(Basically, a TV commercial promoting our National Basketball League airing here in Australia has been branded “racist” because… well… you try and figure it out).
Can the trigger-happy “That’s RAAAAACCCCIIISSSSTTTT!” crowd please stop reminding us that we all have different skin colour? Because I wouldn’t even have noticed if you didn’t remind me, and it’s actually hurting the cause you’re claiming to defend.
I haven’t seen the ad, of course, but I think I can see why people might be offended by this commercial. It’s not that it’s racist, but it’s incredibly wrong-headed and insensitive, from what I read here. They may have been going for a cute, cuddly, “Basketball is back in your home” vibe, but that’s clearly not what people are taking away from it, being reminded of a crime. If that’s true, the player’s race is a lot less relevant that the association with a relatively recent crime.
I couldn’t listen to the ad, but I don’t find it racist at all. It’s a video of basketball players basically wrecking a neighborhood: throwing balls through windows, jumping around and making a mess in a kitchen, busting a chandelier, and a black guy receives a pass while jumping onto a bed in which a couple is laying down.
Actually, upon further reflection, I find it very racist. Why does it depict white basketball players as a bunch of hooligans, completely destroying a family’s house (and ruining a birthday party, too!) while the black guy is portrayed as a lovable, suave ladies’ man? Why is it always okay to beat up on the white man?
It says that African Americans are offended by it and I would think it is because of the stereotype being reinforced by the scene with a white couple in the bed and the black guy. Not sure it has to do anything with the crime cited, but, IMHO more with stereotype that role model African Americans would like to shake off.
So, yeah, I guess an average white guy would see something that is expected – a black dude fooling around with someone’s wife right in front of him and in their bed, no less. My guess is that some in African American community would like that image, that idea to disappear.
And, also saying “But, hey, that’s what they DO!” is not an argument but again, reinforcement. They can do other things too.
“Black guys are going to rape/seduce your wimmins” is a trope that still has a lot of currency these days.
A while back, I was talking to a couple that wanted to join Peace Corps, but the husband was insistant that they not go to Africa because he had “safety concerns” about his wife. He thought Latin America would be better. When I pointed out that Latin America’s Peace Corps sexual assault rates are LIGHTYEARS higher than Africa’s, he was speechless. He still stammered about how “he just wouldn’t feel like his wife was safe.” People still believe this stuff in some part of their heads, and still make life decisions based on it. I don’t this guy even realized he was working from this stereotype, but it was in his head all the same.
Even small stuff like this reinforces these stereotypes and keeps them alive. I don’t think you realize how obnoxious it is when it’s not you.
In China, I saw an animated anti-AIDS ad where a guy decides to go to a prostitute, and the other guy convinces him to use condoms. It was a cartoon, and everyone in the ad was obviously Asian, except the prostitute who was blonde haired and blue eyed. Yeah, like China is swarming with Aryan prostitutes.
I doubt anyone else would have noticed it, but it made me (a blue eyed blonde) really uncomfortable. I already faced lots of situations- from inappropriate comments in professional settings (one guy at a professional teacher training conference I was presenting at, in front of a whole room of people, once asked if I slept naked) to borderline assault- because of this idea that Western women are “open.” It was eye-opening to see where this idea comes from and how it is subtly reinforced. If I had told people I felt like I was facing negative consequences from this stereotype, they’d probably tell me to shrug it off. But they don’t know what it’s like to live it every single day.
So yeah. Film is awesome because you can pretty much put anything you want on film. Why would you put something that perpetuates an old, obnoxious and harmful stereotype when you could put on just about anything else?
They’re not referring to arbitrary black people as African-Americans. They’re referring to the specifically quoted basketball players Leroy Loggins, Darryl McDonald, and Cal Bruton, all of whom grew up in America and only moved to Australia as adults.
Or is this yet another example of where the whole planet is expected to be ultra-aware to the most obscure American cultural sensitivities, even in material never intended to be seen by a US audience?
It’s gotten to where I just about don’t go outside anymore for fear of offending someone. There is no way Animal House would ever be greenlit in today’s world. They insulted half the world.
Did anyone ever consider that maybe the commercial was perhaps just a tiny bit tongue in cheek?
Not racist, like the second OP example of the cricket/KFC ad, it looks like exported American over-sensitivity. Probably something the ad agency *should *have slightly considered, given the global nature of media nowadays, but not that important.
That the OP lumped it in with that variety show “nonsense” one is, of course, bullshit. Blackface is always racist. Hell, it’s racist when Coloured folks here in SA do it (see “coon carnival”)…
If you think about it, if anybody deserves to be taken to task for the content of that last shot, it’s the athlete who actually did that bit of the ad. As a black American himself, who else is in a better position to put their hand up and say “hey guys, some people might have a bit of a problem with this”? And if it didn’t occur to him, then how the hell should it be obvious to anybody else making the ad? We aren’t keeping track of where everyone else’s buttons are.
But I hope the ad gets canned anyway because it’s just such an appalling ad. “Look! A bunch of NBL players invading peoples houses and breaking their shit! Doesn’t that make you want to watch NBL?” Gaaahh!
What stands out is that he was the ONLY black guy in the ad, and that’s basically the only thing a black guy did.
I think it’s hard to understand how pervasive and obnoxious this stuff is when it’s not about you. Picture being in a crowded room- you probably won’t hear or give much thought to most people’s conversations. But if people happen to be saying your name, you will probably notice every single time. It’s gonna stand out and be hard to ignore. Meanwhile, someone who doesn’t share your name probably won’t notice at all. While you may not notice these stereotypes all around you, that doesn’t mean they aren’t there or that they have no effect on people’s lives.
I also think it’s awfully easy to call something harmless when you aren’t the one being harmed.
Not seeing the racism in the ad, even though I watched it after reading the OP and was looking for it. Although I will admit that I find the ad really annoying and am glad that I won’t have to watch it more than once.
Huh? You’ve yet to establish this stereotype exists anywhere else outside of America. When I think of British Blacks the last thing on my mind is them raping white women. From the sounds of it, the same is true in Australia.
Yet the African American basketball player in the advert freely went along with the “story” behind the advert anyway. Why, if this stereotype is so widespread, did the very sort of person who ought to be aware of this stereotype not request a change to the advert?