I'm I the only one who'already sick of the "Power of One Voice" ads?

The BBQ Pit
1

These “Imagine the Power of One Voice” PSA’s – in one, a black woman reproves her white friend, just for clutching her handbag a little tighter when a large and not too well-dressed black man enters the same elevator. In another, a white man in a business suit (Jew, apparently) loudly complains that his Latino waiter got his order wrong – sure, the guy’s being a dick, but shouldn’t a waiter at least speak the language of his customers? In another, a Chinese storekeeper asks his grandson to keep an eye on a rough-looking black teenager who just walked into the store; it turns out the guy is one of his grandson’s closest friends, and he admonishes grampa: “You always told me not to judge people, remember?” Well, “judging people” is one thing and protecting your merchandise from potential shoplifters or worse is another. I don’t approve of “racial profiling” when the police do it, but can’t we cut ordinary merchants a little slack here?

In principle I agree perfectly that even the less overt forms of racism and xenophobia should be discouraged, but these ads are just so damned smug, righteous and annoying! It’s got so I always change the channel when one comes on. Does anybody else have the same reaction? And is it possible that they’re undermining the message they’re trying to get across?

2

I actually like those commercials.

Especially the one where the employer was interviewing a black applicant. Then when the applicant left he threw his application in the trash and said “I think we have enough color around here.”

Then an employee who was in the room dug the application out of the trash, uncrinckled it, and said “I think you dropped this.”

3

I haven’t seen any of these commericals–are they available online?

4

Here they are, courtesy of the Ad Council.

http://www.adcouncil.org/campaigns/racial_cooperation/index.html

5

In the case of the guy upset because the waiter got his order wrong, he’s being racist because, first of all, he’s assuming his waiter doesn’t speak English well because he’s Latino, and secondly shouting at him in fake Spanish…“I want WHEAT breat…el wheato”.

In the other two cases, neither the teenager going into the store or the guy going into the elevator did anything threatening. In both cases, assumptions were made about them because of their race.

6

Well, as long as we’re awareness-building here, aren’t “pushy Jew” and “hostile Asian storekeeper” rather stereotypical as well?

7

[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
In another, a white man in a business suit (Jew, apparently) loudly complains. . .

[QUOTE]

I’ve watched that spot over and over, and I can’t see a single thing in it that would cue me to any of the character’s religious beliefs.

8

Having watched the PSAs, I see no problem with them. They make the very valid point that one of the biggest impediments to eradicating prejudice is that so few people are willing to challenge bigots to their faces, choosing instead to stay silent around their bigoted family members or co-workers to avoid “making a scene.”

9

The first time I saw that commercial, I was watching TV with three other people. At the end of the commercial, all four of us, in perfect unison, spoke the unwritten next line: “I think you’re fired”.

Yes, the boss is a dick, but telling a dick – especially one who happens to be your boss – that he is a dick, in plain and straightforward terms, rarely if ever produces the intended result. In this particular case, the Defender of Equality would’ve been shitcanned, and the boss would’ve hired yet another white guy to replace him.

It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t speak out against blatant bigotry when you see it. It’s just that there are other factors you’d do well to consider. First off, risk/benefit analysis. If I pick up this crumpled application and place it defiantly on the boss’ desk, what is the possibility that good will come of this action, and at what risk if I fail? Second, method. Okay, the boss has just shown himself to be a racist dick. I can call him out on it immediately and brazenly, and force him into a defensive position from which he will be less likely to consider my point and more likely to impulsively retaliate (which, incidentally, he can do pretty easily)…or, I could let this particular occasion slide, as I’m not likely to win this battle if I start it, and instead gradually broach the subject in a calm and reasonable manner over a longer period of time.

That sums up the essence of my problem with these commercials: they encourage an immediate, defiant and combative response to the slightest display of anything that could be considered bigotry (i.e., the clutching of the purse or the attention kept on the young man). If the offender retains anything from this kind of exchange – rather than being briefly offended and then forgetting it entirely – it’s an increased animosity toward the group in question for “causing” them that brief moment of (semi-) public embarrassment. Yes, it’s illogical, but if they operated logically, they wouldn’t be racists in the first place.

Antagonism can change situational behavior…if you’re lucky. Education and reason can change attitudes…and if we ever want to solve anything, that’s where we’re going to have to start.

10

I’m missing any signs that the diner in that lunch PSA is Jewish–perhaps Brain Gluttonmay wish to meditate on assumptions made about people’s ethnicity based on stereotypes.

I notice that the Ad Council has race well covered, but they didn’t cover prejudice agianst gays. <Sigh> One of these days, maybe they’ll cover that, too.

11

Not necessarily true that this guy was the DoE’s boss. I’ve been in multi-person interviews before and they are often not just future-supervisor and supervisor’s supervisor; I’ve been there with ‘future coworker’, ‘adjunct useful person’, and ‘future boss’. It’s possible the two men were on roughly equal footing.

To me, in other words, the implication is vague.

12

They’ll do it if you pay 'em. :slight_smile:

13

[QUOTE=Uvula Donor]

[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
In another, a white man in a business suit (Jew, apparently) loudly complains. . .

:dubious: Dude’s an obvious ethnocultural stereotype – “loud, pushy, New York Jew.” You know perfectly well his “religious beliefs” have nothing to do with it.

14

Could be true, in which case that particular example is flawed, but the point still stands. Pissing off one’s peers may not have the immediate repercussions of pissing off one’s boss, but it is still inadvisable to do so on a whim. And, as regards the potential positive effects of such an action, the situation is equivalent whether between boss and employee, two business partners of equal position, or two random strangers on the street.

15

I’ve never seen any of these ads, so I can’t comment on them specifically, but I have to say that this kind of PSA is a pet peeve of mine. I just find it irritating and a little insulting when television tries to tell me what to think or how to behave. But that’s just me.

16

The guy’s an obnoxious asshole. *You * should know perfectly well that doesn’t automatically make him a Jew.

17

The only one that really bugs me is the one where a bunch of girls are standing in the dorm bathroom staring at a sink that’s been left on, until another girl walks in and calmly turns it off.

What the fuck? Duuuuuh, I’m gonna stand around and stare at a sink that’s been left on because I’m too fucking stupid to turn it off!

What the fuck’s the point?

18

See, the thing is, you have anywhere from 15 to 60 seconds to get your point across. The need for brevity makes stereotypes almost necessary. I myself just wrote a PSA for the university’s counseling center that makes use of the stereotype of the drunk as a pathetic loser. I had to; otherwise, it’d be boring. (And, FTR, most of the people who looked at the script thought it was hilarious.) Basically, you can make 'em laugh, or be horribly obnoxious about it. Those are your choices.

There are stranger PSAs out there. We’ve got two right now about breastfeeding. One is a country singer waxing melodic about his mommy’s boobies; the other is a Barry White-like singer doing the same thing.

Robin

19

The point is that they are just talking about the problem instead of taking action to provide a solution (in the case of the faucet, a very simple solution of turning it off).

20

I watched the advertisement and I didn’t see anything to indicate New York or Jew. As a matter of fact my first guess was Presbyterian farmer from Nebraska.