The two women who form his “entourage” are crazy hot.
And I don’t get the racist aspect of any of the ads - just the douchebaggery.
The commercial can be seen here:
I’m not seeing anything suggesting Gregor’s a gangster in that one, any more than in the other one.
I don’t understand the whole campaign. “These jerks like DirectTV. If you buy DirectTV, you can be an asshole, too!” Is there a large market segment of people who are trying to be more obnoxious but haven’t figured out the right products and services to buy to get them there?
nm
I crack up at the animals in the Direct TV ads. The dogs playing poker, the tiny giraffe, the boxing kangaroos, giant panda, etc.
The theme, to me anyway, always seems to be new money and humorous ostentatious ways to spend it; but that you too can have Direct TV even if you aren’t insanely rich.
Russian guy in a tracksuit.
With a miniature giraffe and Barbie-doll chicks who appear to have been dressed and made up by a drag queen, if memory serves.
Tiny Giraffe is awesome. Did you notice the kiss he gives? Hee!
I agree with you, the whole campaign says this product is not for you Madmonk28.
I know. I want a tiny giraffe.
Something like that, yes. This isn’t a hill I want to die on because I think all I said was that the character could be taken as a Russian gangster stereotype. But seriously, what other kind of rich person (who is obviously not a track and field star) wears a tracksuit as everyday wear?
(read with Russian accent)
You must visit world wide famous Sokoblovsky Farms, the best and only breeders of Petite Lap Giraffe as seen on American tv commercial.
I just watched the commercial. From what I can tell, most of characters are producing the standard θ fricative. The champion fighter is without a doubt pronouncing the ‘th’ in truth – I can see from his lip arrangement alone that he’s not reducing it. The kid is producing it. Most of his entourage, with the possible exception of the two dudes holding up his trophy belt, are producing it.
To me, people often project AAVE phonology where none are present. See the video of Will Smith saying “Welcome to Earth,” in Independence Day.
I guess I’m just hearing it differently. I don’t hear the θ fricative from anyone but the boxer.
I’m not sure of the purpose of the ID clip. I hear the “th” clearly in that one.
I think it’s more “typically rich undereducated black”. I.E. rappers and athletes.
I think it’s more prejudiced against celebrity per se than racist.
Technically, it plays on racial stereotypes, but they are a stereotype SUBSET. I don’t think it counts as very racist if you are stereotyping a subset of a population with such specific parameters, even if one of the very many parameters seems to be race. Because you could easily keep all the other parameters, but switch out the race, and the stereotype would remain mostly the same.
I don’t think it’s any more offensive (though it’s less entertaining) than the Russian one.
Nothing here to see. Move along.
OTOH, within the historical context of black portrayals in media, it stings a little to see a negative portrayal of black people, even if it’s fine out of context. It may take another decade or so before people’s first instinct is something other than “haven’t they been picked on enough”?
Funny - I always heard it as “Thats the truth, tooth” - as in the Boxer guys nickname was “the tooth” because of his diamond tooth or something - and it might have been ‘toof’ because without the front teeth, thats how it would likely sound, and it stuck.
ETA - its been a while since I’ve seen it, the main boxer did have odd teeth, rigth? I’m not just making this up… I hope.
Neither to I, but I don’t hear an [f] either. They are both barely articulated. The thing is, I associate that more with the rapper culture than I would saying troof. I would just assume that was baby talk.
You have to read the Youtube comments to understand what I mean.
It’s not every day wear - it’s a workout. Yeah, he has someone else to do the real work for him (because he’s rich), but he’s working out - that’s what all the electrodes on him are for. Watch his biceps when he says ‘no pain…no pain!’
The Simpsons did the same gag with Mr Burns and Smithers (except without the superscientific device that lets Gregor actually gain from the workout of the other guy).