(1 votes, average: 5 out of 6)
Loading ...A huge multinational corporation making racist sterotypical commercials that targeted blacks was the topic of conversation at my house last night. It seems that Mcdonalds cannot put a black person in a commercial unless he or she is dancing, rapping, popping and locking, or doing double dutch jump rope in the ghetto. Now contrast this with whites who appear in commercials, who merely enjoy a steaming cup of coffee and hash browns for breakfast, in a friendly, clean restaurant with broad American appeal. See the difference? You begin to feel that McDonalds is being racist with the way they portray blacks. It began, some say, with this double dutch ad.
Now they have a black man rapping about chicken nuggets, and in this ad, the beautiful light-skinned black woman is dressed to the nines. Fried chicken bits and sex appeal accompany these stupid lyrics: “Girl you got a 10-piece please don’t be sting-ayyyy..”
Watch this next commercial where the child of the well-dressed black family enters the room with a giant boom box, and proceeds to pop and lock his way through a package of apples, yogurt, and caramel dipping sauce. The child’s stereotypical antics brings a smile to the stern faces of his family.
So is McDonalds deliberately portraying all blacks as having magical powers to dance and sing their way through a Big Mac meal? What is even more ironic is that McDonalds has done extensive market research and focus groups proving that these commercials are well received by their target audience, which means that not only do blacks not find such commercials offensive, they actually prefer them to other commercials! And this is not just in the USA either. Watch this commercial from Brazil where 4 black guys sing their way across a McDonald’s restaurant just like minstrels in a traveling roadshow.
Even when McDonalds portrays a black person in a positive light, such as a business owner who is taking a lunch break- McDonalds still brings on the racism. In this commercial the business owner runs a shop full of African knick-knacks. Not something sensible, such as a coffee shop, printing business or fashion boutique. And since the black owner won’t sing and dance, those African knick-knacks will.
So is McDonalds racist? Or the best ever at focus group marketing?
Related Articles
7 people responded in this post
Very interesting post. One would think if McDonalds was racist, there would only be happy white people in their ads. Why advertise to a market demographic you supposedly “hate”. But then, Blacks don’t get to decide what racism is…rich white liberals do. So if some white pundit says it’s racism….it is, regardless if blacks like and respond positivly to the commercials.
McD’s can’t win here. Nor can any business really, when nobody knows what the standard for “offensive” is until a minority complains about being offended. Then we have a new standard until the next minority gets his/her feelings hurt. If blacks are portrayed as successful, educated, and professional, the company gets criticized for making them too white. Conversely, if they are portrayed as degenerate, ghetto misfits, then the company gets in trouble for racial stereotyping. But you can’t leave them out of the ads entirely or you’ll invite the “bigot” criticism.
Everybody’s just too damn sensitive.
Gregory, great point about racism being defined by rich white liberals. I have to admit that my yardstick to measure racism against blacks likely originated from the same white liberals that have all but outlawed the images of Indians in modern culture.
And Ed, you have a great point too. McD’s is going to be criticized no matter what they do when they try to market their product to black folk. But they must be doing something right with their marketing strategy. It certainly looks racist to me, but I don’t hear anyone in the black community complaining.
I guess the toughest job in McDonalds is not cleaning the deep fat fryer. Its the guy who has to walk the tightrope between sensitivity and sales in the marketing department.
Lovely that you seem to think Black people don’t find it offensive.. that is quite a blanket statement there.. I for one am offended by these commercials.. especially the singing nugget man.. but it wasn’t until I saw that one that I said.. WTF McDonalds.. that one was outright and blatant.. no question as to who they were trying to sell to whether its well-received or not.
I agree with Ed, there are too many different people period for anyone to agree with whats offensive or not, there are Black people who act like coons and minstrels all on their own (Flavor Flav anyone?) who would see this in the same way as they see themselves, like everything is just fine. On the other hand you have black people like me who think its trash.. either way you go.. no one agrees.. and I wonder who’s getting polled about these dumb commercials? Probably not the black honor student in college.. probably the Flavor Flavs of America
McDonald’s is just a corporation of b.s. Everyone knows that big macs are not good for you, and most of the food isn’t that tasty anyway but it is continually devoured by people everywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if the “research” they’ve done isn’t as much b.s. as the “fresh” ingredients they serve.
Jasmine,
Thanks for writing. I didn’t mean to make a blanket statement. But there must have been a focus group of blacks that agreed that these ads were, if not the least offensive, attractive, pleasing, and would make them want to eat at McDonalds.
But thanks for confirming that you find them in bad taste too. I was beginning to think I was imagining my out outrage.
[...] portrayed as singing, dancing and doing double dutch jump rope. I you haven’t seen that post, check it out here. But McDonalds is an equal opportunity racist offender. When they made a commercial to target an [...]
[...] for airing commercials that appear to be racist to a white dude like me. I blogged about that here. But the company has one of the best charities- the McDonald’s House, which provides room and [...]
Want to Say Something?
Your comments are appreciated. And don't forget to rate the post!