Sunday, July 09, 2006

Racist or not? I say "not"

Recently, Sony has come under fire for a recent ad campaign which was considered by many to be blantantly racist.



This ad is part of an ad campaign coinciding with the release of the White PSP (Playstation Portable) in Europe a place where race has never been a really big issue Here in the US where slavery and racism is a big part of American history, many have taken offense.

Now Sony's recent ad campaigns in the US have been considered to be racially insensitive which you can view here here and here but this ad comes as a major shock to those in the US. Many supporters of racial equality in the US such as the NAACP have spoken out against the ads as seen here.

I honestly don't see what the big fuss is about. I don't really like Sony as a company but this isn't making me hate them any more than I already do. When I first saw the ad the first thing I thought was,

RACIST!!!

But then I really began to look at it and I soon realized that it wasn't meant to be that way. It was meant to show off the contrasting colors of white and black and that's what it did.

In the end, the two people in the ad are just that. Two people. Race is a non issue in this situation because it's only being used to show the contrast. If it had been two white people, one in a white suit and one in a black suit no one would say anything, it would just be an ad. Since it features a white woman and a black woman, the white woman being in a position of dominance, people immediately think there's a racial undertone.

That's not what it is. Pure and simple.

These two other pictures seen here and here have surfaced, the first showing the Black woman in the dominant position and the second portraying the two women locked in conflict.

After you look at the entire campaign, its clear that race is not a huge factor in either one. It clearly shows both women in a position of power over the other and the two at a stalemate. How can this ad campaign be racist?

That's my take on the issue.

P.S: Tim Buckley, creator of the Ctrl+Alt+Del webcomic series has taken a much more humorous approach to the issue with this comic

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

totaly not racist. the only reason why it was first considered racist is because of all theese damn liberals, but that's a whole other topic...

Anonymous said...

i hates librels

Anonymous said...

Wow, I cannot beleive you don't think this ad is racist and, on top of that, to prove your ignorance, you think the only people who would be offended by this are "liberals". The only reason you don't think it's offensive is probably because: one, your not black and, two, your probably not a woman.

I on the other hand am both and I find this ad to be extremely offensive. It's basically stating that white women are better. I can't even believe that they would run this ad regardless of what country it was in.

Black women have been compared to white women for years and have always been deemed as less attractive or not worthy of love. Dark skin has also always been looked down upon. Also, it's kinda offensive to women seeing as we are posing as "objects" in this ad.

Anonymous said...

the fact of the matter is that racism still persists in today's world and historical racism still haunts contemporary cultures... whether you like it or not... whether or not you are a "librel"---since when is this a bad word, anyway, and since when has liberal come to mean radical? you try calling a radical "liberal"... they'd be totally offended. liberal ain't radical enough.

anyway, racism isn't just about saying the N word or representing stereotypes... it's about denying the fact that slavery and colonialism occurred and that their shock waves still echo today. just look at who are predominantly poor in this world and who holds most power: economic, political and cultural. you can't just judge an image solely in its isolation.

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