I keep hearing this McDonalds commercial on the radio: A young black man won't share his 20-piece chicken nuggets with his black girlfriend. She keeps asking him to share but he ignores her and offers increasingly outrageous things in lieu of the nuggets: his flat screen TV, his car. When he eventually offers marriage, she stops nagging and accepts his proposal to which he replies, "Well OK then."
Really? Your nuggets ain't all that Mickey Ds.
However, it's not this aspect of the commercial causing the most irritation. Why do McDonalds commercials on TV and radio feature stereotypical black people? All of them, including the commercial I referenced. They use stereotypical black language and stereotypical situations.
It reminds me of a recent episode of "The Good Wife." The main character's husband, Peter, is running for political office and basing his advertisements on the population he needs to vote for him. Keep in mind he is a rich white dude with a white wife. His website is filled with pictures of black people, he has a black preacher for "spiritual guidance," when making speeches he makes sure to discuss his time in jail, etc. When the polls change and he needs a different population to vote for him, his website is soon filled with slap happy white people. With this in mind, his campaign manager doesn't want his son and his son's black girlfriend to become public knowledge since he seeks the "suburban white vote."
This is an honest portrayal of politics and advertising and it's ridiculous. I don't understand why black people see a commercial featuring black people and think, "Oh that's for me." Like the McDonalds commercials or Peter's political ads in "The Good Wife." Oh, they're the same color as me so that's that! Game over! This product or person is obviously for me.
Let's take Tyler Perry and his ignorant television shows and movies. The characters he creates scream racism. He uses stereotypes that make his characters look stupid and further create a barrier between races but because he's black it's OK. I don't understand how this is OK but Don Imus saying "look at those nappy headed hoes" is not OK. Oh wait, it's because Imus is white.
Some may argue Perry is trying to make these stereotypes humorous so people don't see it as negative but wasn't Imus? This is hypocritical.
Some may argue black people should not assimilate, just as people from other backgrounds shouldn't, but celebrate their culture and differences. Why would they want to watch a TV show or movie with a bunch of white people? That's fine but why does Perry become Richie Rich over exploiting their stereotypes?
Racism is taboo in the U.S. As a society, we must get over this in order to advance as a civilization, especially with our large mix of cultures -- the melting pot.
If people didn't make race such a big deal then it wouldn't be such a big deal. I'm talking race as in she is black and he is white, not racism, as in bigotry. There is a fine line between making stereotypical humor, i.e. nappy headed hoes, and saying something born out of pure hatred based on ethnicity or skin color. There are inappropriate comments and then there's when your car breaks down on the side of the road and a person of a specific ethnicity stops to help and you don't want their help because of this difference, that's racist.
The Al Sharpton's of the world, you are advancing hatred and putting coin in your pocket by harping on anything with even a hint of racism. Sharpton is getting his face on TV and people to rally his cause, come to his church, buy his books. It's schtick. It would be better if people kept their mouths shut but this will not happen. You gotta be outrageous and controversial to get attention. People are going to say outrageous stuff but it's all about how we react. It's about stopping hypocritical double-standards and using common sense. But how when McDonalds stereotypical commercials and Tyler Perry's stereotypical attempt at comedy are readily accepted but not Don Imus' comment? Will it ever get better?
No comments:
Post a Comment