In no way intended to be offensive, but it’s probably going to be viewed as such.
First, the ad is attempting to be humorous, but is is in poor taste.
As someone who grew up as “poor white trash”, I’d say classist, not racist. To me the term is (very) roughly synonymous with nigger, ghetto or trailer trash. Each of these terms, at least to me, is specific and describes a small and distinct sub-set of the overall population. All are inappropriate for any polite level of conversation, but you can get away with using white or trailer trash in ways that ghetto or nigger would get you sued, fired or attacked. White trash is not, to me, a sub-set of redneck but rather a sub-set of ghetto. Poor, domestically violent, living in the poor section of town, a trailer park or “the projects”, prone to petty crime, drugs and alcoholism
Not all poor white people are white trash, not all people who live in a trailer park are trailer trash. I do not condone racism or bigotry of any sort. Racism is not “White vs. other” it is “Race vs. Not-race”. I have certainly meet racist whites, blacks, browns and yellows. I was raised in a family that had some members who were, quite honestly racist bigots and I made the conscious choice at a young age to not be like them.
Never the less, white trash, trailer trash, redneck, ghetto, and yes even nigger can be, when stripped of their emotional weight, be used to describe a specific if stereotypical portion of the populace of america. Granted, that is virtually impossible for a non-black person to use the term nigger without its emotional baggage as a term of hatred, discrimination and injustice.
I personally would bet that the advertisement is for club with a predominantly white clientele who are using the term much as a black comedian or musician would use the term nigger, in a “that’s our word and we can use it even when you can not” sort of way. I have heard it used that way in similar promotions for clubs and parties around here.
I would say not white folk who act like blacks, but white folk who would be in the same situation as lower-class blacks, except that by being white they are one step up from the bottom position of the (traditional racist) socio-economic ladder they would otherwise share with those blacks.
I always thought of white trash as being somewhat similar to rednecks, but not necessarily a subset of rednecks.
Rednecks, to my way of thinking, are people who are country/rural in outlook, values and to a much lesser extent, interests. This doesn’t have anything to do with socio-economic class; I know a few rednecks who are quite wealthy, and I know some who are a little less wealthy, but who also like Shakespeare, fine wines, hunting, beer drinking and fishing. Sort of a cultured redneck I suppose.
I suspect that there are people of Italian and Jewish descent in New York and New Jersey who have never seen a rural area, who would meet the criteria for white trash. Those criteria are usually an extreme lack of money, petty crime, promiscuity, poor parenting skills, and a general lack of understanding or concern about social acceptability.
I suppose you could say that the term “white trash” is inherently racist, if you look at it such that the “white” part is distinguishing the white portion from the rest of the trash (presumably not white), and implying that non-white = trash.
I’m not so sure that the last implication holds; there’s no reason you couldn’t have black trash or hispanic trash, or even asian trash, if they act like the rest of the “trash”.
I’ve heard it said that the term “White Trash” means that it’s necessary for you to differentiate them from the regular trash which must obviously be non-white. I don’t buy it though, and appreciate and embrace the term.