I agree that neither ad is racist. But I'm not sure why you think people who have a different opinion of you are idiots.
Obvious racial imagery in both ads, both the decision to show an Arab with a camel and then not include him in the online vote are weird, and the depiction of late and lazy black employees (Jamaican is a thinly veiled proxy) cuts pretty deeply. Not really surprised minority interest groups would take issue with them. Our society will never be inclusive or integrated enough for certain types of racial humor to be ironic or innocuous.
1) Because I am always right. 2) Look at who posted in this thread that they think the ads are racist. Proves my point.
Looks like I was wrong and the folks at Coke are a bunch of dirty rotten racists. Arab didn't come back at all. And, the resolution was stupid, insipid, not funny or anything. A pretty terrible commercial in all. If it wasn't for the racism flap, it'd be completely forgettable.
Leaving aside any questions of racism or insensitivity I wasn't expecting it to be a memorable ending since it was to be voted on by the public. Having to write and shoot three possible endings in a 30 second format that would keep the audience guessing until the last second would handcuff the creativity of the writer and director.
The coke ad was just stupid. He should have been included of course but there are so many far worse stereotypes in media. Is it "racist" though? Heck no. We really need to push back against this kind of controversy least we live in a droned world devoid of humor and the ability to poke fun of ourselves. As for the Jamaican ad - it's clear they are just having fun with the accent. It's a stereotype but definitely not racist. And I think people need to lighten up and release 2 things. 1. People don't think any less of Jamaicans after watching that ad. 2. People don't think less of Arabs after watching the coke ad. If anything, you think less of all the other people racing for a freakin coke - how stupid is that? The whole - vote for your ending idea is so overplayed, unoriginal, and trite I'm shocked that the idea ever got past anyone. Seriously? All that money and all those ad execs and that's what they came up with?
The Jamaican one us only racist if it were somehow a proxy for black culture. Complainers are totally missing the point and filling in the blanks with their own hogwash
I don't think they are racist. Certainly not the VW one. This is what pisses me off. We've got people sitting at reputable journalistic outlets burning lean tissue to come up with this crap. Meanwhile, Jeep and Oprah get a pass for this: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>It’s an honor to lend my voice in support of those who serve us all @<a href="https://twitter.com/jeep">jeep</a> <a href="http://t.co/OxySfjVw" title="http://youtu.be/FadwTBcvISo">youtu.be/FadwTBcvISo</a></p>— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) <a href="https://twitter.com/Oprah/status/298464088370061312">February 4, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Ohhh Oprah. Even if you “lent your voice” for free, you’re really supporting Jeep who is using our military’s most feel-good moments to sling their vehicles. While I agree that people should take time to give respect to our military, I’m not sure a $14 million dollar spot paid for any company that has $14 million dollars to drop on advertising (bailout!) is the appropriate time.
I loved the VW ad. It made me smile. Charles Blow(hard) needs to dose up on some Xanax and get that stick out of his butt. "Don't be no cloud on a rainy day mon!"
Arabs or Middle Easterners are classified as white on American soil. Most of these people have a fawked up attitude when it comes to people of color and do have Eurocentric values. I could care less if they complain because I ain't listening. Fawk em..
