And now back to one of My Shoe Bag’s favorite topics: Race.
While performing our duties as media-influenced consuming Americans, we’ve noticed something about this so-called “diversity” thing. Take for instance, the black-themed car commercials: they usually take place at night, a black guy and his woman are driving to the club in a black car along shiny, rain soaked streets with a smooth hip-hop and/or jazzy beat in the background. Also take notice of how the various “Dr. Miracles” commercials (self-explanatory) don’t apply to this observation. However, all one has to do is turn on a television and catch any non-black themed commercial, TV show, or movie to notice something significantly un-“diverse”. As a matter of fact, open a newspaper and scroll up and down the ladies featured in your local Target or Macy’s advertisement. Do you see women of color? Of course. Sexy Asians? Check. Spicy Latinas? Check. Sultry Black women? Ehhh…. Sort of.
The only black women featured in mass media campaigns NOT geared specifically towards black folks sure look different from most of the black women we grew up around. Notice how light-skinned they are? Notice how curly the hair is? Notice how stereotypically white the facial features are? Of course you do. You just never realized it before.
Pay attention, lazy Americans. Mass media in America claims “diversity” and rightfully stock their model tanks with ethnic women, but where are all of the good old-fashioned attractive black women who aren’t mixed, extra light-skinned, or don’t possess white-influenced curly hair? No, seriously, where are they? Did recruiting agencies just forget? We sure doubt it. Our theory? We think these lame ass various media companies try to find the most non-ethnic ethnic women they can find, claim diversity, and hopefully don’t offend Chet and Becky while they are having lattes and croissants over their Sunday New York Times.
We want to see some real diversity, America. Is that too much to ask? In this world, it probably is. But until we do, we here at MyShoeBag are going to be out in the streets, reporting on the real world and telling it like it is. Get used to it, America.
Ms. Privileged...what the hell do you mean by "you people"? So I am sorry that where YOU come from,black people are either non-existent, or they are really light skinned with a nice grade of hair. How about you take a trip outside your bubble...or better yet how about I pop it for you and give you a taste of reality.If you would have actually read the post, it is not asking for a "hood girl" with tattoos and cornrows. The poster is asking for more diversity in advertising like some of our brown skinned black women rather than ultra-light skinned black women that you seem to be more comfortable seeing....which further proves his point by the way. Is there something wrong with this poster wanting to see a woman that looks more like Michelle Obama rather than Beyonce'???
ReplyDeleteIf I am not mistaken, he also didnt say anything about someone having nappy hair either. Sounds to me like you are the one with the problem. Not all dark skinned women have nappy hair, nor do they have tattoos or are from the hood. So as for "You people" how about you skip on back to Mulberry,Alabama and get a reality check hun. Its 2009, diversify yourself.
First of all, I agree with the writer of this blog. He is basically saying where are the black woman that we see everyday. Where are the Michelle Obamas? Just think about it like this: I know your mom isn’t a Halle Berry (if so Why isn’t she on TV) nor is she the lady with tattoos and cornrows in her head (I hope). So why are we look at that way on TV. Blacks aren’t the only people that feel this way. I know all Mexican woman don’t look like the ones on Telemundo and if so where are they because I would like to know? So before you stereotype “you people” it is more to us then just being “yella with long hair” or being really “ so hood”.
ReplyDeleteTo the second comment, when did Zero become a quotable source in a logical educational statement such as one by the blogger. Zero is no Dr. King or anyone else. And giving shout outs on TV just makes the person looks bad who did it. Its not a Black thing to give shout outs. Just recall the debate when Palin gave a shout out to her son and Joey 6 pack. She how dumb she looked.
So this blog isn’t about having an “uncle tom” on TV or the “hoodest” person you know on TV. Just where are the regular black folks at that we see everyday.
I apologize that you make the assumption that I am not open to diversity, the point that I was trying to make to you is when you criticize others for showing a specfic demographic you failed to realize that you are also excluding another set of people. I fall in the category of fair skinned and curly hair so I apologize that I don't feel that the average commercial is not exclduing me or those that I know. Before you begin to make generalizations about advertisement remember there is not one face that represents everyone and that by complaining about non-exposure of one sector you offend another.
ReplyDeleteMs. Priveleged - Webster's defines diversity as "The condition of being diverse; the inclusion of diverse people (as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization." While your specific racial demographic is included in most mass media presentations of Black women, it is most likely over-represented as a proportion of the entire Black population of America (or the world for that matter). While to a certain extent generalizations are made and no content analyses have been performed to confirm the suspicions of the author, the introduction to this blog indicates the words contained within are editorial commentary, not scientifically sampled, representative observations. You are correct in your assertion that "there is not one face that represents everyone"; however, the inclusion of a more "diverse" cross-section of Black women would not necessarily exclude or offend other demographics. This assumption is a logical fallacy in which a false either/or dichotomy is assumed. This is simply not true. Most would assume the inclusion of more demographic sectors of the population would be a good thing, not exclusionary discrimination.
ReplyDeleteone thing about black folks is that we love to bitch and complain. turn on the tv and you'll see one of us bitchin about something. ain't nothing wrong with telling people your stance but make sure you really stand for what you are talking about. tommy hilfiger made some bullshit statements in the early 90's about black folks and i heard a lot of people bitchin about it. i turn around and i see these same muh'fuckas rockin his shit. jsut because its hilfiger. i say fuck that, quit wasting time bitchin about shit and do something about it. we are turning into a culture of bitches. crying and moanin for somebody to listen to us. we see the bullshit commercials, we know they only put black folks in because we would bitch about the lack of diversity in them. then we bitch because we don't see any people that really look like us in the commercials. what i need black folks to do is take all that bitching and complaing ball it up and put it in the trash, turn that shit into action. action is what made us relevant enough to obtain the right to vote, action is what made us relevant enough to shake those shackles of slavery and action is what its going to take to get these folks off our back. Bitchin about high dropout rates, teen pregnancy, and overall treatment ain't going to do shit but make us hoarse. when someone bitches all the time pretty soon people stop listening. but you let that bitch take some action, that shit wakes your ass up quick. so instead of bitchin about these commercials, take some action. if you don't like the way we are being represented by certain companies don't buy their shit and tell your friends not to buy their shit, tell them to tell their friends not to buy their shit until the company realizes the error of their ways. fuck what product they are selling, they ain't selling life so it can't be that important. if you really feel that strong about something you should take action or you'll spend the rest of your life bumping your gums. i dig the fact that you guys are voicing you observations but i just feel that this shit is an example of the state of mind we black folks are in...observers on the outside looking in.
ReplyDelete