Sheesh. I was just about to remind you of noted non-black-guy Christopher Lloyd. But a quick check of the IMDB shows that STIII came out more than 15 years ago.
Just roll my wheelchair in the direction of the nursing home. I’ll be fine.
Sheesh. I was just about to remind you of noted non-black-guy Christopher Lloyd. But a quick check of the IMDB shows that STIII came out more than 15 years ago.
Just roll my wheelchair in the direction of the nursing home. I’ll be fine. **
[/QUOTE]
Well, the other non-black-Christopher, Christopher Plummer, was in ST VI, in 1991.
Gowron, Lursa, Alexander, and B’Etor were all played by Caucasians. And yes, there had to have been more Caucasian Klingons than just those few.
There’s also General Martok on DS9, played by J.G. Hertzler, who’s also Caucasian. And there are plenty of others – but most of the recurring Klingon characters were in fact played by white actors…
(Yeah, I know tracer was joking, too… :))
Can’t speak about the audiences of sporting events, but ‘Friends’, ‘Will & Grace’ and the like are definitely “white-focused” or at least “white-watched” shows. African-Americans and whites share only around two or three of the top 20 most-watched shows by each race. The self-segregation in TV viewing habits is striking.
Sua
I stand corrected. Please don’t tell me that African-Americans watch “The Hughleys”, for I’ll be greatly disappointed. I’d still be interested in the results of the sports demographics.
I’d like to apologize to Acco40 for questioning the nature of the OP.
To the OP:
Since when are ‘Image is Nothing’ and ‘Obey Your Thirst’ separate slogans?
I’ve never seen a Sprite ad that didn’t do the FULL slogan:
Image is Nothing.
Thirst is Everything.
Obey Your Thirst.
To the Klingon Hijack: Even the white actors playing Klingons get darker makeup than they would if they were playing a Human, Bajoran, Vulcan, Romulan, or whathaveyou. (A tradition that goes back to before they had the foreheads…at which point it looked obvious, even if you hadn’t seen the actor with his more natural colouring.) The Klingons are a dark skinned race, overall. Some are lighter than others, but a light Klingon is darker than a light Human. And there’s no dark Romulans, either.
No one is debating the presence of racial stereotyping in any of Gene Roddenberry’s creations or subsequent productions inspired by him. What is up for debate is the presence of any sort of life outside of comic book conventions for the people who spend a lot of time wondering what Tuvak’s racial ancestry is. Sheesh, this thread began with a serious question about a serious issue and has been hijacked by a bunch of dorks. Good bye.
but I somewhat agree with rebelyell.
I found it interesting that the OP never came back to respond, but then I realized that the only thing Acco could respond to would be Star Trek trivia.
I’ve never seen a hijack like this since I forced my school bus to take us to AdultWorld!
jarbaby
Has anyone else noticed the razor sexist ad campaign? The problem I have with it is there are two distinct approaches used, I believe targeted to two different markets.*
My friends and I have had better things to do for some time, and we’re convinced that there is nothing going on here… anyone else noticed this, or other sexist advertising campaigns?
*(Men’s ads favour shaving chins; women’s are for legs)
I’m back baby!
OK - let me clear up a couple things…
I admit, I jumped off a bit of a cliff by outwardly saying “racist” advertising. Admittedly, I see the campaign is not screaming race issues, and I don’t huddle in dark rooms with a flickering tv and notepad and come up with conspiracy theories and secret messages, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…
But I still do believe wholeheartedly that certain stereotypes/ messages/ behaviors/ are (re)enforced through the media. I thought very few people would disagree with that, but apparently so many people are locked in to their trust of the media and advertisers that they can’t see past the primary message in the ads of “buy our product!”.
You see, it’s not the “buy our product” aspect to the ads that bothers me… it’s the unsaid answer of the logical question the potential customer will ask: “Why should I buy your product?” That unsaid answer usually has a couple standard answers: “because you are too fat/ poor-looking / dumb and our product will make you look like the people in our ad who are thin / rich / smart.”
And jarbaby, you are right… my Klingon knowledge is vastly inferior to other Doper’s… oh well ----> these are some of the same people who are telling me to check myself into the mental ward. By the way, thanks for your assessment of my mental state Dr. Shagnasty… I appreciate your concern.
About the Roddenberry stuff too - doesn’t it seem that there is ALWAYS some sort of second-rate star trek ripoff on at ANY GIVEN MOMENT on either UPN, WB and the like? Geez.
Back to the Sprite: I thought it was interesting that a mod or two thought this thread was stupid or irrelevant. In fact, in the early going, many of those who posted thought my observation was stupid or irrelevant. I don’t understand this. Sure, my thread’s focus was blurry at best, but… well, I hope it is a little more clear now. Thank you all who have posted to try to discuss what I feel is an important and pertinent issue.
Maybe everyone is aware of this, but Sprite has really positioned itself as a hip-hop urban product. I think they are trying to market themselves to black people. Obviously they are doing it to make money. I see the racial angle here, but I don’t think it’s racist.
What gets me is when people said Star Wars was racist the first time because Lando was the only black guy. However, considering the amount of species in Star Wars, black and white problems were probably nonexistant.
I mean, when you got a giant slug who’s a crime boss…
Ok.
Yes.
I see the logic. If I see and ad for something, I’m going to ask myself “Why should I buy your product.” And they will answer with the “There’s something wrong with you, let us help fix it” line. I’m doin good so far, right?
Now, if the reason wasn’t because I was lacking something, what would it be? I mean drinks quench my thirst. Clothes keep my decent. Toothpaste allows me to keep my teeth bright and white just like the purdy celebrities. What reason can they give other than my lack of something that someone else has?
I just wanted to jump in and say that since the early 1990s, Sprite has aggressively sought to place itself in the center of the hip-hop culture, and to be the drink of choice for young blacks. It has done an astonishing job of establishing ‘street cred’ while doing so. Sprite is possibly the most successful ‘mainstream’ product to place itself so firmly into black culture.
–Tim
Yeah, but the dorks’ hijack is more intellectually stimulating and factually grounded than the wild-assed “hidden message” assertion in the OP. I vote for the dorks.
(Still can’t get over John Tesh as a Klingon after all these years)
Advertisers target demographics of all sorts. I’ve never much thought of that as a hidden message, though, it’s usually pretty apparent. Insidious attempt to dehumanize? Nope. An attempt to get money from in exchange for their product or service, like all advertising is. That’s the same thing in some peoples’ heads, of course.
Hijack-wise, I’ve always just wondered why it was all the klingons all of a sudden grew painful bone spurs on their heads. I suspect it has something to do with a really successful marketing campaign, though. “Don’t be an Uncle Roundhead. Klingon Power! The Acme Skullspurs 3000!”
Are you counting Newport cigarettes?
And while we’re talking about Newports, did you ever wonder why the ads all show white people, but they are by far the most popular cigarette among black people? Very few white people that I know of smoke Newports. (That was more an imperical observation on my part, but I have seen it borne out where I live.)
Sorry for the hijack, but what the hell. shrug
i think we should abandon the word “racist” and come up with a new word for prejudice or discrimination based on skin color/ethnicity. The word “racist” has been used too much and has become diluted… it has no meaning anymore. I won’t offer any replacement words - just the thought that we should have one. I would cite to this thread to bolster my argument.