82JYoUFdQg
I think people are boring arseholes. That’s what I think.
I don’t think people are offended. I think they like to think they are offended.
And if they are offended, then they should probably grow up/grow a thicker skin.
Complaining about advertising is as close as some people get to self-verification. An old web writer used to call it the era of ‘why wasn’t I consulted.’ This strikes me as an extension of that.
Of course, the whole nonsense could be avoided by having a good idea in the first place. But whatevs.
‘Being Mark Denton’ should be made.
I’m with you, Anonymouse.