Unfortunately, the day was kind of book-ended by...well...this.
I'll preface all of this – which has been said many times before in ways that will undoubtedly put what I'm about to write to shame in terms of style – by letting you know that I don't find this spot racist.
Poorly executed.
Poorly thought out.
Just plain dumb.
It's a bad advertisement for many reasons and I'll leave it at that.
Since last night, though, I've been really interested in the commentary surrounding the ad and the responses from Volkswagen. First, the 100 Jamaicans thing is ridiculous and I don't even know what they're trying to prove by trotting out that number. Did they specifically go out and ask 100 Jamaicans what they thought of the ad? Did they put a study into the field for which they had 100 Jamaicans who happened to a) respond and b) like the ad?
I don't know and even if the number isn't made up, I don't really care.
What seems to be the common response is, "Why care? It's saying that Jamaicans are happy! That's a good thing!"
What people are either unable or unwilling to understand is that positive stereotypes are bad, too! It doesn't stop being a harmful thing just because you're not saying, "All Jamaicans smoke weed!" (Which is annoying.) Or, "All Jamaicans do [insert bad thing here]!" It's obnoxious, rude, and hurtful to lump people into broad categories for the sake of simplifying your understanding of them. Period. It's not a giant leap from saying, "All people with giant ears are great listeners" to swapping out some of the words in that sentence and coming up with something truly awful.
Moreover, stereotyping people in this way makes it WAY too easy to start thinking things are compliments when they are absolutely not.
Let's take a trip down Personal Anecdote Lane, shall we?
All through high school and college (not so much now, probably because I have a mouth on me now), people would say to me, "You're really pretty for a black girl."
Meaning well I suppose, but honestly, what in name of Merlin's pants would make someone believe that that's a nice thing to say? Because, what? Black women aren't usually pretty? Is that it? So thank goodness that I've managed to rise to meet your standards of being conventionally attractive? Awesome. Thanks.
Or how about constantly being asked why I was a middle-distance runner when I should be a sprinter? After all, black people run fast.
The above seemed like fine things to say to the people who were saying them (who operated on some plane of existence alternate to mine) because of the reinforcement of certain stereotypes. When I balked at one of these statements, people would literally look at me as though I had just sprouted an extra arm right before their very eyes. What they didn't understand, and what the positive associations obscure, is the fact that othering people in that manner leads you to diminish their individuality ("Brown people like rap music!"), undermine individual achievements ("Asians are good at math!"), and make entire groups of people into a commodity ready for consumption (the problems with cultural appropriation that Native Americans face daily).
It's not just about worrying about people saying the obviously offensive things, it's the "nice" things, too.
While I don't think VW set out to be evil and mean, I think this ad was a really, really bad move. And the people who are defending it are missing a key point: it's not about what you find offensive. Just because it's fine for you doesn't make it okay. If you want to reduce an entire country of people who are consumed by crippling poverty, plagued by one of the highest rates of gun crime in the world, and are dealing with a metric ton of other serious, complex issues to a care-free, singing and dancing caricature then don't be surprised when people ask, "What the hell are you doing?"
And I'm asking, how did this happen? If you felt that you needed to ask "100 Jamaicans" if this was cool by them, didn't anyone stop to think that maybe moving on to another concept would be a good idea? If you need to rationalize something this much, maybe it's time to take a step back and realize that you were in the wrong.
I think this Cultural Appropriation Bingo Card (which I found a while back via this article) is so spot on:
via Sheila Addison.
This blog is focused on the appropriation of Native American culture, but it's a good starting point if you're interested in this sort of thing. Also if you're wondering why I don't find you frolicking around in the woods wearing a headdress for a photoshoot to be cute.
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I registered the @badvertising Instagram account a while back after seeing this. I'm thinking it's maybe time I start using it?
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Very well said, Bobbi. My husband is Ghanaian and works in car shops doing autobody. Without fail, every time he joins a new shop, he hears some variation of "You work harder/are more polite/speak more clearly than most black guys". It's so frustrating because these people think they're giving him a compliment, but what are they really saying? They think most black guys are lazy, impolite, and speak in slang.
ReplyDeleteWe've faced a lot of ignorance as an interracial couple as well. One girl we knew from high school actually told us that we're much classier than most mixed couples, go us! I was so shocked by her "compliment" that I just stared at her. I can't understand how people think that way.
I also appreciate that you touched on appropriation of native culture. The college program I went to was feminist based and we learned a lot about appropriation, and I find it's most often something people do without any awareness. I think it's important to be intentional about your actions and your words.
And to end off the longest comment ever, I'll say thanks for the great links and the thought-provoking post. It's nice to read something outside of the "blogger" box!
That is the worst! I left out the "You speak really well for a..." because it's been a while since someone has been so ridiculous as to say that to my face, but it was definitely something I'd immediately shoot down in the past.
DeleteMy boyfriend from high school was a different race and while nobody ever said anything while I was actually in the room, things did get back to me. Luckily, that sort of thing doesn't happen now (and I'm at a point in my life where if it did the person doing it would get an earful). I don't think people realize how awful it is, and what a terrible position you're put in on the receiving end to either stand up for yourself and have people ask you why you're "upset" or stay silent (which is not a very good option).
Thanks for your thoughts! I really enjoy reading the takes of others on this topic!
I'm reading this book right now - Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny (Amartya Sen) - that talks a lot about how we are have a million different identities and that most of the world's problems stem from the fact that, when we prioritize our identities, we do so exclusively rather than inclusively. AHHH too much to say about this for a blog post comment, but the book is fascinating and I'm seriously going to write a college-style essay on it/this!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to read that! The premise is absolutely true. It's crazy to think about the ramifications of this sort of behavior on every level. I'll definitely be checking it out and reading your "essay" when you put it up! ;)
DeleteI love to read around on your blog because you do outfit posts and then you write something like this. THANK YOU for having such a well-rounded blog! I really appreciate you keeping your eye out for shit like this and posting about it.
ReplyDeleteI hate that people have complimented you in that way, and I hope you let them know how inappropriate it is. (If you don't, I don't blame you, but I'm known for my intolerance of it and I will call out any random acquaintance I interact with for shit like that.) And thanks for the link on Native Appropriation too--since the VS show, I've wanted to read more about this topic.
Keep up the good work!
Ha, thank you! <3
DeleteThey are what they are. Like I said, it's not a frequent thing anymore (I think that's determined by geography a lot, as well). I think it's important to keep it in perspective, but, as you do, call people out when they're being inappropriate.
Thank you again!
Meh, after thinking about this a bit I disagree that it was poorly executed. The accent was better than any of the ones in Cool Runnings. At the end of the day the war on stereotyping is pretty far away from winnable. How many countries so heavily reliant on tourism get such consistent, positive, free publicity? Cyprus? Luxembourg? Hahaha.
ReplyDeleteAt least people want to throw weddings, get their groove back and perpetuate the cult of Bob instead of pitying Jamaica as a poverty and violence plagued rural outpost. That's the kind of image that a lot of African and Asian struggle with that directly and indirectly hinders needed investment in businesses that are't aimed at exploiting the poor.
I stand by the statement that it was poorly executed. If they wanted to portray the notion that Jamaicans are happy-go-lucky and whatnot, they could have used an actual Jamaican person and avoided the problematic imagery. At least in Cool Runnings (I can't believe you're making me defend that movie, I hate it I hate it I hate it) some of the actors actually were Jamaican.
DeleteTo me, anyway, there is a big difference. The ad had an air of a minstrel show that didn't sit well with me and I can't believe that that wouldn't be anticipated. If the product was, say, calculators, and the actor was mimicking a stereotypical Asian accent and was suddenly good at math, we'd be having a different conversation right now.
And I don't agree that positive publicity = money in the average Jamaicans pocket. That money gets so concentrated in a specific class and area and no amount of "good" publicity is going to be enough to combat that. I agree that nobody should be sitting around pitying the poor and put-upon Jamaican, but the counter to that isn't making an ad like this one, either.
*Full disclosure, guys, Shelly is my sister. ;)
Alas, they did do another ad with Jimmy Cliff (Jamaican) and a llama (not Jamaican) and not a single car or German was it. At least the guy wasn't wearing a hat with fabric dreadlocks hanging from it. I think the minstrel accusations rely on the assumption that all Jamaicans are black (just like all Americans are white?) as the Today Show commentators would promote with their faux outrage and that American racial and ethnic subdivision nonsense have any context outside of the US (really, let them keep that).
DeleteBut ad companies do this all the time Foster's Australian for beer? The ads for Grey Poupon mustard? Sure it is cultural appropriation but it is completely on message with the JTB ads which in turn are mainly directed at a customer base that view every culture including their own in 2-dimensional caricatures. All these examples are effective for advertising in the US because of the widely and entirely self-promoted stereotype that 'white american' = absence of ethnicity. What do you think of the use of stereotypes in advertising? Is it just never ok? Does it just reflect a cultural issue that people refuse to move past?
I think that in the case of this specific ad, the potential positive impact outweighs the implicit silliness.
Tell me with a straight face that the 'Opulence I Has It' ad for DirectTV was not great. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkB9OT2XVvA
That's not at all an assumption I'm relying on as I know better and am very well aware of the racial diversity within Jamaica. And the ad is being aired in the States, therefore the context does matter. I'd venture to say that most people outside of Jamaica would pause to hear a white person with a Jamaican accent, you don't see that outside of...you know, Jamaica, really. VW and Deutsch very clearly banked on that. That's why the spot is controversial.
DeleteTo be honest, I find the Foster's ads dumb and always have. However, it's an Australian company, so those people in the ads and the decision makers behind them might actually be Australian.
Being effective and offensive aren't mutually exclusive things. Just because Jamaicans in Jamaica are unlikely to see it (a premise that I don't actually agree with as these ads are being widely distributed on the internet), that's OK? I think stereotyping in advertising needs to be done responsibly. It doesn't sit well with me for an ad created by a predominantly white industry to rest on pervasive stereotypes of an arguably marginalized* group.
I don't think that we should move past it, frankly. Companies are rightly hammered when they do very similar things with regard to Native American cultures or other minority groups, why is this different? Whether we like it or not, advertising seeps into us and can in many ways frame our perspectives. Do you want to walk into a job interview and be looked at differently because the interviewer has had their perception of Jamaicans informed by movies like Cool Runnings and this ad? No. But for most people that's about as much exposure as they've had outside of posters of Bob Marely hanging up in their college dorm room.
I'm simplifying the argument much more than it deserves, but I don't think this ad falls into the same category as the DirectTV or Foster's spots. I might be generalizing here, but I'd venture to say that the number of people who have a more well-rounded perception of Russian or Australian culture is greater than that who have a well-rounded perception of Jamaican culture. Of course there are people who will say, "Oh, you're Australian so you must drink a lot!" but they probably know on some level that all Australians aren't drunks. When people stop being genuinely surprised when they ask me if I smoke a lot of weed because I'm Jamaican and I answer "no", then I might come around on this.
Anyway, we can fight about this in person later. <3
*Basing that on to most Americans, Jamaican = black.
Your above comment to your sister struck me as interesting because I realized that when I first started watching this ad, I didn't actually find it all that strange that a white guy would be speaking in a Jamaican accent - just that he'd be speaking in such an exaggerated one, which is the only thing that initially clued me in to the fact that this was "a thing." This is because the only Jamaican *I* know is a white Jew - but yes, you're of course correct that most Americans will associate Jamaican accents with, say, Bob Marley & dreadlocks & therefore with other black people, because of course if the most famous Jamaican is black, ALL Jamaicans must be black. (And yes, I recognize the possible hypocrisy here - *I* only know a white Jamaican, so I didn't initially recognize the offensiveness of this portrayal of a Jamaican accent because maybe all Jamaicans are white, or whatever, like I'm not even considering the existence of black Jamaicans.)(Which is not the case... I'm just saying...)
ReplyDeleteI have to wonder what the response would've been if the ad were the same, but the main guy was black. It would've been MORE offensive, right? Except I can't even tell. Maybe the same amount, just overtly racist instead of covertly stupid. And yes, they must've known this was offensive because WHY ARE THERE NO BLACK PEOPLE in the spot? Were they too nervous, like having a black person in the spot might remind people that this is actually an awkward & perhaps even racist script? (Like you, I don't find it racist, but I do find it tasteless.)
As I'm reading my own comments, it's not clear to me whether any of them actually make sense. But as someone who's been repeatedly told that I should be better at economics (the only class I ever failed in college) because "aren't Jews good with money?" I, too, recognize the offensiveness of stereotype-based insults disguised as (well-intentioned, I guess?) compliments, & I appreciate the food for thought even if I am apparently unable to string my sentences together in a coherent manner.
Also, this: "Second, perhaps due to the laid-back reputation of the island nation, the Jamaican accent is simply not seen by many Americans as an offensive one to imitate. By contrast, an ad with white Minnesotans talking in stereotypical Asian accents clearly wouldn't fly."
And your comment has me thinking even more about this! Cyndi Breakspeare (a former Miss World, from Jamaica, and a paramour of Bob Marley) is a very famous Jamaican and she's of mixed race but in passing looks white. So it might be unfair of me to just assume that the concept of a white Jamaican is foreign to most people.
DeleteIf the star was black (and more importantly, actually Jamaican or did a better job at mimicking the accent) I would've actually had less of a problem with it. It still would have been dumb, but it would have been in better taste. I don't understand why there's no diversity in the spot either. I can take a few guesses but that would be relying on some probably biased assumptions, so I'll refrain.
I think the quote you mentioned really crystallizes the point: If it's not OK in that situation, why is it OK with this? Because as a culture we've gotten to the point where many people would recognize the example with an Asian accent as racist, but, why should Jamaicans be irritated by a "good" stereotype? Right?
It's not keeping me up at night, but I thought it was an interesting (and ongoing) response to the ad. It's almost as though, if the majority don't find it offensive, you shouldn't either. Which is silly. I read the interview the actor did which, among other things, stated that his Jamaican brother-in-law helped him with the accent and thought the ad was okay so therefore the ad is OK.
I find that logic flawed, problematic, etc. etc. Not everyone is going to (or needs to) agree on what is offensive on a universal level, but I do think it's important to acknowledge the right to say, "Hey, your ad bothers me because of x, y, and z." without turning around and telling people that they're wrong, it's not actually offensive, and here's my Jamaican brother-in-law that I pulled out of my back pocket to back me up. (I realize you weren't disagreeing with me, I'm just half venting.) At this point I'm a little more bothered by the refusal of so many people involved with producing the ad to just take the criticism on board and move on instead of trying to convince me that they didn't, in fact, do anything wrong.
Anyway, thank you for your thoughts! They really brought to light my own set of assumptions regarding this whole thing and I really appreciate you taking the time to share them! <3
To your last point, EXACTLY. You don't have to be personally offended or even agree that something is offensive, but you DO have a responsibility, as a generally respected company in the public eye, to care when you offend people & not to just fire back with, "Nope, not offensive, because 100 Jamaicans!" If there are 100 other Jamaicans who ARE offended but who you didn't ask, is their offense invalid because of the 100 who thought the spot was just fine? It's a lot easier for me to let things like this slide when the offending companies are able to receive criticism & respond thoughtfully. I don't begrudge them the opportunity to explain their "side" or their thought process or how they reached the conclusion they did that the piece was OK, but I do expect them to recognize that even if they decided something was OK for X, Y, & Z reasons (100 Jamaicans, etc.), they take the point that 100 other people think it was NOT OK for A, B, & C other reasons they may not have considered.
DeleteI've been told numerous times that if someone hasn't met me in person but spoken to me on the phone, he/she would probably think I am white, because I am so well-spoken. (Golly gee, thanks!)
ReplyDeleteOh my God, whatttttt.
DeleteI don´t know why but I somehow missed that post!
ReplyDeleteFirst it´s spot on and I feel the same even though I didn´t know that commercial before!
Speaking of personal experience: My boyfriend is of Hungarian decent which comes along with a lot of stereotypes in Austria. His parents came to Austria when he was little, he went to school here and he has an Austrian passport ever since.
Still when people find out about his heritage or hear him talking to his mom on the phone (they speak Hungarian to each other) they ALWAYS seem surprised because he´s able to speak German fluently; also when he gets introduced to someone new people talk weird and VERY slow because his name is Hungarian and unusual in Austria, so "of course" they assume that he doesn´t understand!
He is used to that kind of comment but I flip every time! I find this so so rude.
And one about myself: I´ve been chubbier all my life and I am sure I heard people say millions of times that I would look so pretty skinny because I already do have a pretty face. Well, thank you very much!
Thanks for posting this!
xo
Bobbi you are so spot on. I felt that in terms of advertising, it made very little sense. Of course the focus is that this car experience will create a relaxed mental attitude and persona, however, that in itself kind of discredits that country's experience. However, that's probably a topic better reserved for a different post. The comments listed reminded me of several of my experiences growing up where kids would casually throw out comments like, "Are you from China or Mexico." In which I would respond, "Those are two completely different countries, on two completely different continents- you know that right?" I always felt like I was giving them a geography lesson and a lesson on just basic manners.
ReplyDelete