Chapter II Verse III - Race-schism pt.III
As promised, Marketing and Media or It’s not all your fault.
Marketing is about convincing you to spend money on something specific. It can motivate us to do things we should do but don’t want to – charity, education, health. It can make us value useless junk and services –colored toilet paper, politicians.
When it comes to racial divides, marketing is like the worst kids from high school rolled into one. It tells us who is cool, how bad is too bad, who’s pretty and who’s smart. We listen. Why? Because we think everyone else listens. Plus it is easier to prove how valuable we are if we use standards everyone can recognize. And what is life without proving how valuable we are to each other and the world? Vanity is lethal.
Like bullies and gossips the advertisers know when to lie and when to tell the truth. They oversimplify. They listen to our fears and repeat them to us. They know a lot of healthy girls think they are fat. They know guys are concerned with looking tough. At times, they sound like your best friend. “I’ll help you look pretty . . . I’ll make you strong . . . I’ll make you popular. I’m the only one who really understands you.”
If they are going to make a connection they have to reach us. So they use stereotypes to save time. Attractive black woman translates to brown skin model with relaxed hair. Strong black woman means an actress with darker skin and natural hair. They show it in the ad, we see it, soak it up and perpetuate it. It seems oddly true that the more famous a black woman gets the more they blast her with light and brighten her skin. I have watched Queen Latifah, Beyoncé and Halle Berry lighten from cover to cover to L’Oreal covergirl. The problem with this sort of packaging is that it’s not true. You can’t tell if a person is tough or soft based on their skin and hair texture. But advertisers don’t have time to get how things really are, they are about selling, not truth. Besides, the more segregated people are, the more categories there are to market to.
You ever notice the carbon-copy ads on Black Entertainment Television? This still kind of freaks me out. On one of the regular (mostly white people) networks you see white people in a white house with white kids (and one black friend). They are selling you soap/food/car. It’s boring and expensive. Then you see the same advertisement on BET. It looks the same and sounds the same but this time its black people in a black house with black kids (and one white friend). The dog is optional.
I wonder how they shoot these ads. I can almost hear the white director yelling (meaner than he was with the white actors) “All right, let’s get the black family on set, lunch in 30 minutes”. I think they should do some black versions with the Wayans family, Dave Chappelle and Wu-tang doing the jingle: Buy Ivory Bitches!
99.44% pure like my Columbian rawgo to the store or I’ll bring it to your door
But this stuff doesn’t affect us right? We find things we can connect with, not just what’s on the radio and in Music Videos, right? Clothes and cars can’t really be black or white, can they?
If we let the big advertisers tell us how to define race, beauty and success we can expect the kind of shallow, selfish categorization that makes white people and black people feel like different people. It’s that simple.
The last part - Nice Stuff -next, phew.
Marketing is about convincing you to spend money on something specific. It can motivate us to do things we should do but don’t want to – charity, education, health. It can make us value useless junk and services –colored toilet paper, politicians.
When it comes to racial divides, marketing is like the worst kids from high school rolled into one. It tells us who is cool, how bad is too bad, who’s pretty and who’s smart. We listen. Why? Because we think everyone else listens. Plus it is easier to prove how valuable we are if we use standards everyone can recognize. And what is life without proving how valuable we are to each other and the world? Vanity is lethal.
Like bullies and gossips the advertisers know when to lie and when to tell the truth. They oversimplify. They listen to our fears and repeat them to us. They know a lot of healthy girls think they are fat. They know guys are concerned with looking tough. At times, they sound like your best friend. “I’ll help you look pretty . . . I’ll make you strong . . . I’ll make you popular. I’m the only one who really understands you.”
If they are going to make a connection they have to reach us. So they use stereotypes to save time. Attractive black woman translates to brown skin model with relaxed hair. Strong black woman means an actress with darker skin and natural hair. They show it in the ad, we see it, soak it up and perpetuate it. It seems oddly true that the more famous a black woman gets the more they blast her with light and brighten her skin. I have watched Queen Latifah, Beyoncé and Halle Berry lighten from cover to cover to L’Oreal covergirl. The problem with this sort of packaging is that it’s not true. You can’t tell if a person is tough or soft based on their skin and hair texture. But advertisers don’t have time to get how things really are, they are about selling, not truth. Besides, the more segregated people are, the more categories there are to market to.
You ever notice the carbon-copy ads on Black Entertainment Television? This still kind of freaks me out. On one of the regular (mostly white people) networks you see white people in a white house with white kids (and one black friend). They are selling you soap/food/car. It’s boring and expensive. Then you see the same advertisement on BET. It looks the same and sounds the same but this time its black people in a black house with black kids (and one white friend). The dog is optional.
I wonder how they shoot these ads. I can almost hear the white director yelling (meaner than he was with the white actors) “All right, let’s get the black family on set, lunch in 30 minutes”. I think they should do some black versions with the Wayans family, Dave Chappelle and Wu-tang doing the jingle: Buy Ivory Bitches!
99.44% pure like my Columbian rawgo to the store or I’ll bring it to your doorBut this stuff doesn’t affect us right? We find things we can connect with, not just what’s on the radio and in Music Videos, right? Clothes and cars can’t really be black or white, can they?
If we let the big advertisers tell us how to define race, beauty and success we can expect the kind of shallow, selfish categorization that makes white people and black people feel like different people. It’s that simple.
The last part - Nice Stuff -next, phew.
Labels: B.E.T., Bahamas, lies, marketing, media, Nassau, New Providence, part three, Racism, vanity, Wu-Tang Clan Exclusive
posted by Dsus at
3:00 AM
1 Comments
Links to this post
Subscribe to The Book of Dsus'
