February 06, 2008
Racist Ads During Super Bowl
I am still recovering from the loss of my hometown Patriots in the Super Bowl, but have had enough time away from the game to now address the advertisements that premiered during the commercial breaks. Namely, there were a few racially offensive ads from a company called Sales Genie and another from Bud Light. Read here. I have posted the YouTube videos of the ads below in my extended entry.
The Panda ad seems the most offensive because it plays on so many denigrating stereotypes about Chinese and Asians in general. The chopstick font, "oriental' music, and horrible accents. It's all too much and so racist. How does a copy editor get away with this crap? The Bud Light commercial ranks as second most offensive for playing on obvious stereotypes about racial minority men as nerds, ineffectual, and emasculated. It's only somewhat redeeming quality is the ending, although it still mocks Asian Americans. The Indian salesman ad is the least offensive of the bunch, in my opinion, as it relies on accent more than anything else, but without all the accompanying racist images. In this case, the character has redeeming qualities and is not portrayed as less than human.
What do you all think?
Posted by richlee at February 6, 2008 10:38 AMHideous. I think the beer one is worse. One, because there are actual people as characters and two, because all people of color (men and women) are shown in an inferior and racist manner. Of course the women of color at the end are oversexualized by the white guy. Disgusting.
Posted by: hdub at February 6, 2008 02:18 PMI don't find the beer one racist at all. It is a comedian named carlos mencia (who is german and mexican but mainly mexican as he did not know his german father) and the running gag with all these commercials was that he was teaching people from the dumbest areas of their lands to speak english, and telling them that the only thing they really needed to know how to say was budlight. In this ad he making satire of the sterotype women love accents and while simutaneously trying to point out that there are lot of misconceptions in this world and you never know how things are going to turn out, the reason he didn't get the woman at the end. But if you don't know who Carlos Mencia, or the whole point of the ads, I can see how you would think it is racist
the ones with the pandas was the most offensive in my opinion, salesgenie.com seems to want to "diversify" its ads, but by playing to stereotypes they are taking the same messed up approach that superfriends did in the 70s, then again at least super friends could claim ignorance, since there really wasn't a mixing of the cultures/ other media to rely on for dos and donts back then
Posted by: that girl at February 6, 2008 06:24 PMUmmm, wow. I'm speechless. All of this makes me so very glad that I never watch TV.
Posted by: nic at February 6, 2008 10:57 PMI'm appalled by the ads. I don't think everyone watching the ad would know who Carlos Mencia is...I certainly didn't. I certainly do see all of the ads as racist because of this. I am so glad that I didn't watch the Superbowl. I do hope that an organization steps up and tells these companies that we take offense to their ads.
Posted by: Jen at February 7, 2008 02:16 PM