# Commercials with stupid white men **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2007, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885 "2007-03-07T00:41:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/41 "2007-03-08T00:01:09Z")
[QUOTE=Sublight] You aren’t a Baby Boomer, are you? [/QUOTE] Nope. I’m just slightly on the older side of the very age-range I was ridiculing (I almost put that in my post). It’s not that 20 and 30-somethings can’t be wickedly creative, it’s just that too much creative say so was handed over too early to too many slackers who didn’t really know what they were doing. For proof of this I offer 80% of TV commercials produced since about 1998. Before that maybe only 25-40% of them were utter crap. (They _are_ commercials after all so, as a whole, they’re never going to be much better than vaguely annoying.) –unless of course one happens to be among the legions of knuckle-draggers that can laugh out loud _every time_ they see something like the Bud Light commercial with the farting horse in the Super Bowl a few years ago (or for that matter, just about any Bud Light commercial.) ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/42 "2007-03-08T02:48:18Z")
[QUOTE=pizzabrat] [These](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTXbMCOywVY) [outta](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0OS2Q1r1dg) [shut](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T9cZOuMPsA) a couple of you up. [/QUOTE] I’m … lost. What do those commercials have to do with this thread? As far as I can tell, they’re not showing non-white males in the idiot-man-child role, nor do they cover that subject at all. I’m having a hard time understanding what these examples were a response to. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/43 "2007-03-08T03:15:11Z")
No one has mentioned those poor poor OLD white bankers that the horrible black man keeps penned up? They’ve tried to kill themselves and have been naked. Those poor sad old white men. But he never relents! Be skeered, rich white men! Some nice friendly black guy might own you one day! I feel I should add a smilie. But I won’t. I think those WAMU commercials are hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/44 "2007-03-08T04:51:55Z")
[QUOTE=sulamith] I didn’t say there weren’t people in my city who might make a racist joke. I bet people in your illustrious city make them, too. But that isn’t the issue being discussed. Don’t act all pious and holier-than-thou. You’re attacking me and passing jdgement because I am from the South and you’re assuming I am racist because I happen to agree with the OP, as a few others, do too. Why don’t you call out the others who agreed with the OP’s observation as well? You saw my locale and went into some kind of attack mode. Sorry if you have issues with Southerners, but those are your issues, not mine. Yes, I can see that there are other examples of cmmercials, I am not ignoring that, but I still feel there is a predominance of “stupid white guy” commercials. [/QUOTE] I really probably shouldn’t get involved, but I have to say that no one implied that _you_ were racist but rather that your remark that white guys were ALWAYS the butt of the jokes seems a bit myopic. I also don’t think it’s unreasonable to imagine that in Savannah, Georgia people tell at least a few jokes where a someone besides a white male is the butt of the joke. (Of course, you could say that about pretty much any city, no need to single out Savannah, I suppose.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/45 "2007-03-08T05:58:17Z")
I’m not singling out Savannah or any other southern city. There’s plenty of racism in the north. But you were the one that said white men were the butt of all jokes. I’m sure it would be welcome news to black men to hear that nobody’s telling jokes about them. But the reality is that there are thousands of derogatory remarks and jokes made about blacks and Mexicans and Asians and Jews and women and homosexuals and every other minority groups every day. And a lot of white men simply ignore it (assuming they’re not saying it). But let a single mild joke directed against a white man enter the room and suddenly there’s outrage and white men are speaking out against derogatory jokes as a matter of principle. If stereotyping was the real issue, then you’d be as offended by a joke about black people as you are about a joke about white people. You’d leap to the defense of Boston or Seattle like you leap to the defense of Savannah. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/46 "2007-03-08T18:44:08Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] \But then there’s idiot-dad who’s funny: Younger brother puts older sis’s friends on his network \ Dad: Hey, you need to get uglier friends. [/QUOTE] That’s the one I was referring to where the male isn’t actually an idiot. That’s a perfectly legitimate response to his daughter’s over-reaction to a harmless situation. And in that commercial, wonder of wonders, his wife backs him up, instead of emasculating him. ( **Little Nemo** , women aren’t a minority. I think we’re actually the majority gender now, as a matter of fact.) ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/47 "2007-03-08T19:46:13Z")
The one that gets me at the moment is that toliet paper one with the bears. Which has alway been annoying as hell, but the new one is for a larger roll, with the line, directed a the mother “Tired of changing the roll all the time? You _could_ teach your family how to change the roll. Or you could change it less often.” Which pretty much insults everyone. So a grown man with a family (or for that matter a child over 6) needs to be taught how to put in a toilet paper roll? Ok, you can be lazy and not do it, but, be taught? But why be taught when it’s her job to change the toilet paper? Maybe she should come in and wipe your ass too. I’d say a lot of these ads do insult both men and women. Men are too stupid. Women are just smart enough to do the grunt work. And that’s what they’re supposed to do. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/48 "2007-03-08T20:06:17Z")
[QUOTE=betenoir] Maybe she should come in and wipe your ass too. [/QUOTE] Or maybe she should get an angry mama she-bear to do it. That’d get the fellas in line. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/49 "2007-03-08T20:15:41Z")
What bugs me is how unrealistic it is. Who says bears shit in the woods? Angel Soft has the two stupid white male angels (of course humans don’t become angels, but that’s beside the point) who refill the roll for the hapless humans, while dropping lame-ass puns. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/50 "2007-03-08T21:49:53Z")
White men are the butt of the stupid men device the same reason that a movie with more than one black lead is socially perceived as a “black movie” while no racial theme is perceived when a cast is almost 100% white. In other words, we are programmed to see white as generic. There’s no racial subtext when a white guy is portrayed as stupid. Cast a non-white and you risk distracting an audience who is more apt to see skin color before anything else. One commercial I hate with a fiery rage is the one for Radioshack. The stupid guy in this case is black, whining stupidly about how he doesn’t know what blue tooth is. He makes me want to throw a brick into the TV. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/51 "2007-03-08T22:25:30Z")
It is a plot but far bigger than just commercials. Throughout the history of family TV the man is an idiot to be ignored. The wife the stabilizing logic holding it all together. The tool man.-Opera loving wife going to college . Tim trying to go a day without cutting off his arm. Almost every sit com from Ozzie and Harriet on has used that sub plot. Cosby, Family guy, Honeymooners,Flintstones. . Cartoons or not ,it is always the same. Time to boycott . All programs that don’t give men their due should be picketed. Send letters and emails .Stop the unfair treatment of us poor downtrodden males. UNITE ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/52 "2007-03-08T22:53:34Z")
Are the Jarod jewelers ads national, or is that a local chain? No idea. But its ad campaign kicks the “feckless white male” archetype up a notch by narrowing the field to rich and/or snooty ones. Young preppy white man, only a year or two out of college, shows up at rich girlfriend’s family’s house with a bag from Jarod, certainly with an engagement ring in it. Approving Dad _et al_ are relieved to know for sure at last that he’s the right kind of people because “He went to Jarod!” In one version, they’re in a fancy restaurant and even the flamingly gay waiter is excited that this guy he never met before went to Jarod. Oh, the depths of socioeconomic pretentiousness being plumbed here! If he’d gone to Tiffany’s, they all would’ve died on the spot, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/53 "2007-03-09T00:37:40Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] What bugs me is how unrealistic it is. Who says bears shit in the woods? [/QUOTE] Well of course that’s just silly. Everyone knows the Pope shits in the woods. ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/54 "2007-03-09T02:15:54Z")
[QUOTE=you with the face] White men are the butt of the stupid men device the same reason that a movie with more than one black lead is socially perceived as a “black movie” while no racial theme is perceived when a cast is almost 100% white. In other words, we are programmed to see white as generic. There’s no racial subtext when a white guy is portrayed as stupid. Cast a non-white and you risk distracting an audience who is more apt to see skin color before anything else. One commercial I hate with a fiery rage is the one for Radioshack. The stupid guy in this case is black, whining stupidly about how he doesn’t know what blue tooth is. He makes me want to throw a brick into the TV. [/QUOTE] To point one: There was a commercial from a few years ago where a white guy is on the porch with his wife. Every Plymouth vehicle that goes by, he gets more excited. When a Prowler goes by, the white porch monkey (yes, that was for effect) loses control and chases the car until his collar stops him. Put any other race up on the porch in a collar and you have cities burning, but since it’s a white guy, the whole thing rates a “meh.” Point two: well, I’ll probably thow something through my screen when I see that. Needed to go HD anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/55 "2007-03-09T19:21:49Z")
**brownie** , I wish you were kidding, but I’m sure you’re not. I would love to get a temp job at an ad agency some day and maybe get a little insight into what the hell these people are thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/56 "2007-03-09T19:36:53Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] It is a plot but far bigger than just commercials. Throughout the history of family TV the man is an idiot to be ignored. The wife the stabilizing logic holding it all together. The tool man.-Opera loving wife going to college . Tim trying to go a day without cutting off his arm. Almost every sit com from Ozzie and Harriet on has used that sub plot. Cosby, Family guy, Honeymooners,Flintstones. . Cartoons or not ,it is always the same. Time to boycott . All programs that don’t give men their due should be picketed. Send letters and emails .Stop the unfair treatment of us poor downtrodden males. UNITE [/QUOTE] There’s something else at work here. American sitcoms get most of their humor from exaggerated stupidity, with the star of the show being the stupidest of all.[sup]\*[/sup] On _I Love Lucy_, she was the star, and got into one ridiculous situation after another, often to be saved by her smart, capable husband. The fact that it’s usually men could be seen as evidence that, behind the scenes, they’re still the ones in charge. \*The only counterexample I can think of is Bob Newhart. In his shows, he’s always the calm center, with most of the laughs and hijinks going to the costars. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/57 "2007-03-09T19:50:44Z")
King of the Hill has gradually moved to the Guy in charge theme. In the first couple seasons, Hank was a joke of a guy unable to deal with emotion, with peggy pretty centered. But Hank gradually has become the practical and calm center of things, while everybody else has become an over the top parody, and Peggy has become an idiotic insufferable bitch ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/58 "2007-03-10T02:12:21Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] The only counterexample I can think of is Bob Newhart. In his shows, he’s always the calm center, with most of the laughs and hijinks going to the costars. [/QUOTE] I was reading his autobiography recently and he mentions that he never allowed his TV characters to have kids because he didn’t want to be on a show about how dumb dad is. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/59 "2007-03-10T03:04:46Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] There’s something else at work here. American sitcoms get most of their humor from exaggerated stupidity, with the star of the show being the stupidest of all.[sup]\*[/sup] On _I Love Lucy_, she was the star, and got into one ridiculous situation after another, often to be saved by her smart, capable husband. The fact that it’s usually men could be seen as evidence that, behind the scenes, they’re still the ones in charge. \*The only counterexample I can think of is Bob Newhart. In his shows, he’s always the calm center, with most of the laughs and hijinks going to the costars. [/QUOTE] Ancient history. Lucy was a talented comedian of her time and was showcased . That is not typical of the genre. The fact that younare racking your brains to think of an exception merely proves it. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885/60 "2007-03-10T04:33:59Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] Ancient history. Lucy was a talented comedian of her time and was showcased . That is not typical of the genre. The fact that younare racking your brains to think of an exception merely proves it. [/QUOTE] Not at all. Lucille Ball, Mary Tyler Moore, Jenna Elfman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus; when a woman stars in a sitcom her character can be a dim bulb, too. There are just a lot more sitcoms with male leads. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-stupid-white-men/394885.md?page=4)