Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

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Aabidano
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Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Aabidano »

Co-worker was outraged at the racist undertones in the Pepsi and Doritos superbowl commercials, I didn't see the Doritos commercials. The Pepsi commercial where they bean the lady with a can was particularly tacky.

The only people who are going to be offended by it are a minority of the minority who haven't bought in to that image of black America and a tinier percentage of the population at large.

Black people will laugh with it, identifying with the characters while not seeing how sad it is that they've been so thoroughly culturally manipulated over the years.

White people will laugh at the black people,while having their stereotypes reinforced.

Bah.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Dakanaf »

I think maybe someone is too sensitive. I just watched them and they are funny, and would still be funny if it were white people instead of black people. But, I'm a white male so what do I know.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Chidoro »

Dakanaf wrote:I think maybe someone is too sensitive. I just watched them and they are funny, and would still be funny if it were white people instead of black people. But, I'm a white male so what do I know.
The reality is, they would never reverse the race roles in that commercial.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Dakanaf »

Probably because the same people would be bitching.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Winnow »

hitting someone in the head with a can is in poor taste no matter who is doing it.

For example, they could have had a gay couple and then a handicapped kid as the third person in the commercial that gets hit with the can and I don't think it would have made it any better.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by sarlen »

I don't get any racial over tones or stereotypes from it but then again I don't have the whole white guilt thing that most people seem to carry with them. Its crazy but I can go weeks and weeks at a time without being offended by something..
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Fenna »

The only thing that you can safely make fun of now is fat people. If fat people complain it doesn't matter because they are fat, and thus aren't worthy of respect. It's interesting to me that there aren't more fat-bashing commercials out there. My guess is that there are now so many fat people that they represent a significant percentage of consumers, and companies don't want to risk losing those sales.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Bubba Grizz »

I think they would best be able to bash fat people if they were a diet product. If it is something like Doritos then they don't want to bash the very people who are making them money.

I'm to the point now where I watch a commerical and don't really notice if they are black or white. Funny is funny and dumb is dumb. Doesn't matter.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Winnow »

In an all out brawl between skinny/average weight people against fat people, fat people would win because there are so many of them.

When considering the odds, you can't just think 1 on 1. Take the ratio of fat asses compared to the rest of the population. Put the correct ratio in a closed room and thinnys would be slaughtered.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Bubba Grizz »

All we fat people would need to do is flex our bellies and they'd be crushed.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Sueven »

I think the issue with commercials like this is as follows:

There's not even a joke. The whole commercial is a stereotype. They expect that you'll laugh at it because you find stereotypes amusing. If, instead of recognizing a stereotype as amusing, you recognize it as a tired, overplayed stereotype, you won't find it funny. Ergo, the only people who find such commercials amusing are the people who think "women are nagging shrews" or "men want sex and women want diamonds" are hilarious jokes.

This applies more cleanly to the commercial where the couple are on a date and the woman is wondering if he's the one and the man is wondering if she'll sleep with him. But it works for the park bench one too, unless you think the mere act of hitting somebody with a pepsi can is hilarious.

So it's not that the commercials are "sexist" in the sense that they say horrible things about women. It's just that the only two reasons you would find them funny is if you are (a) a sexist or (b) have incredibly low standards for what constitutes a joke. The marketers are assuming we as an audience are either sexist or stupid.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Aabidano »

Sueven wrote:The marketers are assuming we as an audience are either sexist or stupid.
See: "Reality" TV
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Bubba Grizz »

Ok I went back and watched this commercial a few times and I can't see the racism that people are talking about. What I saw was a guy who apparently is supposed to be on a diet and the wife vigorously enforcing that diet. The throwing of the can at the husband who was looking at another girl wasn't racist or sexist imho.

These people could be any color and I would still identify with the guy trying to sneak a burger or ordering french fries. Where I could see if it were being racist would be if the guy was eyeballing some KFC or Watermelon. THAT is racist. As it is, who cares.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by miir »

The woman in the commerical is the typical 'Sapphire' stereotype of black women.
Racial stereotypes are still considered racism... even when they don't seem obviously hateful.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Bubba Grizz »

I guess I have never heard of that before. They even have a name for it? I think people are just overly sensitive. If this is causing all sorts of uproar what about movies like Big Mama? I think that would fit this category?
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by miir »

Bubba Grizz wrote:I think people are just overly sensitive.
No doubt.
If this is causing all sorts of uproar what about movies like Big Mama? I think that would fit this category?
Big Momma's House?
Well I'm sure some people would be offended by crap like that... but they really arent the intended audience. I think the quality of the movie is probably more offensive than the content.

Also, more people will have seen that pepsi commercial than that junk movie ergo there will be more people potentially offended by it.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Tyek »

Bubba Grizz wrote:I guess I have never heard of that before. They even have a name for it? I think people are just overly sensitive. If this is causing all sorts of uproar what about movies like Big Mama? I think that would fit this category?

Flipping channels one night, I saw 2 minutes of "House of Payne" or whatever it is called. There were more racial stereotypes in that 30 seconds I saw than in that 30 second commercial, but it is written by a black guy, so that means it is ok??????
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Aabidano »

Tyek wrote:...but it is written by a black guy, so that means it is ok??????
What did Richard Pryor call it? "Symbols of our own wretchedness"?
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Aslanna »

Sueven wrote:unless you think the mere act of hitting somebody with a pepsi can is hilarious.
Depends on the target. I can think of a couple people I'd like to see that happen to. And I'd laugh. Because I'm a bad person.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by miir »

Aslanna wrote:And I'd laugh. Because I'm human.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Boogahz »

miir wrote:
Aslanna wrote:And I'd laugh. Because I'm human.
fixed~
How do you KNOW she's human?
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by miir »

Boogahz wrote:
miir wrote:
Aslanna wrote:And I'd laugh. Because I'm human.
fixed~
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Boogahz »

miir wrote:
Boogahz wrote:
miir wrote:
Aslanna wrote:And I'd laugh. Because I'm human.
fixed~
How do you KNOW she's human?
How do you know he's a she?
You told me that you felt a....nevermind :shock:
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Aslanna »

People... Let's get back on track here. I believe we were talking about silly negroes!
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Knarlz »

My wifes grandson is black and even though I'm the only grandfather he's ever known, I don't think he would want me to call him "Yo N word". I will have to ask him when he gets out.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Kilmoll the Sexy »

Knarlz wrote:My wifes grandson is black and even though I'm the only grandfather he's ever known, I don't think he would want me to call him "Yo N word". I will have to ask him when he gets out.

of prison?
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by miir »

Kilmoll the Sexy wrote:of prison?
Zing!
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Winnow »

Knarlz wrote: I will have to ask him when he gets out.
of prison?


edit: couldn't resist!
Last edited by Winnow on February 15, 2011, 4:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pepsi "park bench" commercial - reinforcing the stereotypes

Post by Leonaerd »

wow guys you murdered that joke
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