(no subject)
Henry Louis Gates' arrest for being an uppity black man has reminded me just how subtle and obnoxious institutionalized racism really is. There's two commercials that bother me every time I see them on TV, and I was wondering if anyone else had noticed them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIU9FHAe8FE
In this flea medicine commercial, the "clean" dog is white, while all the flea-ridden "dirty" animals are brown and black. Maybe it's just a metaphor for clean v. dirty, but the lead dog is done up very much like a nice, Aryan boyscout with his neckerchief. What's wrong with using a beagle puppy, I ask you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNW4Rnx0kxk
This Orkin commercial is just blatant. The roach trying to sneak into the woman's house is clearly portrayed as being black/hispanic from the ghetto. The nice white Orkin man comes to the rescue of the threatened white woman, and the commercial actually says that he puts the ghetto bugs "in their place". Seriously? SERIOUSLY?
I hate this stuff, and none of my friends even seem to notice it. I always remark on it when I go to events and the attendees are vast-majority white (see: the crowd at the NCAA basketball tournament, Boston July 4 fireworks). Maybe growing up in a state where it's not taboo to talk about racism really does help you see it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIU9FHAe8FE
In this flea medicine commercial, the "clean" dog is white, while all the flea-ridden "dirty" animals are brown and black. Maybe it's just a metaphor for clean v. dirty, but the lead dog is done up very much like a nice, Aryan boyscout with his neckerchief. What's wrong with using a beagle puppy, I ask you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNW4Rnx0kxk
This Orkin commercial is just blatant. The roach trying to sneak into the woman's house is clearly portrayed as being black/hispanic from the ghetto. The nice white Orkin man comes to the rescue of the threatened white woman, and the commercial actually says that he puts the ghetto bugs "in their place". Seriously? SERIOUSLY?
I hate this stuff, and none of my friends even seem to notice it. I always remark on it when I go to events and the attendees are vast-majority white (see: the crowd at the NCAA basketball tournament, Boston July 4 fireworks). Maybe growing up in a state where it's not taboo to talk about racism really does help you see it.