# Mike Rowe jean commercial - Racist? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 29, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914 "2010-08-29T20:36:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Critical\_Mass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@Critical\_Mass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical_Mass)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/21 "2010-08-29T23:29:12Z")
I don’t like the jeans. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/22 "2010-08-29T23:31:36Z")
> [@](#): > > I think a lot of us are tired of those with a hair trigger on their “THAT’S RACIST!” Exactly ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/23 "2010-08-29T23:32:59Z")
Meh. I’m a lot more tired of, “I don’t hate black people. I just hate when they wear baggy ass pants and go around raping and looting and popping a cap in my ass. I’m not a bigot, right? RIGHT?” ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/24 "2010-08-29T23:39:14Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Meh. I’m a lot more tired of, “I don’t hate black people. I just hate when they wear baggy ass pants and go around raping and looting and popping a cap in my ass. I’m not a bigot, right? RIGHT?” Meh. The ratio of “THAT’s RACIST!” to “I don’t hate black people. I just hate when they wear baggy ass pants and go around raping and looting and popping a cap in my ass. I’m not a bigot, right? RIGHT?” is something like the ratio of the national debt to what’s in my checking account. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/25 "2010-08-29T23:43:21Z")
It’s not “black woman isn’t his girlfriend”, it’s “random woman on the street who isn’t even his girlfriend (but happens to be hot) likes his ass”. Racism might sell to a particular small market, but sex sells to everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/26 "2010-08-29T23:43:47Z")
I’m not convinced that those pants actually do that much for him. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/27 "2010-08-29T23:55:14Z")
Honestly, y’all, the first thing I thought when I saw the seated brunette was ‘cute girl’ not ‘black girl’. There isn’t anyway in this world I would have thought, “OMG, what was that black woman THINKING touching a white man!”. Oh wait, that wasn’t what you meant, was it? heh heh heh Seriously, **ECP** , this is the 21st century. I agree with **InterestedObserver**. This is commenting on the fact that it isn’t just his girlfriend that thinks he looks ‘hot’ in these jeans, it is other women including this random attractive woman who happened to be there when he was ‘talking’ to us. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/28 "2010-08-29T23:56:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It’s not “black woman isn’t his girlfriend”, it’s “random woman on the street who isn’t even his girlfriend (but happens to be hot) likes his ass”. > > Racism might sell to a particular small market, but sex sells to everyone. I swear I wasn’t ripping you off, ‘Lord of Time’! Please don’t cut my life short! ---
**Author:** ![Waffle\_Decider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Waffle\_Decider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waffle_Decider)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/29 "2010-08-30T00:03:40Z")
Another vote for not seeing anything racist about this at all. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/30 "2010-08-30T00:09:47Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > I think a lot of us are tired of those with a hair trigger on their “THAT’S RACIST!” Win. The ad does have the cliché light-skinned black woman with curly hair and no Afrocentric features. Maybe, if you’re pushing it, that could be seen as racist because those with darker skin are underrepresented in TV ads. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/31 "2010-08-30T00:10:16Z")
OK, here’s what’s racist about it: The producers apparently thought that the black(ish) girl pulling on the pants wasn’t enough to harden the dicks of America, so they put blondie hostess in the background (who, paradoxically, gets a close-up, whereas the black(ish) chick doesn’t). Clearly, THAT’S RACIST!! Also, I’m sure I can find something anti-gay about this commercial if you give me a couple more minutes. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/32 "2010-08-30T00:13:03Z")
Isn’t a black girl digging a white guy’s ass sorta like the opposite of racist? I just must not be keeping up or something. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/33 "2010-08-30T00:25:43Z")
As a person of color, I am deeply offended by this advertisement depicting blacks, once again, as this impulsive, over-sexual group, who can barely contain their wild urges to move their hips in that coarse, negro fashion, and be sexually aggressive toward everything that moves. When will it end? When? Seriously now, the most offensive part of that commercial is that the jeans are ugly. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/34 "2010-08-30T00:30:19Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > Isn’t a black girl digging a white guy’s ass sorta like the opposite of racist? I just must not be keeping up or something. Maybe he has that suburban booty. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/35 "2010-08-30T00:43:33Z")
> [@EVIL\_COW\_PIE](#): > > It just hit me that way. > > [Youtube link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgTBx2Sgmp4). > > What say ye? Yes! OMG! A presumptuous black women (well.. kinda, sorta) with a Negroid “fro” dares to tug on his jeans in possessive manner. The rampant animal lustfulness of the ebon seductress seeks to ensnare him into making a half race monster child. It is obvious she wants his sweet ivory penis, but she shall have NONE! She is not HIS woman. His woman is a chaste pale goddess with long straight hair who smokes Salem lights, is addicted to Oxycontin, and raids her friends and neighbors bathroom cabinets. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/36 "2010-08-30T01:18:15Z")
That man looks good in _anything_. Mmm. To answer the question, no. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/37 "2010-08-30T02:34:58Z")
> [@EVIL\_COW\_PIE](#): > > OK, I just watched it again and I see the failed punchline that I missed before. > > But I gotta say I’m surprised at the vitriol I’m getting. It was just a question… it’s not like I started a pit thread about it. It was a stupid question, that’s why. This wasn’t just the “race card”, this was the whole damned deck. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/38 "2010-08-30T03:45:08Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Meh. The ratio of “THAT’s RACIST!” to “I don’t hate black people. I just hate when they wear baggy ass pants and go around raping and looting and popping a cap in my ass. I’m not a bigot, right? RIGHT?” is something like the ratio of the national debt to what’s in my checking account. I’ve noticed the latter a lot more on these boards than the former, to be honest. Yeah, there are a few people sensitive to racism but other than this I haven’t noticed any other threads lately. On the other hand, it feels like every other race thread devolves into pointing out that racism exists in part because some black people act stupidly and bring it on themselves. That just skeeves me out way more than stuff like this. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/39 "2010-08-30T05:48:01Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > > [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > > > Meh. The ratio of “THAT’s RACIST!” to “I don’t hate black people. I just hate when they wear baggy ass pants and go around raping and looting and popping a cap in my ass. I’m not a bigot, right? RIGHT?” is something like the ratio of the national debt to what’s in my checking account. > > I’ve noticed the latter a lot more on these boards than the former, to be honest. Yeah, there are a few people sensitive to racism but other than this I haven’t noticed any other threads lately. On the other hand, it feels like every other race thread devolves into pointing out that racism exists in part because some black people act stupidly and bring it on themselves. That just skeeves me out way more than stuff like this. “That’s racist” is an interesting label. There [is this youtube video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U55mgeVlcL4) of a news interview with a woman who was the victim of an intruder, and potential rapist and her brother scared the intruder away. The brother has few seconds of screen time and the video went viral which launched his Internet fame, [and several opportunities for him.](http://bossip.com/274177/the-white-folks-love-them-some-antoine-dodson-antone-posted-up-with-white-folksfans-video69691/) Is he cooning it up? Is he queening it up? Is he behaving like a gay minstrel show? ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914/40 "2010-08-30T06:07:11Z")
IMO–you asked anything about anything with Mike Rowe in it? You realize there are females here? My mom and I (fake fun) argued about who’s boyfriend he is! Mine, please! And I watched it, \ and it was very “ALL women are hot for him, and he’s being shy”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-rowe-jean-commercial-racist/551914.md?page=3)