remnants of rhyme still resonate with racism
This reminds me of the Playstation ad from a few weeks ago that everyone thought was racist, though I didn't see any racism in it. At least with this one, I can see the connection, though I still don't think it's racist in the slightest. I guess in the back of my head somewhere, I had some idea of the racist origins of the rhyme, because it didn't surprise me at all when I read the explanation, but I', 33 years old and I don't think I've ever heard anyone use this rhyme as anything even vaguely racist or mean spirited. So I think any attempt to connect the ad, which doesn't even use the formerly racist parts of the rhyme anyway, to the original rhyme are a little silly. Sure, you can make that connection, but why bother? There's no reason to, unless you just like to be offended, or like to be mad about things. And if you're seeing racism in an ad that is very cleary about choosing from a variety of beers, then you're going to see it in a lot of places where it just doesn't exist, and will probably lead a pretty miserable life.
"It’s a choice campaign...It has nothing to do with race, color or creed,” [vice president and chief marketing officer Bob] Sullivan said.
Which is clearly evident to anyone with a functioning brain. Maybe if people would stop wasting time whining about things that are clearly not racist, we could spend more time and energy focusing on eliminating all the places where real racism still exists.
6 comments:
I've never in my life heard that this is a racist rhyme. I am far from racist and I have used this rhyme many times. Who hasn't said it? If people are offended by this it's because they have great big chips on their shoulders and are looking for something offensive. If you look hard enough, practically EVERYTHING is offensive to someone else... Personally, I thought the ad was kind of cute.
I didn't know either...I kept waiting for the article to tell me why I should be offended by the billboard. Now that I know why some people think it's racist, I still don't care. Sometimes a beer ad is just a beer ad.
Glad to see I'm not the only one who doesn't see this. When I said I didn't see racism in that PSP ad in a couple of places, you would have thought that I had said I couldn't see racism in the KKK.
The thing is that the Sony ads were too racy for mainstream consumers...hence the ads were only posted in Amsterdam and not in the U.S. For some African-Americans in the U.S., the Sony ads are seen as very racist because it shows the essence of the African-American struggle: that White always wins. For non-African-Americans, it's hard to see the ads as racist because the core of what the ad is saying is not a truism for you. For Black America, "White" is winning and has always won in the race for the American Dream.
Let's switch places, though. If a Jewish woman replaced the Black woman in the PSP ad...and a Nazi German man or woman replaced the White woman in the ad (with the star of David and the swastika both present over the appropriate parties), do you think that a Jewish person would have a reaction to that ad?
It's all food for thought. Others have casually commented on the PSP ads on my blog at htpp://whatwomenreallythink.blogspot.com if you care to look.
As for the nursery rhyme, I didn't know it was racist until I saw a movie that announced it. So, the rhyme is stills een as a childhood rhyme to me as long as the word "piggy" is always used.
Lori, the PSP ad didn't show the white woman winning. They were fighting, and if anyone had the upper hand in that picture, I'd say it was the white woman, but there were other pictures where the black woman was in the more dominant position.
Nazi vs. Jew is much, much different than white vs. black since Nazi is inherently racist, where white is not. If the ad showed a KKK member, I'd agree with your analogy, but it didn't. Also, let's not forget the message that Sony was trying to get out. They now offer both black and white PSPs. They were showing contrast between the two. There's no reason for them to take any position or imply any superiority of one over the other, since they offer both products.
I'll check out your blog, too, but I think I've debated the PSP ad to death by now.
I never heard piggy, it was always tiger.
Storm, you agree with me? Crap now I have to change my entire position.
Post a Comment