Are These Ads Racist?
These are ads from Sony, in Europe for white and black Playstations.
I can easily see Americans as saying yes, but some people overseas do not see it as such.
Sony's official stamteent is it's a contrast in color: the new white model vs. the black one. They could have easily done a white car vs a black car, and people would of still read it as racial.
I can easily see Americans as saying yes, but some people overseas do not see it as such.
Sony's official stamteent is it's a contrast in color: the new white model vs. the black one. They could have easily done a white car vs a black car, and people would of still read it as racial.
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People see these ads as racial, if not necessarily racist, because they clearly are racial. A white woman dressed in white clothes representing a white consumer product battles her black counterpart. Using words that denote both color and race to indicate color differences--and adding a note of "edginess"--is the whole point of the ad.
I don't see the ads themselves as inherently racist so much as tacky and cartoonish--simpleminded, maybe, like something an 8-year-old would dream up for a school project. But they do betray much different attitudes about race than you find in the U.S., a certain nuance-free view of race relations that masquerades as matter of fact "truth-telling"--black is black, white is white, we're just calling it like we see it kind of thing. It's immature.
These are European ads, we don't find Europe as we do in the US (we do find classism though, which I feel is the underlying motive behind racism - that being one of power or suppression).
I find the ads to be about contrast.