MOST RASCIST COMMERICAL EVER

The most racist commercial ever

Getting rid of racism in the world is a near impossible feat.  It took the United States over 100 years to end slavery, segregation and give women the right to vote. Imagine trying to accomplish the same for different races in every country…I don’t see that happening any time soon. Even today, in modern day society there are still many ignorant stereotypical ideologies displayed across multiple media platforms. The commercial we watched in class today is a perfect example of it. A herbal tooth paste company in Thailand advertised their new toothpaste and attempted to convey the message of ending discrimination and failed miserably in doing so.

The commercial begins by showing an Asian little girl crying and pointing up at her yellow balloon that has flown up in an electrical tower. A black man walks into the scene and wants to help the little girl retrieve her balloon. He wraps his arms and legs around the pole, climbs to the top, grabs the balloon, and brings it to the child. Just as he approaches the Asian girl to give her the balloon her mother grabs her and scolds at the black man.  The black man then looks down in sorrow and walks home with the balloon. When he arrives to his house, he lies down in bed and suddenly with the use of digital effects he is morphed into the herbal toothpaste on the toothbrush. The herbal toothpaste is also a very dark color. After watching the herbal toothpaste commercial, I am assuming the company’s intended message was “don’t discriminate based on the color of something. Just as the herbal toothpaste is good for you even though it is a dark brown or black color, people who are black shouldn’t automatically be type casted as bad.

I understand this ad is playing against racist stereotypes and paralleling it with general misconceptions but I found this video a little upsetting especially on the black man. To me it’s the same as selling a cotton ad and having a black man picking it in the video. I mean did any one notice that the man is climbing up a pole just as monkeys climb up trees…and what’s worse is that the balloon is yellow!  HELLO?! I definitely think they could have done a better job of putting out a commercial with a meaningful message.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua2EE6Uil40