Professor Warren Blumenfeld wonders what, if any, responsibility do corporations have in marketing its products?
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White woman personal trainer: “Good job. Still running in the morning?”
Black man performing sit ups: “Yeah.”
White woman: “Getting your vegetables every day?”
Black man: “When I can.”
White woman then slaps black man open palmed squarely and firmly on forehead.
♦◊♦
What messages, subtle and not-so-subtle, does this TV commercial project? Though it portrays a woman in a leadership position, its transformational potential has been decimated. We witness in this scenario, instead, a reflection and reification of the unequal and inequitable racial power dynamics emanating from the larger society. I argue, as well, that it at least subliminally, though more likely overtly, represents the racial profiling and violence perpetrated on people of color.
A number of groups live with the constant fear of random and unprovoked systematic violence directed against them simply on account of their social identities. The intent of this xenophobic (fear and hatred of anyone or anything seeming “foreign”) violence is to harm, humiliate, intimidate, control, and destroy the “other” on a number of levels, including the personal, interpersonal, institutional, and societal.
Take, for example, the profiling and killing of black men and women including Travon Martin, Jordan Davis, James Byrd, Jr., Sherrice Iverson, Renisha Mcbride, Kimani Gray, Lawrence King, Emit Till, and countless others.
The Campbell Soup Company, the owner of the V8 brand, has served up this punch in its V8 ad campaign for many years in its attempt to “remind” consumers to eat more vegetables, and in particular, its products. Though I have wanted to speak out against these commercials in the past because I see them promoting the violation of peoples’ personal space and, in particular, they depict physical abuse, this most recent “Personal Trainer” episode pushed me to finally respond.
But what, if any, responsibility do corporations have in marketing its products? No matter how we respond to this question, the fact remains that we as individuals and as a society should be expected to critically, reflectively, and creatively investigate and analyze media rather than simply absorb them at face “value.” Not only must our schools help equip students with communication and reading literacy skills, but also they must actively teach skills of media literacy to empower students to deconstruct, analyze, and reflect upon media images and messages that bombard them like atmospheric microwaves on a daily basis.
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Hilarious! As a sane individual I assumed I had stumbled on a satirical “news/opinion” site like The Onion. To find out that grown men actually spend part of their lives writing this drivel makes it twice as funny!
Or, gee, maybe the ad agency just happen to pick a white woman and a black man for these acting roles?
In my opinion you are reading too deep into this message. And quite frankly, I think it is in part because people tend to read too deeply into such messages that racism still exists. What you are doing is distracting people from racial equality and provoking them to focus on race more than they probably should. Rather than see one person hitting another, you see a Caucasian hitting an African American. I think it is partly because of people like you that racism still sadly exists.
Dear Anonymous. Each year, the American Library Association publishes its list of the most banned and censored books to direct a bright beam of light on the challenges in our country to the free flow of ideas. In addition to some of the common reasons given by would-be book burners, including, for example, “sexual explicit language,” “violence,” “promotion of “homosexuality” and “the occult,” curiously “challenging authority” and “PROMOTING CRITICAL THINKING” have landed on this dubious list as well I prefer to critically examine my social environment, for to paraphrase the old truism, “If we don’t stand for (critically investigate) something,… Read more »
Warren Blumenfeld responds to some of the attacks he received after posting commentary on the V8 commercial “Personal Trainer.” –
https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/v8-juices-poisonous-punch-disinhibited-intimidation-gate-keeping-maintaining-hegemonic-masculinity-kt/#sthash.nl6cB5HF.dpuf
There is a twitterstorm brewing over the implied claim made by the ad that vegans are racist.
vegans are striking back, both those who drink V8 and those that do not – #iamnotyourvegetable
Or something close, I may have misread my twitter feed
Go out and do something good instead of making everything about something. Wasn’t there one where a baby bonks the dad too? I cant really remember because it didn’t make a impact on me and I didn’t make itinto a daddy abuse case by child.
…or, it could be the long-running “Gee, I could of had a V8!” advertising gimmick that has been in use since… what? The 70s at least.
There comes a point where not every interaction between genders or race is about power structures.
I have always hated these types of commercials because of the gimmick.
But it’s one thing to hit yourself in the head, it’s another to reach and smack someone.
I would argue Warren that this not an example of racial prejudice but rather of gender prejudice. A woman slapping a man has become very common in popular media. This is what we should be really be talking about.
I agree Thanda. It makes women striking a man appear to be acceptable and the assault takes place in a workplace environment.
Hi Thanda. I do agree with your analysis, and I would suggest that we address BOTH the gender prejudice AND the racial prejudice simultaneously. One focus certainly does not and should not exclude the other.
Well, thanks to the grievance industry personified by the ever-popular, world-famous, and utterly disreputable Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and their ilk, and thanks to divide-and-rule identity politics which encourages each person to think of himself as a member of an aggrieved minority, this is the sort of thing that passes for intelligent thought. Advertisers have a responsibility, and that’s to the organizations and businesses that hire them: make sure their clients’ brand stays in the public eye and their message is conveyed. In this case, it’s the distinctive image of someone being slapped in the head for not drinking V-8.… Read more »
The bottom line is that her tone borders on condescending and her gesture is disrespectful. Media material that reinforces this type of communication and exchange between people, particularly of different races, reinforces the culture of disrespect. That may not have been the advertiser’s intent, but that doesn’t make the ad any less harmful or disturbing. Wouldn’t it be just as effective if he finished his reps, said he was thirsty, and she brought him a V8?
And so you’d put a woman in a position of subservience, serving a man’s needs. What sort of message would you be sending out then?
I’m gonna buy a whole case of V8 at Costco.
me too, maybe TWO cases of V8