Thursday, July 06, 2006

Sony's racially charged PSP ad

I've seen a lot of controversy over this ad today, but I don't see what the big deal is. I don't even see how it is "racially charged." Sure, it shows two distinct races in conflict, but it doesn't make any statement about one being any better than the other, it doesn't say anything about anyting that I can tell. It shows contrast between two colors, which is good for Sony, since they currently have a black product and are coming out with a white one. And I absolutely don't put it past Sony to have forseen the controversy, but that doesn't mean there's any reason for it. To anyone who finds this ad racist, I would ask how exactly is it racist? How does it discriminate, or imply that either race is better or superior in any way? Just because the white woman is grabbing the black woman? Is that all it takes? I seriously hope not, because that's fucking ridiculous. Please, someone point out some nuance that I'm missing that makes this racist, because I just don't see it.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know if I'd call it "racially charged," but I think it's questionable. It doesn't blantantly say that "white" is better, but the imagery of the much taller white woman grabbing the somewhat scared looking black woman seems to convey that the white woman is somehow going to vanquish or dominate the black one. It's all in the iterpretation though. So you can call it "fucking ridiculous," but obviously some people are reacting to it differently.

Anonymous said...

I didn't see the other pictures; however, that's irrelevant because the first pic is a billboard -- so that's the only image you're going to see at that location (unless they bought several billboards that can be seen together).

John Howard said...

I got the impression that there would be more than one billboard, but I don't know forsure if that's the case.

Anonymous said...

How much they payin' you for this Voice of Reason gig?

John Howard said...

Unfortunately, it doesn't pay much at all.

Anonymous said...

Good thing -- you'd owe them money at this point.