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hackthis_archiveWelcome to advertising in 2007, where it's always good to see that the master is being nice to his slaves.
I had a whole diatribe about this, but it's like talking to the wall. People nod their heads and say something has to be done and then nothing changes at all. I wish I could say I'm shocked that Intel would put out that sort of ad, but isn't that kind of where things have been going? There's no racism! Racism doesn't exist! It's all in your head! There's no such thing as oppression! What pay divide? What housing discrimination? What job discrimination? Women are just as oppressed as minorities! What images of subjugation? Your people just aren't applying themselves. Besides, that wasn't me! That happened years ago! Can't you just get over it? That was just my great-great-great-granddad. What white privilege? Don't you know that white people are oppressed too? Don't call me a racist. That's bullying!
See, the thing is though, not in a million years would they have reversed the roles in this ad. You will NEVER see an ad with six white men bowing before a black man. Or a Latino man. Or an Asian man. You might see an image of six white women bowing before a white man, but that will probably be a beer ad, and N.O.W. will probably get that one before it makes it to the presses. Surely, someone will realize that it's a screwed up message.
Not one person in Intel's marketing department pointed that out about this image.
The next time you want to talk about how there's no racism, think about that. If you've never been followed around a store because of your skin color think about that. If you've never been called a racist slur or had people assume you don't have two brain cells to rub together because 'they've seen your kind on the TV' think about that. And then ask yourself what you imagine when you're online. Do you automatically think everybody looks like you? I don't -- but that's what comes with being a minority. When advertisers tell you that your only purpose in life is to bow before a white man, you know it's just that minority tax again.
I had a whole diatribe about this, but it's like talking to the wall. People nod their heads and say something has to be done and then nothing changes at all. I wish I could say I'm shocked that Intel would put out that sort of ad, but isn't that kind of where things have been going? There's no racism! Racism doesn't exist! It's all in your head! There's no such thing as oppression! What pay divide? What housing discrimination? What job discrimination? Women are just as oppressed as minorities! What images of subjugation? Your people just aren't applying themselves. Besides, that wasn't me! That happened years ago! Can't you just get over it? That was just my great-great-great-granddad. What white privilege? Don't you know that white people are oppressed too? Don't call me a racist. That's bullying!
See, the thing is though, not in a million years would they have reversed the roles in this ad. You will NEVER see an ad with six white men bowing before a black man. Or a Latino man. Or an Asian man. You might see an image of six white women bowing before a white man, but that will probably be a beer ad, and N.O.W. will probably get that one before it makes it to the presses. Surely, someone will realize that it's a screwed up message.
Not one person in Intel's marketing department pointed that out about this image.
The next time you want to talk about how there's no racism, think about that. If you've never been followed around a store because of your skin color think about that. If you've never been called a racist slur or had people assume you don't have two brain cells to rub together because 'they've seen your kind on the TV' think about that. And then ask yourself what you imagine when you're online. Do you automatically think everybody looks like you? I don't -- but that's what comes with being a minority. When advertisers tell you that your only purpose in life is to bow before a white man, you know it's just that minority tax again.
