It Ain’t That Serious…
**Don’t forget to check out the Modern Day Matchmaker video below this post!**
Unless you live in a cave I’m pretty sure you’re aware that the Superbowl was this past Sunday. Actually, I take that back, because I’m pretty sure even Bin Laden invited some of his closest infidel friends over for hot tea and infidel finger food and led them in a spirited “Who Dat” chant when the Saints won. The last stat I heard on the number of viewers for SB XLIV was 106 million households (PTI guys better be right), so naturally this would be a good time for corporations to promote their goods to such a vast audience. Super Bowl commercials are actually anticipated just as much as the game itself. And for good reason; Super Bowl spots gave us the Budweiser frogs, Jordan and Bird, and the jovial office linebacker, Terry Tate. This is probably the only non-pay-per-view 3 hour event that has the ability to hold your attention for its duration. And would you believe that a corporation managed to offend a few of their African American viewers? But hey, what else is new…
The offending commercial in question is the Doritos ad where the 3 year old smacks a grown ass man. If you didn’t see it, here it is:
Pretty funny right? Well not to everybody. There’s a few brothers and sisters out there seriously peeved at the Doritos ad people and Frito-Lay. Apparently this 30 second gem reinforces the single black mother, over sexed black male and bad ass black child stereotype in less than minute. How’s that for multi-tasking?
What’s the big f*ckin’ deal? If you really wanted to, you could read racist overtones into everything. It’s not like the dude busted down the doors with a bucket of KFC wearing overalls and a straw hat. It was only one kid running around, not several and his name wasn’t J’merioseanquan. (If this is the real name of someone out there, please don’t try to get at me in the comments section about etymology. It ain’t that serious.)
Black folks need to take it down a notch and try not to have Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson on speed dial for every little thing they may deem offensive. We’ve got bigger image problems than a dude checking out a MILF then getting smacked by an Osh Kosh B’gosh model. By no stretch of the imagination am I saying that we should become numb and ignore blatant racism, but you also can’t be uber sensitive to every little thing you see on TV. Instead of worrying about how the images of African Americans are depicted in a 30 second ad, you should really be more concerned with the fact that companies like Frito Lay were able to directly market their version of crack to children and their parents in prime time. You’ve probably already made a subconscious purchase of Doritos based on all the chatter about the ads. So while you may think the conversation in the Frito Lay ad department went something like this:
Project Leader: We’ve got some extra money in budget this year, let’s put down Black people.
Team: Hell yeah!
It probably went more like this:
Project Leader: Ok, so based on our demographics, the African American community is one of the top consumers of our product, so we need to directly market to them.
Team Member: I looked over the treatment for the ad, I think we should change a few things, because it could come off as offensive to some folks.
Project Leader: So what? Worst case scenario, they buy Cheetos instead. We own that too. Stop yappin’ and get back to work.
Now if you ain’t mad about that, it ain’t that serious.
Personally, I like the commercial. As a fan of violence and intimidation, I applaud lil’ man’s choice of the open hand slap to put dude in his place, and admire his awareness to immediately get in his grill after laying down the law. It was very entertaining and almost made me mad I didn’t grab a bag of Doritos during the food run. Would it have been better if it was a reincarnation of the Huxtable family instead? Probably not, because black folks seem to find everything racist. Should I be offended by this commercial? Are you? Don’t you want a bag of chips now?
Chippin’ and dippin’,
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Ah RCLS you have me howling as always. I agree with you – I think Black people do ourselves a disservice by getting our panties in a bunch over every little thing. We’re like the boy who cried racism – after a while, no one gives a crap.
And by the way, I was once in a brainstorming meeting with the fine folks at Frito-Lay working on a campaign for Doritos. It had a gang theme and the question of whether certain ’special interest groups’ (That’s Canadian English for Black people) would be offended by it. The general consensus in the room was “but they’re offended by everything!”
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Confessions of a Single Black Woman Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 6:09 am
Good point Max. If you cry wolf too many times, nobody listens.
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CHeeKZ Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 9:00 am
co-sign this whole comments.
“I think Black people do ourselves a disservice by getting our panties in a bunch over every little thing. ”
^someone needs to tell Al Sharpton and Skip Gates THIS^
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I saw this commercial on a previous blog that name it racist, I didn’t think it was racist at all, but I’m a pretty inappropriate person when it comes to race. There are very few things that truly offend me. Its funny that the same people who find this commercial to be racist will sing along to the McDonald’s rap commercials, I find those way more offensive, why am I being rapped to like I only respond to beats and wacky rhymes. Many of these blog that criticize the commercials are the same ones that never miss a post when Soldja Boy gets a new chain. Black people needs to stop being so sensitive about race, better yet get an education, educate your kids and make your way into the boardroom if you want “Change”.
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Confessions of a Single Black Woman Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 6:10 am
Renee, I agree. Why are they not offended by the McDonald’s commercials??? Then again, maybe those same people are.
It’s not even that serious.
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RightCoastLexSteele, In a new location Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 9:19 am
Girl you got a ten piece, don’t be stingggaaaayyyy…
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Cheekie Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
“Girl you got a ten piece, don’t be stingggaaaayyyy…”
This is probably the best and worst commercial ever. Simultaneously.
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Patrice Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Nope! the KFC “Flavah” commercial beats all! Hands down!
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Ash Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Yes! I absolute ABHOR the McD’s commercials. I cringe everytime I see one. But the Doritos commercial made me laugh.
I think it’s cause McDs is thinks the only way to appeal to me is through hip hop and slang. Doritos just took a funny situation that had black people in it. The McDs commercial can’t effectively cross racial lines, but the Doritos ad could’ve just as easily featured white people and been just as funny to me.
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Melanie Richardson Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
Interesting set of comments. I always roll my eyes at the McD commercials. And the Doritos one was just funny, seems like people are reaching. It’s not like dude walked up in the projects past some crack heads to pick up a chick with a nasty house, waited on her while she hit the pipe one last time and then cussed at her mom to come take care of the f*ing kid. It will be interesting to watch the spoofs that are created becuz of this outcry.
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Slim Jackson Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
This comment slayed me. I am deceased.lol.
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I saw it, I laughed… LOUDLY. Yeah in my head I observed each stereotype as it appeared on screen but the angry black voice was drowned out by the sounds of me cackling loudly and tweeting my amusement.
As an ad major I can tell you that in any room of 15 white ad execs, maybe 1 has any clue about what might be offensive. In my sophomore Writing Strategies class we had to bring in an ad we thought was a #fail… one that didn’t get the right message to the right audience. This white chick brought in a lotion ad that had a Black bride in it. She went on for about 15mins about how the ad was terrible and racist. The 13 other white kids (and the one asian) all co-signed. Of course then they turned to me for the “black” opinion and before I could speak my white professor goes “why wouldn’t you have a bride in a lotion ad, the last place you want to be caught ashy is at your wedding”. I was shocked until I found out after class (cause you know I had to ask) that she has two adoptive daughters, both are black.
Most white people don’t see the stereotypes or even know what they are. Why? If it doesn’t effect them they don’t care. The vast majority also have no idea how to convey ideas to diverse audiences. This is why you end up with those BK commercials that play the soft rock in background on all the major networks and then have a hip-hop/R&B track on BET and TV One. “Just make it Black” is the status quo.
End of the day Frito-Lay could care less if people are upset. They’re not trying to get you to buy Doritos. The brand is so big they’re no longer recruiting. Ads like this are supposed to make people who already eat Doritos feel good about their purchase and feel a connection with the product.
Personally I’m more concerned with “Milka What?!” That never should have made it past an office screening and the fact that it did is one of the reasons why I’m not on Madison Ave right now.
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Confessions of a Single Black Woman Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 6:12 am
You better know that at least one Black person was on that team for this commercial. Grant it, one Black doesn’t represent the masses because we’re individual thinkers; but when it comes to ad companies, that’s all they need.
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Miss Jenkins Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 8:59 am
Good point.
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Ash Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
I actually wouldn’t guarantee that, Confessions. I work in PR, but we’re housed with an ad agency. When I tell you there are NO black people in the creative dept (the people that come up with the cool ideas to put in ads), I mean NONE. The only black people in our office do PR, accounting and account management. And we live in Atlanta, the black Mecca! Damn shame, I know.
I always try to tell the ad President that he needs a more diverse team. Not to meet a affirmative action quota, but so his creative ads accurately reflect the preferences of certain ethnic groups in subtle, yet effective ways.
Ok, that was long. Just know that there is a huge possiblity there were no black people in the room. They were probably all white males over the age of 40. That’s the typical face of a marketing/ad rep for a huge company.
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Ms. Cherry Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
The diversity is def. not there.
There were only two black advertising majors in my school during my entire 4 years of college…
That includes the three classes ahead of me and the three behind me.
#sadbuttrue
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Patrice Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
I didn’t like the commercial. Cause to me Doritos…are not that serious and is that the best they could have done for a Super-Bowl spot? Kinda dry in my opinion, but hey, I digress…I just wanted to say thank you to Ms. Cherry for the below words…and so on!
———————————————————
“Most white people don’t see the stereotypes or even know what they are. Why? If it doesn’t effect them they don’t care. The vast majority also have no idea how to convey ideas to diverse audiences. This is why you end up with those BK commercials that play the soft rock in background on all the major networks and then have a hip-hop/R&B track on BET and TV One. “Just make it Black” is the status quo.”
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When this came on I laughed with my girls, then hit rewind on the DVR to laugh one mo’ ‘gin. Seriously people this commercial is not racist. None of the issues people are throwing out even came to mind when I saw this, only laughter did, and I feel like I’ve got enough African American Studies classes under my belt to recognize, analyze and criticize with the best of them.
Co-sign RCLS, people just need to lighten the *bleep* up. It ain’t that serious.
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I think I’ll eat a bag of Doritos for breakfast. LOL
This was my favorite commercial out of all of them.
Some people need to get a grip. Life isn’t always that serious. It was meant to be humorous. It served it’s purpose. I don’t think most people who watched that commercial was thinking on that deep of a level.
Shoot, if I was going to be offended by a Super Bowl commercial, there were plenty of them; but I didn’t take it serious. The demographics for the commercial audience was men so me being a woman shouldn’t feel offended just because I didn’t like the Go Daddy commercials.
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I saw this commercial during the game and I laughed uncontrollably at it. I didn’t take it as racist or anything of the sort because I know a few kids who would do the same thing if they saw their mother being checked out like that. I bet if it was some white person and they would have done some outlandish stuff (like do coke with a dorito’s chip) we would have found it funny and not deemed it racist. Why is the race card all our ppl ever use in our defense. SERIOUSLY!
Why not take it as this little man sees how this grown man is looking at his mother and takes note and says “listen here mister! You see my mama right, yeah she’s hot! You besta not touch her cause I got more than that slap for you! I can straight castrate you if you decide to do more than just look at her! Got it?!?”
I’m just sayin!
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nyhoop Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 10:18 am
I bet if it was some white person and they would have done some outlandish stuff (like do coke with a dorito’s chip) we would have found it funny and not deemed it racist. Why is the race card all our ppl ever use in our defense. SERIOUSLY!
Actually, that is what racism is about. Things are offensive to certain people that aren’t offensive to others. If a white person is compared to an animal (ie a Chimpanzee,) it’s not offensive. But let it be a Black Man (ie Barack Obama) and everyone is ready to protest
The NY Post. So on that point I disagree with you.As others have said, I just didn’t think the commercial was that good. I do believe it has racial overtones, and that the one token Black person who is usually apart of the strategy team is rarely “aware,” so their contributions are irrelevant anyway. Am I upset? No. It’s not that serious…
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Seattle Washington Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 10:34 am
I agree with you. I peeped it on YouTube around a week before it aired on the Super Bowl. It was cool, I chuckled, but it didn’t have me rolling. Compared to the Denny’s commercials or the Bud Light House, it just wasn’t as funny.
Also I didn’t think much of the racial undertones because well, if you put a White single mom and a White man in there it would’ve had the same effect. There was nothing uniquely Black or overtly racial about it.
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Ms. Cherry Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
That Denny’s commercial was HILARIOUS!!! I thought it was just me lol.
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Your hand writing is sloppy.
iCan’t front. The commercial was funny, but I still don’t really like it. I saw it on YouTube a few weeks before it aired during the game and felt the same way. Yeah its funny, but so are lots of things that have inappropriate racial over- or under-tones. The humor doesn’t make it less racial, but the racial ish doesn’t necessarily make it less funny. That doesn’t mean we should stage stage sit-ins or anything though. I love Cool Ranch and the Spicy Nacho is mad good.
Sadly like someone above said, white folks wouldn’t see the potential issue with this one, just like they can’t see why singing and playing music for Black folks in McDonald’s commercials like we are snakes and they the charmers is a little problematic. For me at least. Then again, I’m a self-admitted racially sensitive person. *puts on all black everything* *picks out ‘fro with a fist in the air*
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RightCoastLexSteele, In a new location Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 9:16 am
You like Spicy Nachos? I knew it.
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Cheekie Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Yeah Doritos most definitely bamboozled me into wanting some very badly during Super Bowl. My cousin, the party host, fails at life for not having any that day. I was drooling for some dayum Doritos that night.
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I am torn. I hadn’t seen the commercial until now. My immediate reaction was, I didn’t like it. I was immediately turned off and it wasn’t funny to me. I don’t really get that type of humor. Its just a matter of taste and preference. However, I am not going to say I think its racist. It is what it is. It is marketed toward black folks, and I get it. Should we boycott the station that aired it, NO. Its not that serious, but I can understand why some black folks are up in arms over it…all I can say to that is, choose your battles and this Dorito’s ad it wasn’t of ‘em.
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I agree with Queen T. Although my first reaction to the ad was not a good one (because I just had a conversation with a White colleague about families in Black America so that stuff was still on my mind)…I had to quickly calm down. The commercial was funny and nothing in it was a lie, its what happens. I also didn’t mind the Milka what commercial either, that would be like me getting mad at a person for singing along to a hip hop CD they owned that had the N word on it. I hate it but I honestly can’t be mad at it. Good piece RCLS.
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Slim Jackson Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 9:17 am
“Good piece RCLS.”
Pause.
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RightCoastLexSteele, In a new location Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 9:21 am
It’s a great piece, actually.
Wait…what are we talking about?
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GATribe Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 9:28 am
Lol good catch. I meant great write up RCLS. Slim J, even RCLS understood what I was saying and he’s normally the one that will make a nasty inference.
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The Award Winning RightCoastLexSteele, Destined for Greatness Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 9:46 am
That was actually a nasty inference. Damn, I’m losing my touch.
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Miss Jenkins Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 10:17 am
You never had one.
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RightCoastLexSteele, In a new location Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Come out from under that snow and I’ll touch you upside ya head punk.
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Should we as n!gger$ be more offened at the fact that their are single black mothers and bad ass black kids in the world… instead of the commercial about said kids and black woman.
Now I don’t think the commercial is funny, I don’t see a problem with it.
I think it was TI who said “as long as there are b!tches and H03s in the world, you can’t get mad at me for rapping about them.”
There are single black mothers and bad a$$ black kids.. we have written blogs on both here and everyone agreed about it.
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I liked the commercial alot. However, my problem is that people are going to apply their own subplots to the commercial. People assumed that the mother met the single woman stereotype (single b/c she had the child of wedlock or divorce), the kid is bad and the man is hypersexualized. Maybe her husband died in Iraq and she’s trying to move on. Maybe the son was forced to really bond with his mother after his father’s death and there were Doritos in his therapy sessions so those are two things he loved. And maybe the dude really likes the way that one woman looks.
I painted the commercial w/ whatever was on my mind. There are some things that are blatantly racist and some things that are overtly racist and some things that we shouldnt care about
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Renee Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 10:27 am
What was blatantly racist, the guy looking at her a$$? the little kid saying “Don’t mess with my mama”? People wouldn’t get so offended if black women would straighten up and stop with this baby mama mess. People need to stop getting mad when advertisers make fun of social norms (not normal for me, but normal for many black women).
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People need realize this was an amateur commercial. Not something Ad Execs came up with… it was voted on by America and won a spot in the Super Bowl line up. It’s not that serious… happy for someone to win a $1m for an ad =)
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Renee Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 10:19 am
Yea I went to the Dorito’s page and watched the other ads, I voted for this one, but like I said before I wasn’t offended.
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Seattle Washington Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 10:38 am
Yeah… I’m glad someone else brought this up. All the Doritos spots were user generated, i.e. Frito Lay’s ad agency didn’t make this up, some aspiring director or fan of the brand did.
So if Black folks want to get mad, they should track down the Black folks who shot this and yell at them.
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Renee Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 10:54 am
Actually the director/writer/watever he is called wasn’t black. I was kind disappointed that a non-black person could make such a funny commercial. He was either Latino or White, I couldn’t really tell.
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when i saw the commercial during superbowl i laughed my ass off. then i promptly played it back (thank goodness for dvr) and watched it again and laughed just as hard. i’ve been saying for a long time how black people are getting entirely too sensitive.
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LittleMissSunshine Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
this is me. I was rolling while everybody was blowing their hats off on twitter. I thought the little kid was witty and smart to have caught on to what the man was thinking about his mother. Let’s be honest though- it’s not often to see single mothers on commercials- there’s always some hybrid family of a mixed mom, black dad, and cool kids. I appreciate this commercial. diversity!
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The one thing I think that was off about the video is I thought the guy was about to call the kid “Lil n*gga”. Could have swore I heard the first syllable come out his mouth before he got mollywopped.
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When I first saw the ad, I laughed a little and SMH, but it wasn’t hilarious or anything.
Now, are their racial overtones? Sure. Does that make it a racist ad? No. Like a lot of ads, it plays on certain images to get the attention of the viewer. Even the amateur who submitted the idea understands imagery and symbolism in advertising.
I’m pretty sure people aren’t planning a march behind this ad, because it’s not that serious. And I don’t think we are too sensitive. Generally speaking, I think white and black people use the word “sensitive” too often to describe black people for just recognizing and speaking out about certain images used in sdvertising and entertainment. Images we all know are, at times, extremely problematic. Speaking out isn’t being sensitive, it’s being honest.
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nyhoop Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 11:33 am
I think white and black people use the word “sensitive” too often to describe black people for just recognizing and speaking out about certain images used in sdvertising and entertainment. Images we all know are, at times, extremely problematic. Speaking out isn’t being sensitive, it’s being honest.
CO-SIGN!
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Miss Jenkins Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
I second your co-sign
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Cheekie Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
“I think white and black people use the word “sensitive” too often to describe black people for just recognizing and speaking out about certain images used in sdvertising and entertainment. Images we all know are, at times, extremely problematic. Speaking out isn’t being sensitive, it’s being honest.”
Word. For every Black person that uses the race card, there is 50-lem folks that call them too sensitive. It irks me far more than any (alleged) race card overuse.
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The funny thing about this to me is that this commercial made the internet rounds months before airing on the Superbowl. I wouldn’t be surprised if Doritos was trying to test the waters. Everyone who sent the link to me said something like “this is hilarioius…” and everyone who sent the link to me was also black.
Can’t be sensitive about everything… even if there is a point to the argument.
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I’m probably more racially aware and quicker to call racism than some folks, but I didn’t have a problem with this commercial. In fact, it was my favorite one of the lineup. Mostly because it was funny, but also because it captured the overprotective dynamics between a little boy and his mama, which I think is sweet
unless it gets to Oedipal territory. I honestly didn’t get the “single Black woman” stereotype until my big sister pointed out to me. Made me go “hmm”, but I wasn’t angry about it.Here’s the thing. I don’t like when 2520s group us all into one entity. Like, everything Black folks do represents all Black folks. Well, it doesn’t. That commercial doesn’t represent me. I’m single yeah, but I’m not a mother. It also doesn’t represent all Black single mothers I know either. Not everyone’s kid is like that. I guess I’m getting tired of the whole “one Black man represents us all” mentality. It makes me wonder, when will we get to that point where we can just look at a commercial with a few Black folks without putting the burden of all Black folks on their shoulders?
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This ad was not created by Doritos, but submitted by people for the Doritos “Crash The Superbowl” contest. People are only offended because they can relate to it and don’t want it to be displayed for all to see. If you don’t know anyone like that nor are you like that, yo would not be ashamed. I have Tila Tequila running around ranting that she wants to be the savior of Vietnam, I am not offended because I know she does not represent me nor do I even relate to her. Unless it’s blatantly racist, people need to stop attacking everything. We have come a long way with even having diverse people on television. Get over it.
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RightCoastLexSteele, In a new location Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 11:39 am
Is she still running around? I thought Shawn Merriman put her lights out… (<—clever)
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Renee Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
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Personally, I get more offended with those damn McDonald’s commercials that bastardize hip hop culture and think all we Black folks do is have Slam Poetry events.
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Lanny Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 11:43 am
Wait, you don’t do just slam poetry and dance around doing handstands then enjoy a Big Mac while hanging on the steps of some inner city building with your friends?? Dang, I thought McDonald’s portrayed everyone correctly!!
(Sarcasm to the max for those who don’t know.)
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RightCoastLexSteele, In a new location Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 11:48 am
Or how about the one where the 5yr old dreams of working @ McDonalds one day. He has…high hopes…he has…high hopes…
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Seattle Washington Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
See young fella, you don’t have to dream about being a NBA player or a rapper. There’s something much better out there for you – McDonald’s.
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Ash Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
This ain’t real. No. I refuse to believe this is an actual commercial. Please…
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Ms. Cherry Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
When me and my “sista friends” get together we always meet at McDonald’s for a Fruit and Walnut salad. My girls get SO ANIMATED after a healthy lunch. ::head roll, finger snap::
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Miss Jenkins Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
*dead*
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nyhoop Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
As hilarious as this situation is, I want to play devil’s advocate for a minute (kinda unrelated, but bear with me lol):
Why is it that we as Black people get upset when one aspect of our culture is portrayed? It seems to me that we want all or nothing. It is impossible for a 30 second commercial to highlight all aspects of Black culture. Do we not do Slam Poetry? (I don’t, but I know many many folks who do, and I’m sure GOOD slamming is much harder than it looks!) I was reading a discussion on twitter about a weeks ago between actor Brian White (from the movie Stomp the Yard) and a young lady from a Divine 9 Sorority, and she basically called the movie “trash” because it highlighted stepping. Do we not step? Is that negative? (I thought the movie tried to be what it was…a movie, while blending in some aspects of community service, prayer, highlighting notable members, etc.) Everything cannot be a documentary, or a history lesson all the time! sheesh…lol (sorry, had to get that out) What is it that sparks our criticism? Is it because we associate those aspects of our culture to not be sophisticated?
Thoughts?
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The Award Winning RightCoastLexSteele, Far from Anonymous Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
I’d call it trash because the stepping sucked and from what I saw of the movie it seemed to be a very bubble gum version of the black college experience in regards to frats, stepping, pledging, etc. If my hopmaster (shout out FA ‘02) showed me that crap and said “Yea, team this what we’re gonna set out @ districts”, I’d walk out the effin room.
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nyhoop Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
LMAO! y’all must have had a bad-ass hop team, cuz the stepping was the best part of the movie! Let me find out y’all have fire and bear traps at Districs, lmao…
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The Award Winning RightCoastLexSteele, Destined for Greatness Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
You know how the bruhz get down…no music, no props, just E.
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Ms. Cherry Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
I have problem with the misappropriation of perceived Black culture. McDonald’s gets it right maybe once in a blue moon. The commercial where the little boy uses his “politeness” skills and orders his own happy meal… that was a winner. The “I’d Hit That” Dollar Menu ads #tragicfail.
I don’t want perfect portrayals of Black people, just ones that are more honest. These niche marketing firms need to do a better job of building concepts that aren’t so complex. Here are two examples:
Honest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f56WsE6DbjE
Over the top:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eN9KP6lOZs
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Seattle Washington Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
When it comes to ads, my beef is that they’re usually getting into something that’s old and tired. Slam Poetry was big in the 90s, maybe early 2000s. Folks that are pandering to the African American market are just now starting to get into it and use it in their ads.
Or they’ll take something that’s relevant and do it horribly. Don’t get me wrong some folks do it well. Remember the Best Western commercial where dude freestyled and killed the cipha? Yeah that was hilarious. They touched on hip hop, made it their own and made it funny. That’s cool, what’s bad is when they just take something that’s inherently cool and make it horrid.
Not everything needs to be a documentary or history lesson, but at least do it well or uniquely. What’s the bigger problem is that marketers think they need to do something overtly Black or Hispanic or Asian in order to get the audience. Some ideas are universal. I bet the Google spot resounded with a lot of folks that never have been to France.
Just the musings of a frustrated creative.
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The Award Winning RightCoastLexSteele, Destined for Greatness Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
i.e. The Budweiser frogs (universal concept)
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Patrice Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
*I’m cringing*
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Cheekie Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Yeah, this Doritos commercial don’t got sh*t on any McDonalds commercial (especially in) Feb) in terms of racial insensitivity.
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Ms. Cherry Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
McDonald’s adds lead to foolishness like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kWyPaEC7l0
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I saw this commercial a few days before the game via Facebook. I watched it and thought it was hilarious. I did have a second of, “that was very stereotypical- should I be offended?!” Then, I watched it again and tried to think if the people were white, would I care. Nope! I laughed again and reposted it.
We can’t be so sensitive to things that we can’t be made fun of. I took the commercial of making fun of a precocious little kid, not a precocious little BLACK kid. We gotta let some stuff ride…
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When I saw this commercial, the first thing I did was text a few friends for their opinions. Most responded that they didn’t find it offensive at all and in fact found it quite funny. I differed in my opinion…but not entirely. I felt that the commercial had stereotypical undertones but not necessarily racist intent. It was more so remnant of parodies associated with the Blond girl’s inability to figure out something very simple. Could the commercial been done in a classier fashion? Less offensive? Without question! However, would it then serve the target demographic within the viewing audience? I ask this to make a simple point. Though the Super Bowl has over 100 million viewers (thanks PTI for the stats) the commercials that broadcast aren’t necessarily intended for all 100 million plus viewers. After all, there is absolutely nothing that the 15 year old viewer can benefit from and thus Geico capitalize from the 1.5 million dollars they spent on the commercial they broadcast during the game. In addition there is absolutely nothing that the same 15 year old viewer can take from and thus Budweiser capitalize from the 1.5 million dollars they spent on each of their 5 or so commercials they ran.
The audience Doritos clearly went after was the younger generation that embraces diversity and laughs in the face of stereotypes. The Generation X and Y….or are we at Z now? I don’t know! Anyway, those teenagers, young adults and early 30 something year olds who refuse to continue to fall into the “it’s racist” or to quote Martin Lawrence in Boomerang “it’s racial bro..racial” mentality. The fact of the matter is that racism does exist but there are bigger issues in the world right now than to take a light hearted commercial and stage NAACP protest, sit ins and gather the usual suspects (Jesse, Al and Farrakhan) to stage some sort of united front against Doritos. Perhaps a better way to address any concerns would be to write Doritos and ask make them aware that their commercial may have been found offensive by some and if, in fact their goal was to capture the audience described above then it would have been better served to have commercials that also depict such acts as an Asian woman crashing her car into a store front window and the cashier saying “at least she didn’t destroy my Doritos” or perhaps a white male government official on vacation with his mistress and when caught by TMZ, he bends over and picks up a bag of Cool Ranch and exclaims, ‘Well at least I still have my Doritos’.
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Patrice Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
“…or perhaps a white male government official on vacation with his mistress and when caught by TMZ, he bends over and picks up a bag of Cool Ranch and exclaims, ‘Well at least I still have my Doritos”….
Seriously now that sounds like a Super-Bowl worthy ad!! LOL!
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I agree… It’s really not that serious. If this scene would’ve happened in the middle of a Tyler Perry movie, then everyone would think that it’s ok and try to explain it away as if there was some profound truth embedded in it. IF we make fun of eachother, why can’t others? Seriously, if I knew a person that always cracked jokes on himself but then got sensitive when I cracked jokes on him, I would call him a b*tch.
No one is complaining about the V-8 commercials where the guy is smacked up-side the head for not making a healthy choice. Why aren’t people crying and dying about the unhealthy eating male stereotype? Hold up, aren’t the majority or ALL of those guys white males getting smacked? Think about the lack of reaction in the face of that…
People need to get a grip… They got life all effed up.
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Hm. I need see some racial stereotypes played out here but I feel like black ppl only wanna get sensitive when THEY don’t find something funny. This same kid (no, the 100,000x worse heathen version of this kid) was on Role Models, but bcuz everyone thought that was a funny @$$ movie (because it was), nobody cried racism to the makers of that film. Bad @$$ black kids exist, single black mothers exist, and if someone wants to portray that in their movie or commercial, who the eff cares?
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RightCoastLex Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Good idea going w/ Joey for short.
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Cheekie Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
“This same kid (no, the 100,000x worse heathen version of this kid) was on Role Models, but bcuz everyone thought that was a funny @$$ movie (because it was), nobody cried racism to the makers of that film. ”
You talmbout this boy? http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2049414144/nm1442928
Because that ain’t him in the commercial. *sensitiveninja* Whatchu tryna say we all look alike?!!!
For real though, I DID think of the Role Models actor when I saw this commercial. They both have the same comedic delivery. And yeah, that movie was hella funny.
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Joey is early Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
I didn’t mean like the same kid… that kid is like 8 years younger than the one on Role Models… I just meant the same type of kid.
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Cosign 200%
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Sometimes I wish I was like the (jaded) black person who doesn’t really see issues of race. We all know this person…he acknowledges his blackness and Jim’s whiteness, and the over the top racist ish, but that’s about as far as it goes. Maybe if I thought this way, life would seem a little different.
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Patrice Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
I like this Miss Jenkins…I know a few too many already there.
I just blame my keen eye on reading too many books and watching too many documentaries…I just can’t help but see those “subtle” jabs made at the sake of others. I’ve been told that I am “too sensitive” and “It’s not that serious” too many times to name. I’m just there…I can’t laugh just because the crowd is laughing. If it rubs me the wrong way, Imma speak on it….I can’t be told how to react. But anyway….like I said…I like this reply.
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yawn.
folks, build a bridge.
advertising is not the reason a broken black family structure exists. it is NOT the media’s responsibility to create a “positive” (and dare i say unrealistic, since we are not a monolithic group) depiction of black people.
we complain when we are not accurately portrayed on tv (i recall uproar at the cosby show being unrealistic at one point), but when the image is more realistic (ie; the doritos commercial feat. a single black mom), we complain about that too.
men were at the brunt of about 60% of the jokes in the superbowl ads, but i don’t see any movements starting because the commercials were sexist/emasculating.
to be honest, this is one of the first all-black commercials during a superbowl that i can readily recall. IMO it speaks to the acknowledged purchasing power of our community, and the industry’s attempt at acknowledging that fact. don’t like the products that are targeting you? buy new ones.
i HATE the way our community totally misdirects energies in situations like this. ugh.
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Joey is late Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
well written.
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