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153 Comments
- MacBandit, on 11/03/2009, -14/+164I'm probably going to get torn apart for this but....
I hate living in a politically correct world. - veriix, on 11/03/2009, -0/+72Product to make you darker = not racist
Product to make you lighter = racist
w...t...f - KidVicious, on 11/03/2009, -0/+47I was just listening to npr where they had some lady on who was a "race expert" and was talking about how all these halloween costumes are racist. About how offended a Native American would be if someone was dressed in a storebought Indian costume.
Maybe I'm giving Native Americans too much credit but I'm sure they're a little more easygoing than that.
"When someone asks me 'which way is Israel', I don't fly off the handle!" - Jerry Seinfeld - inigomntoya, on 11/03/2009, -3/+49Our fear of offending anyone has brought us to an ugly place in this world.
I just got done listening to Steve Martin's 'Let's Get Small' where he talks about being a young black boy and decides to become white, has his ***** shortened, and gets a job as a TV weatherman.
If he were to do that same act today, he would be hung. - Sylocat, on 11/03/2009, -1/+45The instant I saw the title, I knew that SalesGenie ad would be on here.
They also did that abysmal ad from Super Bowl 2007: http://www.cracked.com/article_15298_5-worst-ads-f ... - sooner82, on 11/03/2009, -1/+41Is the italian one racist against black people or scrawny white guys?
- McPiggy, on 11/03/2009, -12/+50Oh, so just because they say you'd be better off in life with whiter skin, they're being racist? Man, I am so tired of the race card! All they're saying is the guy likes to wear sunglasses, and if you're too dark, he can't see you! How can he love you if he can't see you!
- AmyVernon, on 11/03/2009, -3/+38Holy crap, those are bad.
- anthropodeus, on 11/03/2009, -1/+34why would doing that act today determine his penis size?
- dystra, on 11/03/2009, -5/+30Could someone explain to me what is "racist" about the Corker ad...
- anotherjack, on 11/03/2009, -0/+22In European and early American white society, people were most interested in being as pale as possible.This meant you were rich because you did not have to work in the sun. It was a pretty effective class stratification, because anyone of the lower classes had to work in the fields, and they got very dark. At the time the classes were very divided on genetic lines, and what you were allowed to be, depended entirely on your family history.
This continued to be the standard until the industrial revolution, when the lower classes were crowded into factories and became as pale as lords and ladies. I'm not sure what they did in England, they may have solidified their upper-crust accents. But in America, the experiment was to be egalitarian, and so your class was more decided by your wealth, not your blood line.
The tilt towards tans happened sometime after the 1920's. Suddenly young women had the vote, were going to real colleges, the stock market was booming, everyone was traveling. Very Gatsby. Among the upper classes, everyone had a car, people had leisure time, they traveled the world, creating the jet set. A tan was proof that you could have a vacation. If you were a hick you tanned in the shape of your overalls, but if you were a rich person who sat in the sun and had vacations, you had no tan lines. After color film was invented, all the movie stars became sun worshippers, portraying attractive people living adventurous lives. Contrast the leathery face of an old Gary Cooper to his pale face in the silent era. - ricker2005, on 11/03/2009, -2/+24At the very least the last one is ridiculously racist.
- Hetman, on 11/03/2009, -3/+24i am going to digg u up and assume you are being sarcastic due to your last line.
- phxphreak, on 11/03/2009, -9/+29In this case it's not so much racism as race-baiting. The creators of the ad KNOW that a large portion of their audience will have a racist response to the implication that a black man is sexually involved with a white woman, even if the racism isn't present in the ad itself.
- chiaconan, on 11/03/2009, -1/+20Doritos' New 'We Hate Black People' Cheddar?
- manova, on 11/03/2009, -5/+21Until it was pointed out by every media outlet in the country, how many people do you really think made the connection that is was a black man with a white woman? It was meant to play up his "playboy" lifestyle. The media gave the general public way too much credit on this one. People do not conduct in-depth analysis of commercials when they are sitting on their couch at night.
- moditripit, on 11/03/2009, -3/+18doubtful, if it's insulting white (Caucasian) people it's perfectly fine. I've given up on not being offensive, they've cried wolf for the last time! if everything I say is racist, so be it! get a job!
- calypsoschnitzl, on 11/03/2009, -4/+19Holy crap, those are awesomely bad.
- Waiting2awake, on 11/03/2009, -0/+14What about the flip side though? Many white people tend to sun worship or tan themselves to get darker. So I tend to see it as in generally darker parts of the world, they look at lighter skin as attractive because it is rare. In lighter parts of the world, they see being darker as attractive because it is rare.
- saruyama, on 11/03/2009, -0/+13What I never understood about that controversy was who other than a blond, white woman would you have portray a Playboy bunny? Of course, if they had a black woman act like a scatterbrained bimbo the claims of racism would have only been that much louder. Still, a lame ad.
- VarelseSoul, on 11/03/2009, -3/+16No, no. I totally agree. It's almost a crime to be funny, because everyone wants to be so offended about everything.
- Denex, on 11/03/2009, -7/+19#5 is not racist at all, IMO.
- fingerrockets4, on 11/03/2009, -0/+10*****!
I just invested all my money in sun tanning salons in India. - spacemanspork, on 11/03/2009, -0/+10Honestly, I don't mind political incorrectness, but I HATE double standards for politically incorrectness.
How things are today is "it's NOT ok to do anything even the slightest bit racial if it targets blacks and Jews. If the target is not black or Jewish, feel free to be as racist!"
THAT I have an issue with. You want to know how absurd this double standard is? Look no farther than Dom Imus and the "nappy headed hos". That was a minor somewhat racial insult that became the MOST IMPORTANT NEWS STORY IN AMERICA! Now Asians, Hispanics, whites being racially mocked? Barely a word. You could be 100x more racist and it won't even hit the front page of CNN let alone the TOP STORY for more than one day.
Society needs to decide: is racial insensitivity ok or not? There's no in between. There's no "yes, you can be racially insensitive except against this particular race."
Personally I think people should be allowed to and let them reap the consequences themselves. - Cowzeetgrass, on 11/03/2009, -0/+10Most of these are not from the states, and as such, are viewed by peoples who are more open minded and less prudish than the American counterpart. If you think these are directed at you personally, you have issues. Comedians do this kind of thing all the time, and people laugh. Corporations do this, and they get sued. If you have nothing better to do than get offended by trivial things, you need to get a better hobby.
- McPiggy, on 11/03/2009, -1/+10guess i should've mentioned the part about me being sarcastic. it seemed obvious to me.
- anotherjack, on 11/03/2009, -0/+9Your being black, white it is worth some experience points, does not sway me past my own interpretation. Racism is not a black thing or a white thing, it's the interplay between the races/looks/colors/accents.
- inactive, on 11/03/2009, -2/+11#8 and #1 were the only ones I found racist. I think the others were either projections of racism or just being a little too PC.
#1 was kind of funny though. - lilrabbit129, on 11/03/2009, -2/+11Its not being racist... its the culture. I can't speak for India but I know where I came from having light skin is considered beautiful. Its not racist, its just how it is.
- smemily, on 11/03/2009, -1/+10Well, consider that interracial marriage was made legal by a 1967 Supreme Court ruling. However, many states (Southern ones, mostly) waited a long time to take the laws against interracial marriage off the books.
Specifically, it was in 1998 and 2000 respectively that South Carolina and Alabama finally removed the language prohibiting interracial marriage from the states' constitutions.
Only 62% of South Carolinas voters voted to remove the language.
Only 59% of Alabama's voters voted to remove it.
In other words, some 40-ish-% of the population in these 2 southern states were in favor of leaving symbolic language against interracial marriage in the state's constitution.
That's no small portion of the electorate he was keeping in mind running that ad. - Archades54, on 11/03/2009, -1/+10Or if you aren't thin, you aren't beautiful. Oh my god how offensive.
It's possible that they value a fairer skin vs tanned. In other cultures we have bronzing, spray tans etc but no one cries racism at that? - MaddieCakes, on 11/03/2009, -0/+8Touche!
- ayeroxor, on 11/03/2009, -0/+8Hm. The block function seems to work just fine.
- inactive, on 11/03/2009, -3/+11some people and cultures consider whiter skin more attractive and there is nothing wrong with that just like some people might prefer tans that is why there are tanning salons. As for the caricatures they will stop being offensive once people stop being offended by them stereo types do exist but that doesn't mean everyone from that ethnic group acts like that.
- yacks, on 11/03/2009, -0/+8blame the certain sects of the societies of India, Malaysia, mexico, etc were they equate white to mean more beauty...
- krets, on 11/03/2009, -7/+14Holy crap, those are badly awesome.
- Waiting2awake, on 11/03/2009, -0/+7Exactly, so are skin tanning places also racist?
- ausdigger, on 11/03/2009, -1/+8"whitening" creams are very common and mainstream in asia and central america.
Thw whole thing with "white is better" in these countries comes from the fact that the lower social classes used to do manual labour in the fields and get more exposed to the sun, thus getting darker.
I personally believe a healthy tan is beautiful, but unfortunately those are the facts.
"whitening" creams are for sale in Japan, China, Jamaica, at pharmacies or beauty stores. - Floobins, on 11/03/2009, -3/+10Don't worry guys! It's all OK because some of their best friends are Indian, black, and Chinese!
- subscriber, on 11/03/2009, -0/+7I didn't get "fashion" so much as "desirability" out of that. I.E: "White women are more desirable than dark skinned women."
That being said, I'm not sure it's the advertiser's fault. They are tapping into an already existing social phenomenon in order to sell more product. They have observed what their customers fear, and they are capitalizing on it. - 100thwindow, on 11/03/2009, -0/+7I first saw it that way too. I thought the commercial was impying that women's fantasy is a buff black guy.
- anotherjack, on 11/03/2009, -0/+6As a person who *cannot tan*, no matter what, I can say that there was a definite pressure to be darker when I was young. I don't know if it stopped because I got older or because society changed it's ideas about "healthy sunlight". It was most intense in Florida, where there was a large latino/islander population of dark skinned people.
There was some racism to it, for shizzle. When I was a teenage girl, pale skin was seen as ugly, and uncool, not just different or a product of my genetics, and people would make rude comments about my race and culture when I walked past. I therefore tried very, very, hard to tan. I sat out in the sun for hours and really damaged myself.
I would say that a white girl damaging her skin due to societal pressure to be a different color, is not different than a black or latino girl getting skin damage caused by bleaching cream. In both cases the pressure and the treatments are about trying to hide your genetics. - deutsch715, on 11/03/2009, -1/+7I always wanted to see that Kia-Ora ad Tim mentions in Spaced, but I never imagined it was that ***** up.
- phxphreak, on 11/03/2009, -5/+11It may not be racism, but it's definitely race-baiting.
- 5thdigg, on 11/03/2009, -3/+9The first one is racist, what kind of crack are you smoking dude? You're not good enough because you have brown skin. Can't get much more racist than that.
- UtopianComplex, on 11/03/2009, -1/+6I agree 100% that it isn't racist. I was really annoyed when everyone was calling it racist during the election.
It is an example of bad political advertising, but racist... HELL NO - themastersb, on 11/03/2009, -1/+6You mean the thumbnail of it right beside the title?
- smemily, on 11/03/2009, -0/+5It's a play on the old, "I'm not racist! I'm friends with a black person!"
- Waiting2awake, on 11/03/2009, -0/+4 Where is "here"?
- MacBandit, on 11/03/2009, -4/+8There's nothing wrong with being mindful of other peoples feelings. It's just wrong when you start telling people they can't say certain words or say what they feel about someone (racist or not) or they can be sued or thrown in jail.
Being mindful of other people should be a personal choice not a government forced one.
Also there shouldn't be any limits on what someone can do or say on television. If you don't like it don't watch it. If no one watches it then they'll take it off the air. -
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