# Enough with mafia-themed commercials. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 11, 2006, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342 "2006-05-11T06:22:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342/21 "2006-05-11T17:19:51Z")
[http://www.niaf.org/image\_identity/ppSpring2004.asp](http://www.niaf.org/image_identity/ppSpring2004.asp) [http://www.niaf.org/news/index.asp?id=302](http://www.niaf.org/news/index.asp?id=302) [http://www.nyscsj-osia.org/events.htm](http://www.nyscsj-osia.org/events.htm) Well, that’s all I got. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342/22 "2006-05-11T17:28:05Z")
> [@VCO3](#): > > The latest, and most offensive, features a mafia guy talking to the camera about whatever product is being advertised while in the background, **an about-to-be-murdered woman writhes and struggles while wrapped in a carpet**. You can hear her muffled cries and screams as her feet kick and she struggles while this smug mafia fuck smirks at the camera. And what is it, specifically, that makes the mafia cute and cuddly, or makes this kind of depiction acceptable? Picture the same commercial described above, only the man in the foreground is an African-American fellow with corn rows, an oversized throwback basketball jersey, and a Tec-9 stuffed down the front of his waistband. Switch “gansgster” for “gangsta,” and the ad campaign would last about 15 seconds before making some attorneys very rich. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342/23 "2006-05-11T23:06:29Z")
I’ve never understood that mafia attraction, either. All I need is a hint of mafia stuff to turn the channel, pass up the book, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342/24 "2006-05-11T23:22:30Z")
I’m generally agreeable with people portraying anything they like in fictional terms. But I also hate the way the Mafia is romanticized. These are people who rob and kill for money. I wouldn’t CENSOR the films of Scorsese – the idiot who made Goodfellas and Casino and so forth, but if I met him face to face, I’d have no problem calling him an asshole and giving him an earful of my opinion of him and his movies. ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342/25 "2006-05-11T23:49:32Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > I’m generally agreeable with people portraying anything they like in fictional terms. But I also hate the way the Mafia is romanticized. These are people who rob and kill for money. I wouldn’t CENSOR the films of Scorsese – the idiot who made Goodfellas and Casino and so forth, but if I met him face to face, I’d have no problem calling him an asshole and giving him an earful of my opinion of him and his movies. Uh…romanticized? Presumbly ending up in the witness protection program with a cocaine addiction(Goodfellas) or facedown in a ditch(Casino) is romantic. You might have that arguement with The Godfather, but Scorsese’s mob films don’t particularly go out of their way to highlight the benefits of organized crime. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342/26 "2006-05-12T00:30:24Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > And what is it, specifically, that makes the mafia cute and cuddly, or makes this kind of depiction acceptable? > > Picture the same commercial described above, only the man in the foreground is an African-American fellow with corn rows, an oversized throwback basketball jersey, and a Tec-9 stuffed down the front of his waistband. Switch “gansgster” for “gangsta,” and the ad campaign would last about 15 seconds before making some attorneys very rich. yep, the attorneys that make the contract for the actors and the pr company that made the commercial. the only thing that would actually keep this commercial from being made (no pun intended, but certainly accepted) is that nobody in their right mind would show a gun on a tv commercial. hh ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342/27 "2006-05-12T00:35:30Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > And what is it, specifically, that makes the mafia cute and cuddly, or makes this kind of depiction acceptable? Perhaps it’s that it’s something that in many of our minds happens elsewhere and to other people (“Tragedy is I stub my toe. Comedy is you fall in a manhole and die.”). Many people people have fears (rational or irrational) about their kids being molested; I would guess that a very much smaller group of people have fears about ending up on the wrong side of organized crime. So while technically they know that the people in these situations are in danger - they’re not really identifying with the victims and putting themselves in that place. They would really identify with some of the other scenarios. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342/28 "2006-05-12T00:41:07Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > I’m generally agreeable with people portraying anything they like in fictional terms. But I also hate the way the Mafia is romanticized. These are people who rob and kill for money. I wouldn’t CENSOR the films of Scorsese – the idiot who made Goodfellas and Casino and so forth, but if I met him face to face, I’d have no problem calling him an asshole and giving him an earful of my opinion of him and his movies. And he’d laugh, because obviously the opinion you’d give him an earful of would be uninformed if you think either of those movies romanticize the mafia. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342/29 "2006-05-12T14:32:45Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > yep, the attorneys that make the contract for the actors and the pr company that made the commercial. the only thing that would actually keep this commercial from being made (no pun intended, but certainly accepted) is that nobody in their right mind would show a gun on a tv commercial. > hh You think? I would think the NAACP or some similar organization would be up in arms immediately about some supposed depiction of all blacks as violent thugs. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342/30 "2006-05-12T14:46:46Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > You think? I would think the NAACP or some similar organization would be up in arms immediately about some supposed depiction of all blacks as violent thugs. Nope. The commercial as described (minus the gun) could be an add for Boost mobile, or any five minutes of MTV. The only problem is “body in carpet” doesn’t match as cleanly to “gangsta” as it does to “mafioso”. They’d have to find some other act of implied but non-graphic violence. ---
**Author:** ![RogueRacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342/31 "2006-05-12T15:45:47Z")
> [@VCO3](#): > > This shit is **offensive** , and I’m tired of seeing it getting the wink-wink nudge-nudge treatment on television. No, the shit is offensive _to you_. I always found that purple dinosaur offensive, but that didn’t get it off the networks any sooner. Fortunately, I’m not forced to watch. It’s pretty simple really. Don’t buy the product that the commercial is selling. As far as movies and shows romanticizing the mafia, as mentioned earlier, the examples given were pretty poor. Still, even if they do romanticize the mafia, what of it? Should they be pulled from the theaters and store shelves? Look at a lot of war movies. How about Westerns? Do you think they don’t romanticize? If you want to start yelling at writers and directors, eat a big breakfast that day because it’s a long list. I find most romantic comedies offensive. A lot of sitcoms are the spawn of Satan. Although there are times that I could spend hours railing against an unfair universe that allows them to exist, instead I just don’t watch them. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342/32 "2006-05-12T16:51:40Z")
> [@RogueRacer](#): > > No, the shit is offensive _to you_. I always found that purple dinosaur offensive, but that didn’t get it off the networks any sooner. You thought Dino was _offensive?_😕 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342/33 "2006-05-15T02:38:56Z")
I like mob movies, and The Sopranos. Not because they idealize and romanticize the Italian mob, but because they illustrate human virtues (familial and fraternal love, loyalty, honor) that are twisted to human vice (greed, lust, betrayal). Anyone who sees movies like _The Godfather, Goodfellas,_ and _Casino_, as well as a show like _The Sopranos_ as “romantic” or “idealized” are only getting about half the message. As to when it became okay to use mob/OC intimated violence in commercials… well, blame _The Sopranos._ The elements of dark humor were added to the mafia image with that show. And rather I like that cell commercial (inasmuch as I like any commercials) where the bad guys are thrilled to get cell coverage out in the middle of nowhere; but I saw it more as a spoof of cheesy crime movies rather than a mafia send-up. I guess the gist is the same, though. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342/34 "2006-05-15T12:07:33Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > And he’d laugh, because obviously the opinion you’d give him an earful of would be uninformed if you think either of those movies romanticize the mafia. But they do. Granted, they show the mafiosa as unrepentant killers. Joe Pesci in Casino being a great example. But the Robert DeNiro character was pretty much a hero type, although he had minor flaws. Like being willing to torture and mutilate people who tried to beat the system in his Casino. Or the Ray Liotta character in Goodfellas is really glamorized … he’s got a loving wife AND a hot, loving mistress (played by Debi Mazar, mmmmmm), he’s got a ton of money, dresses sharp, most of the time he isn’t committing crimes he’s hanging out with his buddies at a club, and the crimes he commits are really easy (“two ni\*\*rs stole my truck!”) Sure he comes to a bad end, living a quiet life in suburbia after ratting out DeNiro and Sorvino’s characters, but I think it’s really funny that you guys don’t think that’s a GLAMORIZATION of people who are cruel scum who have no problem with killing, robbing and beating up other people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-mafia-themed-commercials/356342.md?page=1)