PepsiCo and blatant racial-specific marketing tactics - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

seretogis · 08-29-2003, 10:18 PM

If you've seen the recent Vanilla Pepsi commercials, or any Pepsi Blue commercials, you should know what I'm talking about. I find the commercials demeaning, and insulting to the intelligence of the viewer. What on earth makes a soft drink "more black" than another?

I'm not sure if this belongs on the Politics forum, please feel free to move it elsewhere if necessary. I think that some tie-ins to attempts to specifically target racial groups of voters would be appropriate. Why divide America, what happened to the "melting pot?"

Zeld2.0 · 08-29-2003, 10:48 PM

i dunno mang commercials really have a ton of racial undertones that people in america don't seem to pick up

i can't name it all but i just remember a friend pointing out stereotypes of blacks eating certain foods in a commercial

Mojo_PeiPei · 08-29-2003, 10:52 PM

THe Melting Pot is a lost concept to the newest wave of immigrants and politicans.

chavos · 08-30-2003, 07:08 AM

Oh, if you knew. I don't mean to be a total dick...maybe i do. But this is one of my favorite myths to debunk. Self identifying ethnic communities were the NORM for most of America's history. Yeah, there was anti-immigrant pressure, but the immigrant communities still formed around their ethnic idenities. The ballot in our minnesota was in FOURTEEN differnt languages in 1880. 14. Yeah. And people get all hissy about spanish and hmong showing up. Ever look at the advertisements from that era? A huge number of them are in different languages, focusing in on specific ethnic groups. They tout products from the home country, and friendly service in the native language. Forgien language radio stations were also quite common...

Bascially, y'all ain't seen nothing yet. And whats more? Minnesota was just fine for all that unassilimated diversity. So, sit back, relax. "Black" pepsi commercials are not the end of the world. Remember the Latin craze a few years back? It's called flash in the pan. More than anything, pepsi is selling to white kids who think they're hiphop, and this is a step towards deracializing that boundary. Now, coke is going with Neo-soul, which is still more racially defined, so if you're looking for a villian...it's good old coke.

The_Dude · 08-30-2003, 08:25 AM

i havent seen those commercials.

i've seen the pepsi vanilla ad where the pepsi truck driver puts on the music vs the coke driver.

Nizzle · 08-30-2003, 11:22 AM

I don't watch TV. Someone should describe the commercials.

Xell101 · 08-30-2003, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Why divide America, what happened to the "melting pot?"

Hippis stunned it, embracing diversity knocked it down, and forced diversity/mediocrity is currently stabbing it in the face. Our culture seems to in complete disregard of anything useful learned in the previous generations and just forges into existence a new cculture every 3-4 years...

WhoaitsZ · 08-30-2003, 12:57 PM

melting pot..... not anymore. it is one of those illusions taught in school, similiar to what chavos said.

untill we have a country with no racial favors and what not we will never live in a melting pot society. it's sad.

smooth · 08-30-2003, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by WhoaitsZ
melting pot..... not anymore.

When was it ever? Back when our country was beating down Germans and Irish?

As if anyone without white toned skin was ever allowd to melt into the culture...

Phaenx · 08-30-2003, 02:06 PM

Maybe I should start a white pride day?

We'll have a big parade doing ethnic things. Like diversifying our bonds.

skippy · 08-30-2003, 04:34 PM

I have seen the commercials and found them to be a little presumptuous to say the least. I have no problem whatsoever with a company marketing their product to ME or an other person from an ethnic background. Go for it man!

The problem begins when the company presumes wrongly about what my tastes, likes or values are all about.

If you find the Pepsi commercials bad try watching MTV for two hours.

MTV is way way worse. They ruin the music with the videos nowadays. There are nuthin but a bunch of guys trying to show off how rich they are with all of their women and Bling and cars

Anyhow thats just one mans opinion.

Thanks for the input

Skippy

RaGe2012 · 08-30-2003, 06:37 PM

I have noticed something in America. The reason why the melting pot idea stopped working is because people WANT to be different and identified as something unique. I hardly ever hear anyone describe themselves as "American" anymore...its always, "I am <instert third-party nationality here>".

Anymore it seems that people would rather be identified as from a foreign country than be called for who they really are. It makes me laugh sometimes...years ago in high school a kid said that "There's no such thing as Americans. I'm Italian".

Being ever so slightly offended by that remark, I turned to him and said,"Were you born here (in America)?"

He said yes.

I asked, "Do you speak any Italian?"

He said no.

Finally I asked, "Have you ever been to Italy at all?"

He said no.

It was apparent to him that I had made my point.

But anyway...

Accepting that people are different and that you shouldn't judge them by their differences is good, but at the same time I think its the fact that people (and especially the government) LOVE to point out differences in people's race, religion, nationality, etc. and exploit it. When people stop acknowledging differences, then possibly the melting pot will return.

ack32 · 08-31-2003, 03:04 AM

Marketing is really just a reflection of the society it's made in. If the bigwigs at Pepsi didn't think that we'd accept it and in fact be so drawn to their clever racial-specific marketing tactics, then they'd just pick some other idea from their ad agency.

You can either "vote with your feet" and drink Coke as a punishment to Pepsi, or you can buy a Tivo/Media Center PC and skip the commercials altogether.

guthmund · 08-31-2003, 03:06 AM

The bottom line is that right now the hip-hop culture is what's making money. From music, to clothes, to movies, if it's tied with some popular hip-hop (or psuedo-hip-hop) star it's going to sell. And sell to everyone across the board regardless of color (blacks, latinos, and white boys.)

Chavos, hit the nail right on the head. Latin music was the "new wave" shit of late 90's. Latin Grammys, Ricky Martin and Shakira all over everything. Give it a couple of months and the "blatant racial specific marketing tactics" will have shifted from the hip-hop culture onto something else.

We are a culture of fad and fad never lasts long because there's no substance. I can just see a whole new group of kids wearing tight western shirts and trucker hats like that stupid Kutcher kid from "Dude, where's my car?"

Cowman · 08-31-2003, 07:01 AM

Whaaat...
Why would you WANT the melting pot to return? The melting pot is a BAD thing. It discourages people from exploring their individualism and celebrating their culture..

Xell101 · 08-31-2003, 08:00 AM

Are you serious?

RaGe2012 · 08-31-2003, 12:23 PM

People who are born here don't have anything to do with the culture of their predecessors. I will use black people as an example. Blacks are reffered to as "African-Americans". Can't they just be plain old Americans too? They (as individuals) didn't come here from Africa, they were born here! Whatever "culture" they have was formed HERE. Not THERE.

Cant we all just get along? :-D

chavos · 08-31-2003, 02:04 PM

Quote:

People who are born here don't have anything to do with the culture of their predecessors.

That assumption is both overly broad, and prima facie incorrect. Most definitions of culture note that it is passed from generation to generation.

Quote:

Can't they just be plain old Americans too?

American and African American have not been defined or proven to be mutually exclusive terms.

Quote:

Whatever "culture" they have was formed HERE. Not THERE.

Perhaps. But that does nothing to further your arguement. Just becuase the culture is not formed in Africa does not mean it is not unique enough to warrant separate labeling. If that cultural heritage is labelled "American," will other cultures that are in America be able to share that label with out mass confusion? The simple fact is that the linguistic distinctions, such as "African American" reflect cultural/ethnic disctinctions in reality.

prosequence · 08-31-2003, 02:53 PM

Target Markets... everyone does it, companies and individuals a like. Comercials show men in Hardware stores and Women in Grocery stores. It's based on statistics from their marketing agency, if they didn't use it, they wouldn't make as much money they needed to pay for expensive advertisement on a network, network wouldn't make as much money, and we would have nothing but reality TV programs left (most feasable).

RaGe2012 · 08-31-2003, 04:49 PM

Point taken, chavos.

Cowman · 08-31-2003, 08:04 PM

Quote:

People who are born here don't have anything to do with the culture of their predecessors.

Woah.

That statement was...so false. Your culture is the blood that runs through you..it's what defines who you are.

Im sorry...I live in Canada where I believe most of us view ourselves as sort of a cultural 'mosaic'(sp?), which is to say, we can all live together, but at the same time we can each explore our own individuality and culture. If everyone just .."melted together", then individuality would be lost and EVENTUALLY, everything would be the same. What's the fun in that? Don't you enjoy going down to your local china town, or italian village, or whatever, and seeing how different cultures act, what they eat, what they wear?

50 years ago, "african americans" were viewed as inferior, and prejudiced by many people because of their colour. They were viewed as totally different people, even though they were born in America just as their neighbors were. Now you want everyone to blend in and become one race????

Aye...sometimes you americans confuse me

JcL · 08-31-2003, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Im sorry...I live in Canada where I believe most of us view ourselves as sort of a cultural 'mosaic'(sp?), which is to say, we can all live together, but at the same time we can each explore our own individuality and culture.

I visited Vancouver earlier this summer on vacation and one of our tour bus drivers said something along the lines of a cultural 'mosaic' as opposed to Americas melting pot.

In truth though, I don't think the melting pot really applies, and I think for the most part America has the same cultural mosiac deal as Canada.

America may have once prescribed to more of a melting pot thing, so many caucasians here with family going back a few generations are now distinctly 'American' - but still for the most part I think, now, America doesn't live up to the term melting pot that was once coined for it.

SkanK0r · 09-01-2003, 12:46 AM

To this discussion I can only bring a bit of experience I've recently nabbed.

I live in Missouri - a particularly "white part" of Missouri. Two black kids in my high school. I recently took a trip to the south, and stayed what appeared to be a very "black part" of Mississippi. I noticed that all of the white kids holding skateboards, eating Big Macs in the commercials back home had switched to black kids listening to hip hop, eating Big Macs.

I'm not entirely sure that this is a bad thing. While it may further some sort of ethnocentricity within the community that it airs, that's hardly the company's fault for running an ad to appeal to a demograph.

Disclaimer: I haven't seen the commercial - my response was just an experience I've had. I have seen racially insensitive commercials - you know, the kind that are just oozing with stereotypes.

Here's something I've been throwing around in my head - I think our concept of stereotypes have been dictated by a broader (and somewhat more "dangerous") ethnocentricity that's never been directly attacked by the types that are usually so fond of attacking those sorts of thing. We never think of "white stereotypes" because, to us [and by "us" I mean white people, the only "us" I can speak for (or can I? heh) in this context], whites are diverse. We aren't offended by skater punk kids eating Big Macs, because, to us, that's just one facet of our super-diverse whiteness. Look at the whites you see on T.V. - there are whites in suits, whites in T-shirts, whites with long hair, whites with short hair, etc. etc. But the blacks we see are always the same - young, hip, rap-listening, jewelry-wearing, etc. etc. This lends itself to a belief that there is only one kid of black person in the world today - but there are many types of white people! It's like the whole Matrix within a Matrix thing, or something. I'm rambling. Somebody shut me up.

guthmund · 09-01-2003, 01:34 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by SkanK0r
...super-diverse whiteness.

Who knew????

I think we define our stereotypes through our personal experiences. If you are fortunate to come in contact with a wide array of different cultures and races, then you realize that there are good folks everywhere of every creed. If you don't you have to base your opinions on third hand accounts and what you absorb through the media.

Unfortunately, because most of us don't come in contact with other cultures (for whatever reason) we only see them as what popular culture wants to portray them as. A lot of us live with the notion that what we see on MTV is what you get. And it's these badly formed notions that shape our opinion and ultimately our behavior.

seretogis · 09-01-2003, 09:49 AM

Perhaps I haven't been looking, but I haven't seen any commercials aimed at whites with a tagline like, "Snickers, the chocolate bar that isn't so 'chocolate'", which obviously is a reference to another racial group.

archer2371 · 09-01-2003, 10:23 AM

It's all about marketing, and this hip-hop phase is just a fad (I hope to God it is). I don't really care for the upper-middle class white boys who say they're from the ghetto. I'm like, no, just no, stop, before I beat you with something blunt and heavy, and no, I'm not talking about that kind of blunt. If you've grown up around that culture, hey, it's kool, but don't try to be something you're not. Ok, now that that little rant is over. I really don't think people should be offended by commercials like this. I'm with comedian Carlos Mencia on this and his take on the Taco Bell Dog. "How stupid do you have to be, to think that a DOG is representing you!?" in short, if everyone stopped taking things so personal, and looked at things as just jokes, then I think the world would be a better place.

Zeld2.0 · 09-01-2003, 02:21 PM

I personally hate ads anyways because what they DO in fact is influence society.

Trust me, people out there aren't just portrayed in specific ways by marketing, in fact, the marketing influences people to do such and such things just as movies do.

All these fads and everything force stereotypes - from hip-hop to skaters to whatever. If its the popular portrayl then people will do it.

And I agree with Guthmund - it also depends on personal experience in forming stereotypes.

Living in LA im fortunate to be able to meet races of every kind. For instance, popular stereotypes:

My friend's parents came from India to college here, he was born here. We joke around about Indians owning 7/11 triving taxi's etc. but we know from our own experience htats not entirely true. His parents are engineers for example. Working at a hospital also allowed me to see many Indian doctors and what not.

Seeing areas with Hispanics and African Americans also shows that the stereotypes aren't all true. People like to portray certain groups as being dumb, others as start, but i've seen a large part of the spectrum and that defenitely ain't true.

I can see if i lived in an almost all white area (which would honestly be most of the rest of the country) with little contact with other races, how stereotypes on TV, movies, and whatever can influence it much more.

guthmund · 09-01-2003, 11:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by seretogis
Perhaps I haven't been looking, but I haven't seen any commercials aimed at whites with a tagline like, "Snickers, the chocolate bar that isn't so 'chocolate'", which obviously is a reference to another racial group.

Of course you wouldn't see that.

Pandering to white folks would result in cries of racism. Pandering to minorities is way for a corporation to "reach out."

I don't think it's the corporations fault at all. They're only following a tried and true method to push product to a particular demographic. Same thing with music videos, shoe commercials, sports drinks, clothing, etc....

To blatantly put out a commercial for white kids like that is socially unacceptable, but it's okay to play stereotypes to sell shoes to black kids.

There was a commercial for an alcoholic beverage, I think. where two black guys were editing a video in a room with the rap star and his "posse." They catch two white guys in the video who are dancing like idiots; the rap star yells "who let them in???" and they argue playfully about it until the product comes in.

Now, it's funny because white guys can't dance and we've got no rhythm, at least that's a popular stereotype. This commercial was a hit and made a couple of clip shows because it was funny.

Now if the same commercial were played with white guys instead of black guys. White guys standing around; white star sees two black guys in his video and says "who let them in???"

And suddenly it's a whole different story....

seretogis · 09-02-2003, 12:20 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by guthmund
Of course you wouldn't see that.

Pandering to white folks would result in cries of racism. Pandering to minorities is way for a corporation to "reach out."

I don't think it's the corporations fault at all. They're only following a tried and true method to push product to a particular demographic. Same thing with music videos, shoe commercials, sports drinks, clothing, etc....

To blatantly put out a commercial for white kids like that is socially unacceptable, but it's okay to play stereotypes to sell shoes to black kids.

There was a commercial for an alcoholic beverage, I think. where two black guys were editing a video in a room with the rap star and his "posse." They catch two white guys in the video who are dancing like idiots; the rap star yells "who let them in???" and they argue playfully about it until the product comes in.

Now, it's funny because white guys can't dance and we've got no rhythm, at least that's a popular stereotype. This commercial was a hit and made a couple of clip shows because it was funny.

Now if the same commercial were played with white guys instead of black guys. White guys standing around; white star sees two black guys in his video and says "who let them in???"

And suddenly it's a whole different story....

I couldn't have said it better myself. This is exactly what I'm talking about.

Asshole Lover · 09-02-2003, 02:58 AM

hip hop is a major influence. so that is why pepsi does that. it appeals to their target audience

tehblaed · 09-02-2003, 07:44 AM

I guess you guy's haven't noticed that the guy that says "LOVE THAT CHICKEN AT POPEYE'S" is this huge flaming stereotype of a black man. As Dave Chappelle put it in a spoof, "Eat here, you n*ggers."

prosequence · 09-02-2003, 02:38 PM

KFC .... "tender strips of white meat."
"book" for DUMMIES.... white geeky guy on front

can think of a couple others, do these qualify as marketing to white folks?

SkanK0r · 09-02-2003, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tehblaed
I guess you guy's haven't noticed that the guy that says "LOVE THAT CHICKEN AT POPEYE'S" is this huge flaming stereotype of a black man. As Dave Chappelle put it in a spoof, "Eat here, you n*ggers."

Hahaha, comedy gold. Dave Chappelle's show is hit or miss. he should stick to spoofs.

"It's not HBO. It's just regular-ass TV!"

08-29-2003, 10:18 PM	#1 (permalink)
seretogis Huggles, sir? Location: Seattle	PepsiCo and blatant racial-specific marketing tactics If you've seen the recent Vanilla Pepsi commercials, or any Pepsi Blue commercials, you should know what I'm talking about. I find the commercials demeaning, and insulting to the intelligence of the viewer. What on earth makes a soft drink "more black" than another? I'm not sure if this belongs on the Politics forum, please feel free to move it elsewhere if necessary. I think that some tie-ins to attempts to specifically target racial groups of voters would be appropriate. Why divide America, what happened to the "melting pot?" __________________ seretogis - sieg heil perfect little dream the kind that hurts the most, forgot how it feels well almost no one to blame always the same, open my eyes wake up in flames Last edited by seretogis; 08-30-2003 at 10:07 AM..

08-29-2003, 10:52 PM	#3 (permalink)
Mojo_PeiPei Kiss of Death Location: Perpetual wind and sorrow	THe Melting Pot is a lost concept to the newest wave of immigrants and politicans. __________________ To win a war you must serve no master but your ambition.

08-30-2003, 08:25 AM	#5 (permalink)
The_Dude The GrandDaddy of them all! Location: Austin, TX	i havent seen those commercials. i've seen the pepsi vanilla ad where the pepsi truck driver puts on the music vs the coke driver. __________________ "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Darrel K Royal

08-30-2003, 11:22 AM	#6 (permalink)
Nizzle God-Hating Liberal Location: Silicon Valley, CA	I don't watch TV. Someone should describe the commercials. __________________ Nizzle

08-30-2003, 02:06 PM	#10 (permalink)
Phaenx The Northern Ward Location: Columbus, Ohio	Maybe I should start a white pride day? We'll have a big parade doing ethnic things. Like diversifying our bonds. __________________ "I went shopping last night at like 1am. The place was empty and this old woman just making polite conversation said to me, 'where is everyone??' I replied, 'In bed, same place you and I should be!' Took me ten minutes to figure out why she gave me a dirty look." --Some guy

08-29-2003, 10:48 PM	#2 (permalink)
Zeld2.0 Cherry-pickin' devil's advocate Location: Los Angeles	i dunno mang commercials really have a ton of racial undertones that people in america don't seem to pick up i can't name it all but i just remember a friend pointing out stereotypes of blacks eating certain foods in a commercial

08-30-2003, 07:08 AM	#4 (permalink)
chavos Banned Location: St. Paul, MN	Oh, if you knew. I don't mean to be a total dick...maybe i do. But this is one of my favorite myths to debunk. Self identifying ethnic communities were the NORM for most of America's history. Yeah, there was anti-immigrant pressure, but the immigrant communities still formed around their ethnic idenities. The ballot in our minnesota was in FOURTEEN differnt languages in 1880. 14. Yeah. And people get all hissy about spanish and hmong showing up. Ever look at the advertisements from that era? A huge number of them are in different languages, focusing in on specific ethnic groups. They tout products from the home country, and friendly service in the native language. Forgien language radio stations were also quite common... Bascially, y'all ain't seen nothing yet. And whats more? Minnesota was just fine for all that unassilimated diversity. So, sit back, relax. "Black" pepsi commercials are not the end of the world. Remember the Latin craze a few years back? It's called flash in the pan. More than anything, pepsi is selling to white kids who think they're hiphop, and this is a step towards deracializing that boundary. Now, coke is going with Neo-soul, which is still more racially defined, so if you're looking for a villian...it's good old coke.

08-30-2003, 12:57 PM	#8 (permalink)
WhoaitsZ Crazy Location: right behind you...	melting pot..... not anymore. it is one of those illusions taught in school, similiar to what chavos said. untill we have a country with no racial favors and what not we will never live in a melting pot society. it's sad.

08-30-2003, 04:34 PM	#11 (permalink)
skippy Banned	I have seen the commercials and found them to be a little presumptuous to say the least. I have no problem whatsoever with a company marketing their product to ME or an other person from an ethnic background. Go for it man! The problem begins when the company presumes wrongly about what my tastes, likes or values are all about. If you find the Pepsi commercials bad try watching MTV for two hours. MTV is way way worse. They ruin the music with the videos nowadays. There are nuthin but a bunch of guys trying to show off how rich they are with all of their women and Bling and cars Anyhow thats just one mans opinion. Thanks for the input Skippy Last edited by skippy; 08-30-2003 at 04:37 PM..

08-30-2003, 06:37 PM	#12 (permalink)
RaGe2012 Upright Location: New Jersey	I have noticed something in America. The reason why the melting pot idea stopped working is because people WANT to be different and identified as something unique. I hardly ever hear anyone describe themselves as "American" anymore...its always, "I am <instert third-party nationality here>". Anymore it seems that people would rather be identified as from a foreign country than be called for who they really are. It makes me laugh sometimes...years ago in high school a kid said that "There's no such thing as Americans. I'm Italian". Being ever so slightly offended by that remark, I turned to him and said,"Were you born here (in America)?" He said yes. I asked, "Do you speak any Italian?" He said no. Finally I asked, "Have you ever been to Italy at all?" He said no. It was apparent to him that I had made my point. But anyway... Accepting that people are different and that you shouldn't judge them by their differences is good, but at the same time I think its the fact that people (and especially the government) LOVE to point out differences in people's race, religion, nationality, etc. and exploit it. When people stop acknowledging differences, then possibly the melting pot will return. __________________ "Yesterday we bowed our heads to kings and bent our necks to emperors. But today we kneel only to truth..." - Kahlil Gibran

08-31-2003, 03:04 AM	#13 (permalink)
ack32 Tilted	Marketing is really just a reflection of the society it's made in. If the bigwigs at Pepsi didn't think that we'd accept it and in fact be so drawn to their clever racial-specific marketing tactics, then they'd just pick some other idea from their ad agency. You can either "vote with your feet" and drink Coke as a punishment to Pepsi, or you can buy a Tivo/Media Center PC and skip the commercials altogether.

08-31-2003, 03:06 AM	#14 (permalink)
guthmund big damn hero	The bottom line is that right now the hip-hop culture is what's making money. From music, to clothes, to movies, if it's tied with some popular hip-hop (or psuedo-hip-hop) star it's going to sell. And sell to everyone across the board regardless of color (blacks, latinos, and white boys.) Chavos, hit the nail right on the head. Latin music was the "new wave" shit of late 90's. Latin Grammys, Ricky Martin and Shakira all over everything. Give it a couple of months and the "blatant racial specific marketing tactics" will have shifted from the hip-hop culture onto something else. We are a culture of fad and fad never lasts long because there's no substance. I can just see a whole new group of kids wearing tight western shirts and trucker hats like that stupid Kutcher kid from "Dude, where's my car?" __________________ No signature. None. Seriously.

08-31-2003, 07:01 AM	#15 (permalink)
Cowman Psycho	Whaaat... Why would you WANT the melting pot to return? The melting pot is a BAD thing. It discourages people from exploring their individualism and celebrating their culture.. __________________ You don't like my point of view..but im insane

08-31-2003, 08:00 AM	#16 (permalink)
Xell101 Junkie	Are you serious?

08-31-2003, 12:23 PM	#17 (permalink)
RaGe2012 Upright Location: New Jersey	People who are born here don't have anything to do with the culture of their predecessors. I will use black people as an example. Blacks are reffered to as "African-Americans". Can't they just be plain old Americans too? They (as individuals) didn't come here from Africa, they were born here! Whatever "culture" they have was formed HERE. Not THERE. Cant we all just get along? :-D __________________ "Yesterday we bowed our heads to kings and bent our necks to emperors. But today we kneel only to truth..." - Kahlil Gibran

08-31-2003, 02:53 PM	#19 (permalink)
prosequence Psycho Location: YOUR MOM!!	Target Markets... everyone does it, companies and individuals a like. Comercials show men in Hardware stores and Women in Grocery stores. It's based on statistics from their marketing agency, if they didn't use it, they wouldn't make as much money they needed to pay for expensive advertisement on a network, network wouldn't make as much money, and we would have nothing but reality TV programs left (most feasable). __________________ And now here I stand because of you, Mister Anderson, because of you I'm no longer an agent of the system, because of you I've changed...

08-31-2003, 04:49 PM	#20 (permalink)
RaGe2012 Upright Location: New Jersey	Point taken, chavos. __________________ "Yesterday we bowed our heads to kings and bent our necks to emperors. But today we kneel only to truth..." - Kahlil Gibran

09-01-2003, 12:46 AM	#23 (permalink)
SkanK0r Crazy	To this discussion I can only bring a bit of experience I've recently nabbed. I live in Missouri - a particularly "white part" of Missouri. Two black kids in my high school. I recently took a trip to the south, and stayed what appeared to be a very "black part" of Mississippi. I noticed that all of the white kids holding skateboards, eating Big Macs in the commercials back home had switched to black kids listening to hip hop, eating Big Macs. I'm not entirely sure that this is a bad thing. While it may further some sort of ethnocentricity within the community that it airs, that's hardly the company's fault for running an ad to appeal to a demograph. Disclaimer: I haven't seen the commercial - my response was just an experience I've had. I have seen racially insensitive commercials - you know, the kind that are just oozing with stereotypes. Here's something I've been throwing around in my head - I think our concept of stereotypes have been dictated by a broader (and somewhat more "dangerous") ethnocentricity that's never been directly attacked by the types that are usually so fond of attacking those sorts of thing. We never think of "white stereotypes" because, to us [and by "us" I mean white people, the only "us" I can speak for (or can I? heh) in this context], whites are diverse. We aren't offended by skater punk kids eating Big Macs, because, to us, that's just one facet of our super-diverse whiteness. Look at the whites you see on T.V. - there are whites in suits, whites in T-shirts, whites with long hair, whites with short hair, etc. etc. But the blacks we see are always the same - young, hip, rap-listening, jewelry-wearing, etc. etc. This lends itself to a belief that there is only one kid of black person in the world today - but there are many types of white people! It's like the whole Matrix within a Matrix thing, or something. I'm rambling. Somebody shut me up.

09-01-2003, 09:49 AM	#25 (permalink)
seretogis Huggles, sir? Location: Seattle	Perhaps I haven't been looking, but I haven't seen any commercials aimed at whites with a tagline like, "Snickers, the chocolate bar that isn't so 'chocolate'", which obviously is a reference to another racial group. __________________ seretogis - sieg heil perfect little dream the kind that hurts the most, forgot how it feels well almost no one to blame always the same, open my eyes wake up in flames

09-01-2003, 10:23 AM	#26 (permalink)
archer2371 Sarge of Blood Gulch Red Outpost Number One Location: On the front lines against our very enemy	It's all about marketing, and this hip-hop phase is just a fad (I hope to God it is). I don't really care for the upper-middle class white boys who say they're from the ghetto. I'm like, no, just no, stop, before I beat you with something blunt and heavy, and no, I'm not talking about that kind of blunt. If you've grown up around that culture, hey, it's kool, but don't try to be something you're not. Ok, now that that little rant is over. I really don't think people should be offended by commercials like this. I'm with comedian Carlos Mencia on this and his take on the Taco Bell Dog. "How stupid do you have to be, to think that a DOG is representing you!?" in short, if everyone stopped taking things so personal, and looked at things as just jokes, then I think the world would be a better place. __________________ "This ain't no Ice Cream Social!" "Hey Grif, Chupathingy...how bout that? I like it...got a ring to it." "I have no earthly idea what it is I just saw, or what this place is, or where in the hell O'Malley is! My only choice is to blame Grif for coming up with such a flawed plan. Stupid, stupid Grif."

09-01-2003, 02:21 PM	#27 (permalink)
Zeld2.0 Cherry-pickin' devil's advocate Location: Los Angeles	I personally hate ads anyways because what they DO in fact is influence society. Trust me, people out there aren't just portrayed in specific ways by marketing, in fact, the marketing influences people to do such and such things just as movies do. All these fads and everything force stereotypes - from hip-hop to skaters to whatever. If its the popular portrayl then people will do it. And I agree with Guthmund - it also depends on personal experience in forming stereotypes. Living in LA im fortunate to be able to meet races of every kind. For instance, popular stereotypes: My friend's parents came from India to college here, he was born here. We joke around about Indians owning 7/11 triving taxi's etc. but we know from our own experience htats not entirely true. His parents are engineers for example. Working at a hospital also allowed me to see many Indian doctors and what not. Seeing areas with Hispanics and African Americans also shows that the stereotypes aren't all true. People like to portray certain groups as being dumb, others as start, but i've seen a large part of the spectrum and that defenitely ain't true. I can see if i lived in an almost all white area (which would honestly be most of the rest of the country) with little contact with other races, how stereotypes on TV, movies, and whatever can influence it much more.

09-02-2003, 02:58 AM	#30 (permalink)
Asshole Lover Crazy	hip hop is a major influence. so that is why pepsi does that. it appeals to their target audience __________________ smells like ass, tastes like _______.

09-02-2003, 07:44 AM	#31 (permalink)
tehblaed Insane Location: land of the merry	I guess you guy's haven't noticed that the guy that says "LOVE THAT CHICKEN AT POPEYE'S" is this huge flaming stereotype of a black man. As Dave Chappelle put it in a spoof, "Eat here, you n*ggers."

09-02-2003, 02:38 PM	#32 (permalink)
prosequence Psycho Location: YOUR MOM!!	KFC .... "tender strips of white meat." "book" for DUMMIES.... white geeky guy on front can think of a couple others, do these qualify as marketing to white folks? __________________ And now here I stand because of you, Mister Anderson, because of you I'm no longer an agent of the system, because of you I've changed...