If you only watched TV, you might think that white people (including fumbling, bumbling white males) are a minority in the United States. Depending on the commercial break, you might even guess that the population is nearly 70 percent black and 30 percent “other.”
You’d be wrong, of course. According to 2020 Census data, white people make up 61.6 percent of the population, black people 12.4 percent, Hispanics or Latinos 18.7 percent, and Asians 6 percent. (That’s what the report says, anyway. It should be noted that a new “diversity index” in the Census has some claiming that white people are undercounted.)
Yet, today it’s getting to the point where the average family in a TV commercial will soon consist of a black man, a white woman, and their two Chinese kids.
April 12, 2023 update: The comments section below is filled with readers wondering what’s behind this big push for forced diversity and other woke messaging, including the recent flurry of LGBTQ+ promotion. Well, now we have our answer. You’ll find it in my latest blog post, “This is why companies are pushing LGBTQ+.”
While there’s no doubt that society is becoming more diverse, you have to admit that something feels off here.
And before anyone gets their undies in a bundle, it’s a legitimate question to ask why black people (12 percent of the population) are given so much representation and white people are a shrinking minority in U.S. television commercials.
Where are the Hispanic and Asian people?
Together, these groups now account for 24.7 percent of the U.S. population, yet they do not appear in anywhere near 24.7 percent of the advertising.
Going by the commercials, one would think that Hispanic and Asian people make up a far smaller percentage of the population than black people, when in fact their number is double.
This is not authentic. This is not realistic or representative. And unfortunately, the frequency of the misrepresentation is only one part of the problem.
(Interestingly, I will add, research suggests that ethnic minority consumers actually prefer to see white people in ads when those ads do not include members of their own ethnic group. Surprised? You shouldn’t be.)
“Whitewashing” black people
The other problem is that all of these ads showing black people aren’t really representative of black people at all.
Isn’t it just a little bit racist of advertisers to tell us that blacks and other people of color must walk, talk, dress and behave like white people, and partake in activities favored by whites, in order to be successful?
If I didn’t know better, I’d say it almost feels like many of these commercials were written with white people in mind, and then black actors were hired for the sake of “diversity.”
We see it all the time: the upper-middle-class family wearing upper-middle-class clothes, living in an upper-middle-class home and doing upper-middle-class things, like attending piano recitals, or gaming with pals on razor-thin laptops, or having a backyard birthday party complete with pink princess decorations and a tent and giant bounce-house.
Is this what everyone looks like?
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It’s time for real representation
Here’s an idea. What would happen if brands and advertisers not only hired diverse casts of actors, but also created ads that recognized and respected our cultural differences, the unique things that make us special?
I’m talking about ads in which we could all really see ourselves.
If representation is so important — and it is — then why don’t most advertisers bother to think even one shade beyond skin color to represent nonwhite races and cultures as something more than copy-and-paste color-palette swaps of affluent white people?
By portraying all cultures the same — with people of all races talking and behaving “white” — these ads and advertisers actually disrespect, and misrepresent, every culture.
What a sad missed opportunity for brands and advertisers whose money and messages have so much potential power to show the best in all of us and celebrate the things that make our cultures special while bringing us all closer in our common love for a brand.
Of course, portraying people properly would require advertisers to have real respect for different races and cultures, and a genuine desire to give more than lip service to the prime directives of diversity and inclusivity.
Far-fetched, I know.
For now, the only thing “equitable” about all this is how equally insulting it is to everyone.
What’s happened to white males in TV commercials?
While we’re on the subject of equity in advertising, why is it that TV commercials portray white men as feminized, stupid, stay-at-home dopes who can’t make it through the day without the help of women, children, and people of color?
This is, of course, assuming that advertisers bother to portray white men at all.
Do advertisers really think that the only way to appeal to potential customers — many of whom are white males — is to insult white males?
What is driving this discrimination? Is it some sort of long-overdue come-uppance for having built the modern world we live in today? Or maybe it’s revenge for all that egregious “mansplaining” I’ve heard so much about. Because of course, white men are the only ones who ever mansplain.
Whatever the reason for it, white males are the bungling idiots of the ad world, just as they’ve been for years and will continue to be for as long as the culture deems them toxic.
Advertising publications push diversity agendas
As a guy who runs a blog focused on advertising, I feel compelled to follow the social media accounts of industry trade publications such as Ad Age, Adweek, and Digiday.
Honestly, it’s a pain in the ass.
I’m constantly bombarded by tweets and posts lamenting the disenfranchisement of this gender or that racial group, and I rarely find any usable news or information to be had.
Take this recent tweet from Adweek promoting an article condemning Western brands and advertisers for overlooking “the vast and diverse Muslim population” and thus contributing to the proliferation of stereotypes and prejudice. (See inset.)
But the truth is, the Muslim population in Western countries like the United States is neither vast nor diverse. In fact, according to this survey from YouGovAmerica, Muslims account for just 1 percent of the U.S. population.
The Adweek article tries to spin this discrepancy by moving the goal posts to talk about the global population (of which Muslims make up about 25 percent), but by the time the reader gets there, the agenda is already clear.
Diversity. Inclusivity. Authenticity?
If you are a long-time Cranky reader, then you know that I believe authenticity is a key component in advertising.
Well, right now there is nothing authentic about the way advertisers are representing — or not representing — different races and cultures in commercials.
The absurd overrepresentation of black people (12.4 percent of the population, remember) is the most visible problem. What is the rationale for this?
Do brands and advertisers believe that by over-casting black actors in commercials, they can somehow make amends for slavery? Are they terrified of being called out as racists? Is this some sort of mad over-correction from that year when someone noticed that there were no black actors or movies nominated for the Oscars?
Are advertising people — those unassailable paragons of virtue we all know them to be — attempting to assuage their guilty consciences for all the systemic racism they see in every nook, cranny, and crevice of America by meeting some kind of quota?
Does any of this make any sense to you?
Let me tell you how I think this is all playing out among the American public:
- White people (60-plus percent of the population) are seeing themselves erased and replaced by people of color who look, talk, and act just like them. (Hello, New Jake from State Farm.)
- Black people are seeing themselves everywhere — which may strike a few of them as odd, as if white corporate America is shamelessly pandering to them — but any warm fuzzies this may bring are likely negated by the fact that blacks in commercials behave just like white people.
- Hispanics and Latinos are seeing themselves represented very little in advertising, which probably has them feeling pretty slighted given that they account for nearly 20 percent of the population and their purchasing power is growing 70 percent faster than that of non-Latinos.
As for the rest — Asians, American Indians, Alaskan Indians, Pacific Islanders — I’m sure they’d like to see more representation, too. In the meantime, they’re all probably laughing themselves silly watching race-obsessed white people trip all over themselves to make commercials that make white people feel less guilty about being white.
So much for truth (and white people) in advertising
But, as I have said, the biggest problem with this forced-diversity agenda is that it’s a bullshit game anyway.
Because if brands and advertisers really cared about diversity and inclusivity and representing all races and cultures equitably, then they would put an honest effort into giving everyone their fair shake and especially into recognizing and respecting the differences in our cultures while bringing us together in our love for their brands.
Instead, most advertisers’ commitment to diversity is a shrill, cynical, and superficial charade dressed up in lip service and lofty “corporate values” that amount to precisely fuck-all when in fact, these companies with their gigantic ad budgets are in a unique position to actually do something positive for their customers, their country, and the public at large.
Remember, brands and advertisers: it’s not diverse or inclusive if it doesn’t include everybody.
As a matter of fact, what that is is actually racist. And insulting — not only to our cultures, but to our intelligence as well.
Which I guess should come as no surprise, as insulting people’s intelligence seems to be about all most advertisers are good for anymore.
Shame on you, advertising “professionals.” We see you. We see what you are doing, and no, we aren’t buying it at all.
March 31: Big thanks to Jim Thompson at RedState for linking to my blog post in his article, “Opinion: Survey Says: Americans Are Dumber Than a Bag of Rocks,” in which he discusses a survey showing just how detached from reality Americans’ perceptions are about the size of different populations by income, race, religion, gender identity, and more.
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I take comfort in the belief that most of us have moved from indignation to laughing at these ads for their preposterous distortion of reality, if we’re not skipping them entirely by using a DVR or other means of watching the shows.
Oh, RHC. I’m really digging your comments, but all I can say is, let’s see if you’re still laughing after you read the post I just wrote up for tomorrow morning.
Edit: Here it is. “Did Bud Light just commit brand suicide?” With a side-helping of Nike naming a trans TikTok “star” as the new face of Nike Women’s sports bras.
RHC, When you say “most of us”, who are you referring to? The general populous, cranky readers? Bear in mind, much of the distortion you mention also appears in other media like print. The commercials are fake advertising.
I think RHC probably means that people in general are seeing through the absurdity of over- and under-representation and able to laugh about it. I’m not so sure. I think there may be something more nefarious at work than just woke politics and virtue signaling, and if so, then it’s no laughing matter.
Been following this post for the past few months and enjoying the comments. I can’t help but ask, what’s more racist; reflecting your actual target audience in your ads, or shoehorning a minority family into the mountains in their pickup/SUV that is rarely seen or even relevant to their culture? Black American culture is rich with its own traits, values, talent, music, social norms and contributions to our tapestry. Why ruin that in the name of twisted vengeance that will never be satisfied?
Yes, anyone can choose to live any way they want, but the blatant disconnect with market segments and brands trying to dictate culture rather than reflect it, is an inexcusable miss. Forced influence is called control, and it will short circuit a brands’s ability to truly build lasting influence. This will eventually show up in the bottom line and everyone will wonder what happened.
The reason things are the way they are is because women are in all the advertising executive positions. Bitter, vindictive, masculine, feminist women. Who are so out of touch that their whole life is their job. I’m sick of the gay sex commercials coming on at dinner time talking about HIV while 2 guys are making out. Hey fruitcake! THAT’S WHAT GOT YOU AIDS IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! I’m sick of black people starring in every commercial. Black people aren’t buying and remodeling homes! I’m sick of the idiot husband who’s lucky his wife is there to tie his shoes for him. It started with King of Queens. Really tired of the bald black lesbian actor replacing men in male stories.
I’ll just leave this here. One example, featuring “high-flying girlboss” Alissa Gordon Heinerscheid of the recently embattled Bud Light.
“Elite white women push idea that there’s no such thing as gender,” from The New York Post.
I, for one, am sick and tired of being dismissed as a “white person”. I am half Swede and half Irish. We too, have our own histories, stories, lore, recipes, poetry, art and song passed from generation to generation. Don’t act like I’m something bad, guilt or privileged. I grew up poor, 6 kids, family had alcoholism, mental illness, and empty stomachs. I grew up and married, no college was given to me. My husband and I had ONE child, one is all that we could afford. We both worked 4 jobs, , (2 of them, cleaning toilets), between us. We were never on state aid, in fact we were paying 1000 $ a month out of pocket for health Insurance. I was uninsured at our daughter’s birth and was not admitted to hospital till we have a check for $3,000 given at admission while I was in labor. Our house is paid off. We worked hard. Never dismiss me as merely a “white ” person. It is beyond offensive.
Vive, kudos to you for your dedication towards making ends meet..There should be more folks like you with your determination to succeed! We live in scary times in today’s confused world…I thank you for your comment and God Bless you and your family…
Sincerely Richard
This blog is good; however, something I take umbrage with: It was mentioned about people “acting white”. I’m white, however I don’t feel that I act white. Rather, I feel that I simply act HUMAN. Why can’t other races likewise just “act human”? They rant and rant that we’re all alike, and equals….. so act like it.
The culture seems to be rotting, No Name. And in some cultures, the rot is more pervasive than others.
As a bald man I’d like to ask for more representation of the “folically challenged” We “Q Ball” heads transcend race and gender. Why are the villains always bald? Is Ming the Merciless really going to own our look!? I hope there’s an ad executive out there reading this.
Sure, Timothy, why not? Identity politics for all! I, for one, recognize your victim status as a bald man, and I support your fight for follicle justice. 😛
As someone who grew up hella multicultural knowing all types of people across society, even I am laughing at how false sh*t is right now. Growing up at the height of the AIDS crisis and knowing so many queer folks, even I know they only make up less than 5% of the total population. But I am seeing drag queens in so many ads it borders on ridiculous. There is nothing weirder than seeing so many mixed couples in ads. I have dated different types of people. I know mixed couples. But they are not the social majority, most people tend to marry their “own” be that the same ethnicity, nationality or whatever. Sh*t is so fake these days, we skip everything and are saving more than spending because these brands are turning many of us off. But I keep seeing SJW types (like at FORBES) trying to convince us that if we don’t have “more Black faces” brands are going to suffer because Gen Z believe in ethics. The same generation that does not have the income to spend the way other demographics do. When I hear these kids who have grown up in THE most liberal point in human history who barely have any real friends from a variety of cultural groups trying to lecture those of us who grew up with none of this sh*t mattering to many of us because we just treated our friends like friends (and they us), it’s wild. It’s also wild to hear kids thinking prejudice is a one way street. Man, if you have known as many diverse cultures as I have prejudice can be found anywhere and everywhere but the media is giving so much time to that “one” person who met that “one person” who said a perceived “micro aggression” where those of us who have experienced actual violence by certain demographics understanding it’s just bad apples, not an indictment on a whole group. So yeah, I concur with this article. Our current times, especially in the media, is fake and false and the creativity in advertising is drying up because they’re preferring to play politics to the 1% of Twitter who don’t spend a dime than be creative and appeal to the values that bind humans like love and humor.
Exactly right. It’s astonishing how fake and false everything is today. And I do mean everything. If people are not viewing the world through that lens, and using all of their years of well-honed discernment that practically nobody even has — then they’re totally bamboozled with no chance of ever knowing the truth.
Spot on JBM! This cancel culture craze is going overboard and I’m hoping that this will quell down… Seems to me that this current generation is rather Weak!!!
The overrepresentation of blacks in TV ads, as well as in the other “messaging” areas of society, is a conscious coordinated effort by the white liberals who dominate those areas to manifest their vision for society. They are even willing to turn off the actual buyers of their products and services to pursue their aspirational agenda. And by now, the campaign is so widespread that timid corporate marketing folks fear to not follow suit. The result is both ridiculous and an affront to all racial groups for the reasons explained in the blog.
Exactly. The Left will mock and cancel anyone who claims “white replacement,” but that seems to be the agenda, and the result.
Typical republican, blame the left. You think that bc YOU follow every little stupid belief that a republican stands for that that is how liberals are. I’m liberal and racist AF (mainly due to this advertising crap and life experiences). I also don’t believe in gay crap getting shoved down our throats or certain guns being legal or this cancel culture BS. But I believe in what I believe, IDC if that is seen as left of right beliefs. I also don’t care if I’m considered racist, I AM, and that’s my freaking right, respect it like I respect your way of thinking. WE DON’T HAVE TO THINK THE SAME! As long as my beliefs are not stepping on yours. But it seems these days you can’t believe in your way without stepping on others thanks to social media. Next time think twice about what you mean, which is LIBERAL MEDIA, not liberals. Liberals believe in thinking for themselves not following the “handbook for liberals”. This is why republicans make me sick bc they won’t give on one single thing from the “republican handbook” even if it makes no sense, like God and Guns… I’m sure God is SO pro-guns… I’m sure there will be assult rifles in Heaven… lol (to be clear I do believe in God, just not the two things together). Anyways, I agree with this blog completely but I had to say something bc I’m sick of brainwashed Fox news junkies pointing at us liberals all of the time. Funny how the Fox network has this same black and gay over representation problem. Blogs like these bring out the social media trolls that just repeat and follow what they hear on FB and on their news outlet and believe that is the way it really is. I’m here to tell you that it’s not!
Liberal media is made up of liberals. Do they all think alike? No, but I personally have liberal acquaintances who scoff and mock the idea that liberal media and ads are replacing white actors with people of other races (well, one race, mostly). So it’s a problem of the left, for sure, even if its origins are with the corporate elites and ESG.
I never believed one could make chicken salad out of chicken poop, but obviously those individuals making TV commercials believe it can be done.
Thanks, Jackson. That was . . . colorful. 😉
I absolutely agreed here. Forced misrepresentation, in my face advertising as you have accurately illustrated and playing the race card 🃏 only worsens the ongoing racist issues in America 🇺🇸. It is pure revenge, and worst of all making matters WORSE. Truly BLM how much more controversy are we the public going to accept. As you said, nobody is buying any of this propaganda crap.
Spot on Bruce…All this misrepresentation is only going to create more division in our country….
Medicare ad. A white man, white wife hollering at him for not calling Medicare. NOW IT’S A BLACK COUPLE.
Are you sure you’re not thinking about that term insurance company that Alex Trebek used to hawk for, and now it’s some black guy? The company that says they ask you no medical questions and you cannot be turned down? (Both bald-faced lies because they asked me medical questions and turned me down. And what I researched online, they have turned many people down, face down, in fact!!) But what I find ironic in their current commercial is that the black couple is living in what appears to be a really nice house, but the middle aged husband can’t find any insurance that they can afford. Hmmm, I bought $250,000 of insurance when I was 63 or 64 and I’m paying $265/month. But I digress. Just trying to point out how totally fake and misplaced this commercial is. Also, ask this company what the value of their “insurance unit” is and does it ever change. What a scam.
I agree with what you’re saying. Everything is total bullshit that we see on tv, newspapers, computers. We the people that used to know how nice it was to live in the USA have to find a way to stop this shit. I am always turning channels when one after another Black commercials come on tv. Watching my grandkids see gays kissing each other and talking about aids etc. Watching ads that make white men look like idiots. I am so sick of all of this crap. We need to take America back NOW.
So true!
Right on and if ads were truly representative then only 12% of ads would feature blacks, not 90%. The other thing these advertisers claim is their ads are “diversified”. No they are not. Just adding blacks does not mean diversification. Where are Asians, Latinos, Native Americans? And just what do the advertisers think they will achieve by making all their ads black? Look at the videos of the rioters, snatch and grab thieves, violent criminals on our streets. They are all black.
Americans vote with their wallet. If enough people are dissatisfied with the ads they should quit purchasing that company’s products and thus let them know how they feel. Y’all bitching cause Cheerios shows a black man with a dumb white wife and a Chinese kid? Then stop buying General Mills products. No strong white young men in Star Wars? Quit paying to go to see those movies. If 60% of their sales go out the window they’ll care, because we all know the only thing corporations care about is money (assuming all 60% of white Americans feel that way). If everyone sits around complaining but not taking any action they and their agenda win.
Our culture now is for everyone to whine and fight anonymously online against each other whether it’s based on race, gender, age (those damn millennials), sexuality, etc. so we don’t realize how we’re the cattle. We’re the ignorant ones working for minimum wage, a 2% raise and paying the full mortgage on a house/apartment we don’t own while the CEOs who approve the company’s doings fly off on their personal jet to their 12th vacation of the year.
Spot on!
Very well said! Thanks for taking the time to say it!
Television is a tool used to brainwash people to believe that certain races of people are superior to others. Portrayal by the media of any race to be perceived as obsolete in the public’s eye will only ad fuel to the fire. This blatant punishment of white males should be illegal, as it should be to all races of people. The blatant portrayal that the white woman has washed her hands of the white man is wrong and must not continue. This must stop before it escalates beyond any controlled means. Don’t allow our media to control who should or should not be placed on a pedestal. By doing so you are only infuriating the general public. Make this madness come to a quick stop. Stop this daily unfair portrayal of white males.
Recently there has been a lot of manufactured racist guilt implied by unethical politicians and their media towards any individuals avoiding the dangers associated with people who have low Motivational Values. They call out “white privilege” for those who have higher Motivational Values. Their lie is exposed when those with higher Motivational Values are not all white! It is both telling and comical that they claim that those people avoiding the dangers of low Motivational Values are endemically racist even if they are African Americans with higher Motivational Values.
Motivational Values can be described and measured as positive or negative as at least five internalized values. I call these internalized values the “Five E’s” and they are presented here:
1. Having Empathy and respect for others. Always try to be sensitive and try to feel how others may feel. Always use the “Golden Rule.” Do not hurt others in any way.
2. Being Ethical. Do not lie, do not cheat, and do not steal from anybody or anything.
3. Being Educated as much as possible. The greatest losses in life occur because we do not know what we do not know.
4. Having Expectations to achieve as much as possible with persistence in spite of the obstacles and the “snags” that life presents. Having the belief that you can constantly improve yourself and affect others more positively.
5. Being Enterprising and working to create as much legitimate value as possible for self-sufficiency and to benefit as many others as possible
Unfortunately African Americans in the inner cities are at a great disadvantage to develop positive Motivational Values for at least three reasons. First African Americans suffer from a 74% illegitimacy rate where about three out of every four children grow up without the love, discipline, and example of a father. To some extent, over the years, this was because of the miss-incentives provided by the welfare systems. Second, most of these kids grow up in drug infested high crime urban areas historically governed by corrupt politicians. And third, inner city public school systems are often limited by teachers unions.
Individuals with negative motivational values are in fact dangerous regardless of their skin color! Avoiding them is not racism. It is self preservation!
Yes, people need to vote with their wallets. Unfortunately, the “progressive” mindset behind a lot of this nonsense has a firm lock on many, if not most, companies today. As Jeremy Boreing of The Daily Wire recently acknowledged, there aren’t a lot of options for disenfranchised consumers who don’t want to give their money to woke corporations. (That’s why he founded Jeremy’s Razors as an alternative to Harry’s when that company pulled its advertising from The Daily Wire after a social media “influencer” with two followers complained about an on-air discussion about gender dysphoria.) That’s why I encourage people to tell these companies what they think via email and their social media pages. Be loud!
100% agree with your perspective. You are also correct that it is almost impossible to boycott all of these companies. All you’re left with is MyPillow and vegetable supplements. The other challenge is if you say anything negative about misrepresentation in advertising, you are accused of being a racist. An example. As a Delta frequent flyer, I cringe every time I walk down the jetway. If you note the 30 posters on the walls, there is one white, straight male. That equates to about 3% of the poster images. Are they implying 3% of their passengers are white, straight males? Or is that Delta’s desired customer mix? I doubt either are accurate. I would assume Delta’s passenger mix is about 40% white male today. 20 years from now, maybe it will be down to 30% white male. If those percentages are even close to correct, what is Delta hoping to achieve with their 3% representation? Is this social engineering or some type of reparations for past indiscretions? Should either of those be the objectives of Delta Airlines? And if it is repartitions for the past where 100% of posters were white, remember as recently as the 1980’s this country was 82%+ white. Of course posters, marketing, etc… would be mostly white if the country was mostly white. Having said all of that, I would be very hesitant to point that out to Delta for concerns about being labeled as a racist. I also firmly believe my feedback would get screened out by a cube dwelling liberal.
Agreed, Dave. I know damned well that writing posts like this draws the ire of many of my fellow creatives and probably puts me out of the running with some potential new clients, but you know what they say: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Staying silent is part of how we got here in the first place.
Thanks for writing.
My California employer invariably shows frizzy-haired black women in I would say 80% of its ads, even though blacks are close to zero percent of our consumers, and despite the fact that black females (of all ages) make up just under 3% of Californians. Yet this is par for the course of how companies advertise today. They want to be part of the social influencing campaign.
I cannot stand the commercials and do feel insulted by it. I also notice that when there are white people in commercials with blacks very often the black people look good, trim, sharp, intelligent and the whites look scraggly, dorky, fat, dumpy. Why is this happening? Believe me the subliminal message especially to young people is clear. White people are the worst and everyone else is better. I do NOT watch any commercials anymore. When they come on, I mute them and wait until they are over. If I had a DVR, I would tape the shows and fast forward right through them. I agree that we need to tell the advertisers what we want by not purchasing their items or services.
You’re spot on Sharon… it’s really sad to see that the woke/cancel culture society is promoting this rubbish on the Caucasian culture… it’s far from reality and it’s only going to promote division within our society 🙄
Has anyone or can someone post a list of ad sponsors and companies that promote fake advertising?
Fake advertising, Bob? What exactly do you mean? I think it’s fair to say that a good bit of advertising is fake, or at least exaggerated, and always has been. (Snake oil, anyone?)
No, I suggest you do a web search to find what you are looking for. It should be pretty easy to find bad reviews for companies who’ve broken their promises.
And if by “fake advertising” you mean this totally unrealistic representation of people we’re all seeing, then you’ll be hard pressed to find a brand or advertiser who isn’t guilty.
Thank you! I have just about quit watching network television. Forced diversity is not working for me.
Me too!!!!
When I finally got fed up seeing a Subaru commercial where two guys, one black and one white, were bouncing up a mountain road to a cliff, I sent a letter to Subaru. I stated that the black driver took pleasure in watching the white passenger spill his drink on himself. Then the black guy put his arm in front of the white guy to keep him away from falling over the cliff. And when the white guy started yodeling, the black guy said “ don’t do that”. If the roles were reversed, there would rioting in the streets. I told Subaru that I would never buy a Subaru as long as that add ran, even though Subarus are well made.
So true in today’s woke/cancel culture society. You know it’s not right to be a conservative white in today’s political climate.
You nailed it spot on!!
As a blue-eyed blonde woman, I haven’t seen anyone that looks like me in tv commercials for quite some time. And naturally I notice make up ads, clothing designers and culturally similar ads that represent people like me. However, our economy is run on the almighty dollar so I put my wallet behind the advertisers and products that cater and interest me. People of color in commercials usually do not get my attention and I do not buy their products. Not racist, just human nature. I’m unapologetic and young
Kudos to you Kayla… our current cancel-culture society seems to make out the Caucasian culture as buffoons and unattractive. This is far from reality.
It’s amazing how overnight white people became complete buffoons and black people became highly intelligent with all the answers to everything in life.
So true!
All this black advertising and also black programming has truly gotten out of hand. I feel that pushing this agenda has given the blacks an over inflated sense of self worth…in that instead of taking a productive place in American society it has just emboldened them (blacks) to riot, burn, smash and grab, accost, push people into train tracks, attack people on the street, carjack, murder, and a myriad of other crimes and not be punished for it. It creates the mentality of entitlement. It is what is behind the reparations for slavery demands…when the truth is, since slavery was abolished in 1865, no black today has ever been a slave, their parents were never slaves, their grandparents were never slaves, and their great great grandparents were never slaves. It is time to get over it. Along with blacks dominating advertisements and all the new sitcoms, they have black only cable channels, black award shows, black history month, black music appreciation month, Martin Luther King day (instead of honoring all civil rights marchers). And it is not just advertising. The majority of emcees of tv shows are black, awards shows are hosted by blacks and the presenters are mostly black. I understand that the oscars’ criteria for being nominated for best picture includes a declaration that the movie pushes equality and diversity, and is socially all inclusive. What happened to nominating a movie because it was just a darned good movie?
There is no need for this lopsided depiction of blacks in ads and on tv. Blacks are mayors of major cities, police chiefs, generals in the army, admirals in the navy, and generals in the air force. They are owners and CEOs of major corporations and professors at prestigious universities. They are governors or lieutenant governors. They are members of congress, secretaries of state, vice president of the US and even a black President of the US. In addition, they are the highest paid athletes in the world (basketball and football) and take home 75% of the coveted music awards each year.
Blacks have failed to adopt the mentality that they are American men and women but instead keep pushing the notion that society owes them something.
Why has the Asian community done so well in America and the blacks have not? Remember that the Asians were brought here as slaves to work on the railroads.
It is time to stop pandering to the blacks and instead push them toward taking their place in America as productive Americans who contribute to society instead of taking from it.
Beautifully written! I couldn’t have agreed with you any better!!! Thank you 🙏👍
Sounds good to me. No discrimination there!
It’s also amazing how this many black men are suddenly comfortably part of nuclear families in nice homes, playing the role of devoted father.
your sad excuse for a blog is nothing more than a cesspool of racism, hate, and bigotry. sorry that seeing non-whites on your tv makes you angry, Hitler. maybe you should just stay off the internet.
Nope, you’re all wet, Anon. I’m just pointing out what any objective, fair-minded person can see — and that is the colossal, glaring overrepresentation of black people in TV commercials at the expense of other races, particularly white people. Never mind that I even backed up my argument with official Census numbers. And based on the overwhelmingly positive response to this blog post, I would say that there are (thank goodness) many more objective and fair-minded people out there than small, bitter, and confused people like you.
Also, why is it that your kind always resorts to ad hominem attacks and calling people Hitler? Next time, bring an actual argument or shut it, please.
Spot on! It’s really sad that we have losers that have to use Hitler to view their position…
But I guess it’s okay to complain about too many white people in Acadamy Awards
Well it is based on talent and not skin color #liberalismisamentalillness
I’m actually socially liberal in many respects but I do have an issue with the Uber-woke accusing anyone who does not align 100% with their worldview as being an -ist or a -phobe, and marginalizing whites. Is it any wonder there is less racial harmony now?
The Oscars So White thing always makes me laugh – the members of the “Academy” are complaining about the people they vote for.
It is obviously over done.
What’s racist is the over representation of minorities in tv now. They parade black people around to try and prove that most blacks can be upstanding. They act like it’s a miracle parading around a normal black person like normal black people are very few. It’s so degrading and embarrassing.
Yes… embarrassing…and since you say this I’m guessing you are black. Thanks for your input. I’ve wanted to ask a black person if they don’t just feel really insulted by all this. As a woman, I feel insulted by all the pandering that goes on towards females. I don’t need to be told how smart and strong women are, and how dumb men are. Strong, smart and other traits are totally INDIVIDUAL traits. Anyone with healthy self-confidence does not require the culture to prop up their egos.
This trend is NOT about money. The folks behind these changes can print all the money they wish…and have been able to do so since 1913. This is planned cultural change to foment division…and it seems to be working well for them. They want us at each other’s throats…as they work towards their planned “paradise” on earth…with most of us “cattle” (their word, not mine) eliminated.
I think you’re right, Kris. It’s a combination of pandering toward certain races and genders . . . and planned cultural change. We are circling the openings to some pretty deep rabbit holes here, but I do think more and more people are starting to catch on. For interested Cranky readers, Kris is talking about the Federal Reserve System, a central bank which despite its name is neither federal nor a reserve, and the creation of which in 1913 introduced in the United States a debt-slave system from which we can never get out. I have been digging into the people behind this for nearly three years now, trying to understand who they are and what their plans are, and the phrase “truth is stranger than fiction” doesn’t even begin to describe it. (Look into Klaus Schwab and his buddy Yuval Noah Harari, the World Economic Forum, the annual Bilderberg meetings, and The Great Reset if you’re curious, but do it using a web browser other than Google — maybe Brave or Qwant — to get the best results.)
Kris, thanks for writing and do take care.
Not about racism at all. What most on this blog are discussing is why for-profit companies believe they should misrepresent their target customers. I can give you hundreds of examples of how demographics should work, but here are just a couple of them. Shopping malls and soft drinks over index with black customers, so feature higher percentage black actors in those ads. That is their target. However, that should never mean 90% one race unless that is your target. Luxury cars over index with white customers, so feature mostly whites in those ads. You certainly can include other customer demographics in your ads to grow marketshare in those groups, but again that is with a solid marketing purpose.
What we are noting is that advertisers are not doing what’s best for the brand, marketshare or stock holders, but rather an attempt to social engineer.
Based on pure US census data a commercial with 10 actors should have: 6 whites, 2 hispanics, 1 black, 1 other. Tell me how many national product ads meet that mix? Again, it’s fine if they don’t match pure census demos as long as it is for a marketing purpose, not social engineering goal. If you watch commercials for Apple, Coke, Lexus, beer, etc… you’ll roughly see 60%+ black, 10% Hispanic, 10% Asian, 10% white (female), 5% white (male/bumbling/background character), 5% other.
CBS has publicly stated that its reality shows will feature 50% non-white participants. Why is that the right decision for CBS, audience or sponsors? Get the best people, don’t create some arbitrary demographic mix.
These points are not racist at all. Just rather the observations of someone that knows more about marketing than most people.
Exactly, Dave. Thanks for bringing the facts. It’s great to hear from someone with marketing knowledge who isn’t drunk on the Kool-Aid.
I note in your article statistics on the percentage of each race in the population (citizens or non-citizens?) and many references to the over-representation of Black actors in advertising (which I have noticed), but neither you nor anyone who has commented has given the percentage of commercials employing black actors. Just curious; has anyone actually done the math?
I’m not aware of any formal study, which I imagine would be difficult to do and the results may vary widely depending on the networks and shows surveyed. But one analysis that does spring to mind is this thread on Reddit in which the topic creator recorded the race of all 433 actors in Super Bowl 2022 commercials and compared the percentages to the actual U.S. population. As you can imagine, and as we have discussed here, whites and (especially) Hispanics are grossly underrepresented while blacks are grossly overrepresented.
Thanks for reading.
Another observation I neglected to mention in my last post. Has anyone else noticed the complete absence of blonde haired men in TV advertisements? It’s as if blonde men are too representative of the “old” America, and therefore are not shown.
Not like I am an advocate for blonde men or anything… but more just an observation.
It’s been that way for ages. Anti-Aryan I’m guessing. Watch any 80s teen movie and the villain is a rich blond kid while the hero is a dark haired, probably Italian from the wrong side of the tracks.
Your example is awfully specific. I’m guessing you just watched Karate Kid?
For one
As someone who grew up in the 1980s I call BS, kid. From Pretty in Pink to Breakfast Club to Weird Science to Bill and Ted to Dirty Dancing to the Goonies, the heroes were NOT “Anti Aryan” they were what the kids today would call “peak whiteness”. Andrew McCarthy, anyone? In the case of the Goonies, the criminal element is a dysfunctional Italian family whose mother part is a non-Italian cast as an Italian, lol. How many times did Danny De Vito play the villain like in ‘Ruthless People’? And don’t even get me started on the action genre, lol. Nope. You are injecting nonsense into a honest conversation. But us older folks see through you!
That’s a hell of a list of movies, JBM! Thank you. Believe it or not, I only just watched Pretty In Pink for the first time recently. Wow! They don’t make ’em like that anymore. And I’ve been threatening to make my wife watch Weird Science with me one of these weekends, too.
As an 80s and 90s kid myself, I never bothered to keep track of which heroes or villains were which color or race, so I’ll defer to you unless another Cranky reader can convince me you’re wrong. 😛
So true in today’s canceled culture world…..maybe let’s cancel the commercials too…
oh yeah, ive noticed that. not only for blonde, fair-skinned males, but females with the Marcia Brady look – that blonde(ish), blue eyed irish type of face. just non-existent, unless shes a messy haired buffoon being dumb and not realizing her detergent is mostly all water and so does not work as well as Tide.
So true! 🤣
Yes, being a blonde haired man, I’ve noticed that too. 🙂 As an aside, I’m not sure why the above article suggests that blacks shouldn’t be depicted in commercials doing “white” things, that they should be depicted doing “black” things. When exactly does a “human thing” become a “black or white” thing? There WAS a time in the US when blacks and whites dressed the same, enjoyed much of the same music, went to the same civic celebrations, etc. Yes, there were some race-based cultural differences and the injustice of segregation, but we were still much more visibly “Americans”, with a shared American culture. Today, long after the end of segregation, long after the Civil Rights Act, we still have black churches, black schools, black magazines, black television stations, and more. Makes no sense.
One pet gripe that I have is seeing non-whites portray white people (for reasons of “inclusion”) in plays and films. I once saw a production in NYC for example, of “The Sound of Music” with a black Maria von Trapp, the real Maria being a very real person who happened to be white. In a recent film about Mary, Queen of Scots, an Asian actress played the part of Bess of Hardwick, 2nd wealthiest person in England after Elizabeth I. In a televised production of “The Nutcracker” a few years ago, we saw wealthy 19th Russian couples at a ball in St. Petersburg – who were interracial. Imagine the reaction if a white actor portrayed MLK or Nelson Mandela in a film or play, or had the lead in “The Lion King”?
His point was that typically black people aren’t into stuff like hiking, camping, backpacking, canoeing…..those kinds of pursuits. Sure you might have a few exceptions here and there, but sometimes stereotypes are actually true.
Black people are generally not known to be into camping in freezing weather, or things such as bungee jumping & cliff climbing.
I am a white woman from the United States. I gave been living in Latin America, Costa Rica, for the last 13 years. In watching TV from the US, my tico friends say to me things like: wow white people aren’t important in the US. Or…there are a lot more blacks in America than I thought. Advertising clearly misrepresents the US demographic. And this is what the world sees. Advertising isn’t doing the people or themselves any favors.
Your spot on …that’s what’s going on with todays cancel culture propaganda….it’s not right to be white in our current society…
Your comment reminds me of what I used to hear some 15-20 years ago, about how “damaging” negative stereotypes in media can be.
Turns out, its true. As you can see from your anecdote, portrayals in commercials, let alone fictional comedy, are damaging as they affect and reinforce people’s formulation of stereotypes. In this case, the (usual) bufoonery of whites, and minimization of their possibly being interesting, cool, and family centered anymore.
It has gotten so predictable now that if you see a white face in a commercial, it is almost automatic that the next face you will see is that of a black person.
And it is almost assumed at this point that every other couple is either interracial or gay. Just don’t use the dreaded “C” (Christmas) word though. Anything goes now…….save for Christmas that is. And I am married to a black woman, so it’s not like I am against it, but it has gotten way past ridiculous at this point.
Thanks for speaking up, Jake. It’s important for the masses to hear from other fair-minded people who aren’t afraid to call out what we all can plainly see. So many have been ‘canceled,’ deplatformed, or branded as racists for speaking the truth that I think a vast majority are now scared to even engage in the discussion for fear of losing friends, jobs, their reputations, etc. Which is just sick, because the attack on white, Christian culture and values is pretty obvious at this point.
They say there is no war on Christmas. Yet, pay attention to major retailers. I just watched a commercial for Lowes that refers to Christmas as “Winterfest” gifts. Remember that 70% of the US population openly practices Christian traditions. 20% are agnostic, but celebrate Christmas. 5% don’t practice any religion. 5% are other religions. So, Lowes (and MANY other companies) feel the need to eliminate Christmas when 90%+ celebrate Christmas. What marketing genius came up with that concept? I suspect the marketing person has “they” gender, “birthing person”, 28 years old, white, in a cube on Madison Avenue, nose ring and purple hair.
I’m not mad at “they”, but I have no clue what drives Lowes CEO of marketing to go along with the black female diversity officer and “they” in a cube that says eliminating Christmas is the right direction.
I guarantee that 90%+ of Lowes products are purchased by people that celebrate Christmas. Why would they diminish the Christmas holiday to their potential customers?
One last point. 10% of the population in Middle Eastern countries are Christian. Do you think they diminish celebrating Ramadan because of the Christian minority? They don’t and they shouldn’t. If I lived in Pakistan, I wouldn’t expect Christmas decorations to have equal weight with Ramadan. Nor would I expect people there to avoid saying happy Ramadan because there are 10% Christian. Remember in this country there re 2% Jewish, 1% Muslim and 2% other religions. And yet we can’t say Merry Christmas.
This has been one of my favorite blogs, especially this post about diversity in advertising and commercials. I had commented a while back, stating that it was something that we’ve noticed increasing over the past several years.
Over the past few months, it’s been out of control. It is so rare to see a white person in commercials, but if we do, get this – they’re actually belittled. They’re made to look stupid, or just plain made fun of! I searched around and found this. About 20 minutes worth of commercials where white people are degraded.
It’s really too bad it’s come to this. I hate to say, but I think it truly fuels the fire for even more racism. (Hopefully I can post the YouTube link)
[The Cranky Creative says: YouTube is playing games with the link below. It’s safe, but it will take you away from this site to show you the video on YouTube. Be sure to click the Back button on your browser to return.]
Video: 43 anti-white commercials
Thank you for the kind words, B.Y. Keeping this blog going while working and dealing with all of life’s other challenges is hard, and it’s comments like yours that make it all worthwhile.
To your point, I turned on Netflix the other day and literally EVERY promotional image in the suggested movies list was filled with nonwhite faces. I kept scrolling and scrolling until it felt like I was inside The Truman Show and the producers were playing some kind of weird joke on me to see how I would react.
Hey, I’m all for fairness and equity, but you’re right — this is out of control.
one of the largest talent payroll and trafficking companies in the industry, extreme reach, just issued results of their study on racial diversity for on screen casts in TV commercials. Their findings show 73% of casts/actors are white. This is so far off what is anecdotally obvious to the average TV viewer, that it suggests erroneous data. But this study will likely embolden even greater efforts to infuse more diversity in future commercial productions, I bet.
Isn’t that interesting? It’s almost as if, as you say, studies like these are meant to shape reality rather than reflect it.
It’s pure manipulation, and it’s done all the time with surveys and “scientists” (name your field) and poll numbers — all for the express purpose of tricking us into throwing our weight behind whatever cause they — The Powers That Be — want pushed.
But most people don’t see this. They aren’t awake. They can’t get themselves to believe that their governments or doctors or the news people on TV would ever lie to them. They refuse to think critically for themselves; they just believe what they’re told. And that, right now, is one of the biggest reasons the world is such a hot mess right now.
Thanks for the great comment.
Orwell was right after all!
I’ve looked for surveys of percent of actors in commercials/ads by race and they are almost impossible to find. But there are MANY surveys saying the advertising industry, including behind the scenes people, is mostly white. Sorry it does not even out to put mostly blacks in front of the camera while keeping the behind the camera jobs for whites Except for a few superstar talents, people in front of the camera make less long term and have short careers compared to people behind it. And the viewers are being insulted.
Be careful when reading that research study. It is focused on small, low-budget, often local and owner-made videos….promoting small businesses. This cheap advertising is called “Video Ad Creative”. It’s not from the big companies and not network or mainstream cable providers.
You will see a lot of these cheap videos on YouTube, or like those small screen pop-up videos that plague monetized food recipe blog/channels.
https://fox59.com/business/press-releases/ein-presswire/606081233/extreme-reach-study-finds-increase-in-percent-of-white-people-seen-and-male-voices-heard-in-video-ad-creative-in-2022/
Here is link to study. The findings are simply not believable.
https://marketing.extremereach.com/e/579431/sity-in-Ad-Creative-Report-pdf/k966yf/1408224246?h=4DDINhmtHixx1ZSmuRqbhiShJJxWVK69ptTc4Htv–k
I’m a white senior male and a retired electrical engineer. I never watch commercials or ads. The moment I see one, I immediately switch to a different channel. They’re all disgusting and insult my intelligence. I have ad blocks on youtube and on many websites. I download free movie torrents, many 50’s to 70’s westerns. I watch CNN and MSNBC using USTVGO on my computer/big screen TV setup.
You’re right, Ace — the majority of brands are so aggravating and obnoxious that a lot of us are cutting the cord. It’s really amazing how poorly these companies treat their customers and potential customers, especially compared to a brand like Chewy that works so hard to deliver positive experiences.
Thanks for writing.
the laundry detergent Gain – those commercials, as dumb as they are, seem to skew heavily towards black consumers. why is this? are there no non-black actors applying for a paying gig to be in Gain commercials?
that detergent is not that good, but that is besides the point.
‘dumb’ commercials are not necessarily a bad thing. some stick and become part of the public consciousness. but theirs are not witty, not cute, w./ nothing endearing.
“the clothes fairy” one is just annoying.
Hi, Jason. Some brands are particularly popular with people of different races. For example, Sprite is popular with blacks and has been since the 90s when the company’s marketing tapped into hip-hop and sports culture. Maybe that’s the case with Gain laundry detergent? If so, great. I don’t think anyone has a problem with brands catering to their customers or trying to gain traction with new demographics. What people have a problem with is all the pandering that’s taking place in the name of “diversity.” Except now, it appears to have gone beyond mere pandering. If you are paying attention, you will see that there is a growing faction of people, both white and nonwhite, who are actively cheering on the ethnic and cultural erasure of white people.
Thanks for writing.
Whether one thinks it’s an issue or not, I say have fun with it. Make it a party game… One drink for a white couple; two drinks for a mixed-race couple; three drinks for a mixed-raced couple with an Asian kid; etc… You make the rules!… Have fun!
Now there’s an idea, Jay. I’ll try it some night when I want to get rip-roaring drunk!
Should take about 15 minutes. 😀
Love it! I’m a lush so this will be perfect!
I noticed the shift in black over-representation all the way back to the Obama years. I’d like to add some thoughts to some specific points…… Advertising Agencies are still mostly filled with college-degreed White males, and although this is changing they still have ideologies motivated toward the “Left”. In an effort to do their civic and moral duty, (along with the brand executives, aka “clients”) they all decide to help out, and cast Black talent (the actors). They are proud of this “daring but appropriate decision”. But the problem is, ALL the ad agencies are also doing this….. in concert with ALL the corporate brand executives. So while these Ad people pat their own backs about “breaking racial boundaries”….. they are not being as innovative as they think – because they are ALL doing it.
It’s like the Southpark episode where the rebellious Goth kids say that “If you want to be one of the non-conformists, all you have to do is dress just like us and listen to the same music we do.”
Recently, the angry white critic inside me has noticed… the overused casting of “in-between races”….where individuals are 1/4 Black, 1/4 White, 1/4 Hispanic, 1/4 mystery race. I have been calling these commercial actors as… “vaguely non-white”, This way, the Ad execs avoid pigeon-holing any one race…oh, except the whites where the bearded dad is goofy and the rest of the white family are redheads.
But let’s not forget that historically, advertising has always (over) cast good-looking and idealized people. Not everybody looks like the Marlboro Man – especially women. Black Hip-Hop stars are stereotypically viewed as successful therefore that image is often used in association with a brand/product. If we are somehow suddenly expecting the world of advertising to be fair, balanced, and perfectly representing the ugly masses….. well, that’s not going to happen and never has.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for putting into words what has been bothering me for the last two years. I’m not a writer and can’t articulate the story like you did. I’m a white male in my 60s, a demographic that is completely shunned. When I try to share my thoughts on this subject I feel myself going down the rabbit hole of racism, and it couldn’t be farther from the truth. It’s the ad agencies and the companies they represent that infuriate me, not any demographic of Americans. It seems that since the BLM movement really took off in 2020 the advertisers are falling over themselves to be more diverse than the next one. Like with so many things in life the pendulem has over swung in an effort to correct an issue. I would think that minorities, especially blacks, would and could argue that for decades they were grossly underrepresented in advertising and they’d be right. But what seemed like overnight the pendulum over swung. About two years ago I read another article on this subject and one of their points was that even though we are seeing bi-racial couples more and more in tv ads it is nearly always a white man / black woman because, they pointed out, advertisers fear that America is still not comfortable with a white woman / black man couple. Well that thought lasted about a minute because now that is probably the most common representation you see on tv ads today. The way I think of it, if I was an alien circling the Earth in my spaceship and the only thing I knew about the human race was from what I saw in tv ads, then I would have to conclude that most families consist of a black dad, a white mom, two very light skined children, and, judging by the huge modern kitchen, are living in a beautiful house. Obviously there is nothing wrong with that in real life and I wish I had them as neighbors. But let’s be honest, how many families does that represent? And the alien up there in his spaceship would have to also conclude that nearly all white men are clueless bufoons, the butt of jokes from his wife and spoiled kids, and that nearly all figures of authority and respect, whether it’s a boss at a large company, a doctor, a judge, your local pharmacist, or anyone else that you would look up to, will be a minority. This is mostly what the alien sees on tv, so it must be true.
Great points well stated, Jim. Thanks for sharing your comment and I’m glad you liked the post.
I can’t believe I found this article having recognized the basis of your article for years. Congratulations for exposing what has been obvious to me but taboo to speak about if one is a white male.
I have no reason to protest but seeing it recognized and discussed just made my day!
Well before this subject matter was put forward, I had wanted to send Rob a private email about this (and regarding the pussifaction [excuse my terminology]) about this subject. But I hesitated because I wasn’t 100% sure of Rob’s politics/social outlook. But boy, I’ve learned since then!!
See, Robert, I think you should have asked me to tackle this subject anyway. If I’d replied with anything but an acknowledgement that yes indeed, today’s advertising industry is totally overrepresenting black people and making white people look like idiots, then that would have told you that I was a lunatic, or at least intellectually dishonest, and that this blog was not worth your time.
Fortunately, the topic had been on my list for a while and I swear it was you (or perhaps another Cranky reader) who was brave enough to broach the subject in one of the comments sections. By that time (late 2021), the overrepresentation of blacks in advertising had reached absurd proportions, becoming blatantly and bewilderingly obvious to any fair-minded person who was paying attention. Looking back, I shouldn’t have waited so long to write this post. Representation in advertising had already started to become untethered from reality prior to August 2014, when the Ferguson, Missouri riots erupted following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by officer Darren Wilson. It was well past time for someone to say something.
Always good to hear from you, Robert. Drop me a comment or an email anytime!
Just an FYI. There are those of us on the left who are also fed up with the not so veiled attempt by the Uber-left to vilify and demonize white males. Interestingly, although I’m often accused of being privileged, I actually have had to work harder to get opportunities due to my demographics. I came from a very poor background and when I was applying for college there were grants for every demographic under the Sun save for straight white males. Once in college and law school there were special tutorial programs for every race but white. When I graduated and applied for jobs in corporate America, everyone wanted diversity (read: straight white males need not apply). Bottom line, I consider my self slightly left of center politically, but having experienced discrimination I am sensitive to it and find it unacceptable in all its forms (yes, including against straight white males).
You might be interested in this article at Real Clear Politics titled “It’s Time to Acknowledge Anti-White Racism.” Check the part where the author notes that the very definition of racism has undergone a radical change (this according to a new eighth-grade education textbook foisted upon students in the Albemarle County (Virginia) School District.
“Perhaps the most jarring aspect of this new definition is that it is no longer race-neutral,” the author opines. “A person of color is a victim of racism, by definition. A person identified as white is a racist, by definition. Therefore, not only does the new definition fail to capture the full meaning of racism; the definition is itself an example of the anti-white racism being taught to our children.”
Oops, trying to type out the above comment on a tablet!! But what I was trying to say was that I was getting disturbed by not only the minimization of white people in advertising but also the (excuse my language) pussification of the masculine American male, but grown men and boys. Ever notice that on the so-called mainstream TV you never see any ads with a father and son anymore. You pretty much have to go to the outdoors/hunting/fishing channels for that. The only ad that comes to mind is a boy in ballet tights eating a Rice Krispie Treat with his unseen dad voicing over a note he had written on the wrapper!! Also, another very subtle message was an ad that had Grandma and Grandpa sitting in the backyard with their grandson and granddaughter running towards them. At the last moment, the kids cross paths so that granddaughter goes to grandpa, and grandson goes to grandma (to bake cookies and make the beds, I suppose). Every other commercial shows father/daughter interaction. No masculine role models or father/son interaction in commercials. Wow, where will this country get our future warriors?
Yes, the erasure of strong male role models from American culture is absolutely intentional. Lacking strong men, governments can more easily control compliant populaces and feminists can get closer to achieving their dreams of “taking down the patriarchy.”
The attack on boys and men is so easy to see. Males of all ages have been deemed toxic for years, and our education systems, particularly our public schools and universities, continue to work feverishly toward their — as you say — pussification.
Not every feminist is anti-male or interested in “taking down the patriarchy.” Many of them have fathers, brothers and cousins they adore, not to mention boyfriends and husbands they adore. This is such a weird comment to read because a lot of the post is logical but this one here has a weird incel vibe, lol.
I never said that every feminist is anti-male. But if I had a dime for every time I’ve heard a woman screech about “taking down the patriarchy” in the last year — whether it’s an actress on Netflix, an indoctrinated crazy on a college campus, or Hershey’s trans-rights activist biological male hired to celebrate the accomplishments of women for International Women’s Day — well, I would have a shitload of dimes.
Thanks, Michael. I’m glad you found some catharsis in this blog post and in the reader comments. As you can see, you are hardly alone. In fact, I believe that *most* people notice the out-of-whack representation in today’s TV commercials. Well, the fair-minded ones do, anyway. But it’s the talking-about-it part that’s hard. And no wonder. People have plenty of reasons to keep quiet. Remember back in the Obama years when no one could criticize the president’s policies or job performance without fear of being called a racist? Yeah, the same idea applies here. It’s poisonous, and we have to stop letting people who would use race as a cudgel like this keep getting away with it.
Thank you for writing.
I commented about this about a month ago and after I did I felt so much better. Like I said, I’m a 64 year-old liberal. In my youth you could even have called me a SJW. But jeez, it’s getting worse and worse. I’m starting to say words I never dreamed I’d say a few years ago when I once again see these commercials. I wonder if I should write to the ad agencies. If many of us do, I wonder what their reaction would be. Probably just ignore it as a bunch of racists. Are black people the only ones who blow their nose, take cough medicine, buy insurance? Good. Let them buy all the advertiser’s wares. I was going to get rid of Netflix but there are no commercials so I’m keeping it. Every other platform there are the same commercials and they make me sick.
Oh and PS: I hadn’t noticed how they portray the white men (I’m not a white man but some have said they’re the burglars in home alarm ads) but I Have noticed that all the big dopes who don’t have the right insurance or are so stupid as to shop at the wrong stores and buy the wrong products are White! Imagine if they portrayed the white’s as the smart ones who shop where the advertisers say or buy their products and it’s the blacks who are too stupid not to buy their products and have to be schooled. And the further on the holiday season it goes, it seems only black people celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas, oh unless they have white family or neighbors who they graciously invite over. I feel terrible I’m starting to feel this way. I’d never have imagined you’d ever catch me writing a screed such as this. Black men have already taken over game shows; I started noticing that but it didn’t bother me too much because I could tune out if I didn’t like it. Now I can’t tune out. On YouTube I’ve got the remote ready as soon as they say I can ‘skip ads’ and usually have the sound down and am looking away at my laptop until it’s over, but still. If the advertisers followed the US population demographics it’d be one thing. But to look at these commercials you’d think that 90% of the country was black and they’re only casting commercials to reflect the demographics. Wrong. But leave me out of it. I’m not watching and I’m not buying.
Spot on Elizabeth! Too bad there’s no cancellation button for commercials!
“I feel myself going down the rabbit hole of racism”
Do you feel as though you’ve allowed yourself to be reprogrammed or conditioned to feel like you’re going down the race rabbit hole?
Correct. Decades of political-correctness conditioning and propaganda have successfully programmed many white Americans to fear that they are racist, or that their perfectly reasonable questions and concerns are wrongheaded and rooted in racism. [They] have made us afraid to question the narratives and agendas that we can clearly see them pushing upon us, in an effort to neutralize us until their work is done.
Thought it was just me till I saw these posts, I noticed it also after the divider Obama was in charge, think he still is, I don’t buy any of the crap they advertise. While we are at it the advertisers can knock off the peyone, aka crooked carrot, feminine products etc. Thanks for letting me know it’s not just me thinking it anymore.
Not sure how it’s Obama’s doing but whatever.
I agree there is an over representation of POC and a not so subtle effort to marginalize whites men but it goes way beyond Obama (whom I respect and admire). Not sure what the solution is.
I feel like “someone” is trying to brainwash America. Its reverse discrimination! I realize there is a lot of hate in this world and people in high places are trying to “fix” that, however, is it fair to the white actors, models and any other white males for that matter to be ostracized? White men are finding it harder to find work no matter what their skill or education level just for the sake of diversity. Whay ever happened to hiring someone because they are the best person for the job? Slavery is bad, period! But must we pay for the sins of our fathers forever? I don’t care if you want to throw in a black family here and there on TV but leaving out all whites and other races for that matter, is not diversity! It’s going to backfire! I for one am going back to reading or streaming movies with no commercials. I’m tired of having all the diversity being shoved down my throat. Don’t even get me started on Disney! Gay couples have no business in shows aimed at three year olds. Walt is rolling in his grave.😔
Thanks Madge, you nailed it. It’s okay to say what you really think, even if “they” would have you believe otherwise. I never use this word about Disney that I’m about to because my mother taught me that it was a disgusting sexually connotated word that a lady would never say but you know, Disney SUCKS!!!! How dare you come after my little children like that? As a former marketing communications professional I had enough trouble stomaching the advertising industry’s dogmatism even 10 years ago. Now imagine how much I loathe the crap that’s being dished out in all forms of media, but especially commercial advertising. Good lord it’s so offensive. How dumb do they think the 70% of us are that make up America? Pretty dumb, I guess.
I totally agree with everything you’ve written here . . . EXCEPT . . . there’s no such thing as “reverse discrimination”. I certainly understand what you’re trying to say, but the truth is . . . it’s “discrimination”. Period. You rock!
I don’t blame you a bit for turning off the tube in favor of books and movies, Madge, but I would encourage you to hit back with a parting shot before you go. Take a moment to write a quick email, tweet, or Facebook post to some of these companies who are pushing this forced-diversity agenda. Let them know that they have lost you as a customer. It’s the only way to get them to change, and it does work. Just last week, I read an article about how Hollywood’s woke movie-makers are starting to notice that their films are bombing. They’re starting to wonder if pushing all of these agendas might just be costing them money. Let’s make it so.
Thanks for your comment, Madge.
TV is unwatchable now, it’s vile. I like sports so I watch it, but am now forced to mute and turn to the guide to avoid hearing and seeing the woke advertising nonsense. It’s like the response to Covid was, totally overdone, a total overcompensation to George Floyd and BLM. We are all bludgeoned in the face daily by this nonsense and I am bleeding profusely. I can’t stand it. Time to turn off the TV.
You’re right, Joey — TV *is* unwatchable. It’s not just every commercial break; it’s nearly every commercial now where white people are put in secondary or subordinate roles, white men are made out to be idiots and buffoons, and black people are universally portrayed as the smart, sensible, successful role models everyone else looks up to. Hey, don’t get me wrong. I’d love it if the black people I saw in TV adverts were representative of the blacks I see every day in real life; I’d love it just as much if all races were portrayed fairly and equitably by the people who create today’s TV commercials — the ones who claim they champion equity but who in truth are using “diversity” as an excuse to marginalize white people.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
So true Madge👍
Tv shows would have you believe all groups of friends are made up of one person each of a different race and a LGBT, it’s eye rolling ridiculous.
As a retired marketing executive with over 30-years experience at a Fortune 10 company, I can’t understand what the ad industry is doing today. When I approved advertising campaigns for my product lines, it needed to have actors and scripts representative of the target market we were trying to reach. If the target was 90% Hispanic, we would have Hispanic actors in our ads. If we targeted blacks, we’d cast blacks. Etc, etc… Today, I don’t understand what they are doing from a marketing perspective. I could give hundreds of examples, but a couple of recent examples jump to mind. Walk down a jetway at Hartsfield or any airport. The posters on the walls show a high percentage of blacks, Asians, gays, women, etc… Literally 10% or less white, straight males. Does that represent the true numbers of passengers or the target for airline passengers? NFL merchandise commercials show virtually no whites in their merchandise ads, yet TV live shots of stadium crowds are almost entirely white audiences. Also, TV ratings show a slightly higher audience for minorities, but whites typically make up a majority portion of overall ratings. Why wouldn’t you show more people that look like the ones consuming your products?
As a marketer, I understand that maybe advertisers are trying to reach new customer groups. However, that does not explain why they ignore the 80% of whites that are the current and future customer of these products. The only thing I can guess is advertisers are trying to social engineer society. They believe that if they continue to show 70%+ minorities in ads they can make everyone believe the country is majority minority. Or they have a political agenda better served by a belief there are more minorities. You could also throw in guilt and reparations as other potential motives. However selling more product is not one of the reasons they are doing it.
Last thing … the “diversity officer” in major companies that must approve all advertising is root of the problem. They have the executives believing unless you show 70%+ minorities you are racist.
Awakening normies are providing me with much merriment. Now that the global elite has removed their velvet glove… the iron fist is so obvious that slow learners are finally seeing their work in progress, and the normies are left to stew with the question: WHY? They see white erasure in western culture… and wonder why. They see friends and relatives dropping dead from the Jonestown jab… and wonder why. Two and two is not adding up in their reference (life experience) but without the knowledge of the Elite Master Plan… nothing is making sense to normies anymore.
On the other hand… EVERYTHING makes perfect sense to us “conspiracy theorists” because many of us have been studying the Master Plan for 30, even 40 years. We knew this was coming, and are not struggling for reasons… like the normies do.
That’s a hefty payload of Truth you just dropped, Kris. As someone who, like you, has been down his share of rabbit holes, I agree. I am glad The Awakening is happening — I’m just worried that it might be too late.
Hi, Dave. Your comment reminds me of the former Levi’s jeans executive who just published a book about how “woke capitalism” at the company got her ousted from her dream job.
Excerpt: “‘Woke capitalism’ is corporate America’s attempt to profit off of Millennial and Gen Z activism, often passive keyboard activism . . . It exploits social-justice politics and transforms it into social-justice consumerism — and ultimately, investor profit. Companies purporting to care about ‘progressive values’ are really doing nothing more than striking a superficial pose meant to signal virtue while distracting from any company’s true motive: financial gain for shareholders.”
I agree, but like you, I think the motives run deeper than mere profits. See: Blackrock, Vanguard, ESG scores; and globalist agendas (including social engineering) originating with Klaus Schwab and his cronies at the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Thanks for reading and taking the time to share your experiences and examples.
Simple dog. Vote the D. The 2 DA’s running this country are putting us on more commercials and TV. That’s why I’m voting for the D. That’s the political mentality of so many of us. Take care of me and keep us, as Leo Terrell (a black man) says, on the democratic plantation. BTW, a stumbling, bumbling white man? You are where you are because of him, you idiot! Like the fact or not! Keep watching CNN and MSNBC!
I’m a 64-year-old liberal white female who usually votes Democratic but I’ve been noticing this more and more. EVERY commercial is mostly blacks. Black female doctors, dentists, insurance agents. The neighbors are all black and mixed race. Even the HIV medicine ads show two gay black guys. And the matchmaking app ads show black people or gays. I just turn the sound down and walk out of the room. I CAN’T STAND IT! Yes, all races should be in commercials, (I never thought I was prejudiced I’m beginning to wonder) but I look up at the TV during the commercials and I think I’m living in Kenya! Like I say, I’m a liberal so I watch MSNBC. I can’t even watch it on weekends anymore because most of the hosts and guests are black. I don’t know what’s coming over me. I was never this way before but I’m tired of turning on my TV or streaming service and wondering if I’m watching a channel from Nigeria. (Ok, so sue me or yell at me, I’m too old to care.)
I don’t think you’re racist per se. I just think you don’t like being manipulated. I too am a die hard liberal when it comes to social issues but bristle at the not so subtle attempts to disenfranchise the white race and even the male gender. For instance, when men are in ads they are in the periphery unless it’s a couple then it’s a black male and a white woman. I’m fine with showing mixed race couples since they certainly do exist but it’s portrayed in far far greater percentages than exist in reality (unless Madison Avenue is trying to have life imitate art by convincing women that black men are the ideal and white men are bumbling morons). The home security ads all show white male burglars. With respect to simple gender, 90%+ of print and television ads for gyms and exercise equipment feature women. Lately even the truck commercials feature females with men nowhere to be seen. Again, if you want to represent society as it exists knock yourself out but don’t try to socially engineer us! Again, you’re not racist just observant.
Great post, Anonymous. If I were you, I’d have put my name on that one because there’s not a single thing in your comment that a fair and rational person could argue with.
Thanks for writing!
Sadly I work for a large corporation and for self preservation reasons do not feel comfortable divulging my identity, given that todays social justice warriors will label anyone who even remotely disagrees with their world view as an -ist or a -phobe and will make it their life’s ambition to get said person fired. So much for learning from one another through healthy dialogue and debate.
I get it, friend. So much for fairness and tolerance, yes? I, for one, really appreciate your post, and might suggest that in today’s political climate you’re not as socially far left as you think.
There is absolutely nothing fair about not using black men and black women as a family unit along with their children. It is pretty pathetic.
Thank you for your candor, Elizabeth. I can assure you, you are not a racist. You are simply noticing the obvious mile-wide chasm between the real world you live in and the forced-diversity agenda that seemingly all brands and advertisers are foisting upon us daily. If you find it annoying, it’s because it’s not representative of reality. Healthy minds recognize differences like this and it niggles away at us because it just doesn’t track.
The sad part is, as you said, seeing this absurd over-representation of black people day in and day out begins to do more than just annoy after a while. It can create feelings of resentment among otherwise fair and good people such as yourself, which I assume is exactly the opposite of what these brands and advertisers are meaning to do.
Spot on Dave… as a former MarComm professional I feel as you do. This is “advertising” (if you can call it that) at its worst.
I can’t help wonder if there isn’t some political manipulation going on here. Regardless of the intent these commercials are making white Americans over 40 feel disenfranchised. Making them susceptible to the rants off the conservative right. It’s the only effect I’ve personally seen. It’s going to have an impact on how people vote. It really doesn’t matter to me what race a person is in a commercial. I see them small as ignorant tools. For instance: the commercial for a deodorant applied to the butt-cheeks where the spokestool says “I’m not a mathematician but 5/10 is greater than 0/10.” ~insipid.
Gee, Wallace, I wonder. For a clue to your answer, check out the reader comments down this page. Want to know where this is really coming from? Hint: it’s the liberal left.
The culture is rife with this stuff now . . . It’s like a masturbatory fantasy for some people.
Link to page at The Spectator: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-post-racial-world-the-last-white-man-by-mohsin-hamid-reviewed
And look, hockey is racist, too.
Hey Kim Davis, now do the NBA!
Link to article: https://apnews.com/article/nhl-sports-hockey-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-1fc28e1d7db391c2bec6203fa19fda1f
Omgggggg now the woke tards are picking on the NHL? What about The China loving NBA or the NFL? Their leagues are 75% black… where’s the diversity on their sports….Really now….
Oh, I’m afraid the NHL isn’t just being picked on — it’s own-goaling itself.
Check out this tweet sent by the NHL regarding the Trans Draft Tournament that just took place in Middleton, Wisconsin (about 10 miles from my old home).
The original tweet: “The NHL is proud to support this past weekend’s Team Trans Draft Tournament in Middleton, Wisconsin. This was the first tournament comprised entirely of transgender and nonbinary players, with around 80 participating! #HockeyIsForEveryone #NHLPride”
I love how she justifies her paycheck. Not with any solution or anything with substance, but rather, with a cliche: “the first step in solving a problem”.
Could it be the NHL is overwhelmingly white because of demographics, history, and lifestyle choices in large part? These are factors that go back to, oh, I don’t know, when did England actually lay claim to the land mass that had become Canada?
But God save the queen Kim, she will change this all in a generation or two.
Certainly, hockey is expensive. I’ve known people who lamented on how much time and money they had spent (especially the early morning drives to practice) to support their kid who wanted to play hockey. Not to mention the actual equipment – all a financial burden on the parents.
Could black players in the NHL then foot the bill for this? Why not?
It’s so stupid. The Left admonishes us to “celebrate the differences” in our cultures while completely ignoring the fact that different cultures may in fact have different preferences in careers and entertainment. Do black people love hockey? I’ve never gotten that impression. Are blacks clamoring to work in advertising? I don’t see it, yet the advertising industry engages in constant self-flagellation over the lack of black workers. Why do so few women work as coal miners? Garbage collectors? I think we need a diversity team to fix these glaring problems, stat.
I’ve never seen anyone other than a white male actor cast as a burglar in a home security commercial. I think that job is pretty secure.
Ha! That’s another funny trope. In today’s TV commercials and movies, the burglars are always white! 😛
Well, have you watched the news lately? Criminally inclined blacks don’t burgle anymore. They just walk in during broad daylight and take the hell whatever shit they want!!
I know you are being sarcastic, but anyone who WOULD believe this is simply not living in reality. In major urban areas of the the United States, Canada, and possibly the UK, it is by far people of color that wreak havoc within the public sphere.
facts–which the left say is RACISM and they hate facts:
blacks commit crime at higher rates
blacks murder whites at TEN times the rate of vice versa
blacks commit hate crimes at twice the rate
etc….not racism, but facts that prove their babble crap are myths
if anyone wants the stats on these, just ask ..I don’t come here often, but will try to check it out when I can
I get what you’re saying, Dan, and the stats do back you up. But for new readers coming in, I’d like to steer the conversation back to the topic of representation and diversity in TV commercials. This is an advertising blog, after all. 🙂
Actually, Jordy, I don’t think Robert is being sarcastic. He may be referring to an ordinance passed by politicians in San Francisco that allows shoplifters to steal up to a thousand dollars worth of merchandise (I think that’s the amount) without being arrested.
Check out a video of one brazen robbery here: https://nypost.com/2021/06/17/thieves-now-mock-the-rule-of-law-in-progressive-cities-like-san-francisco/
Actually, I was being a bit sarcastic. But almost every day, we see videos of “people” brazenly walking in a store or walking up to someone on a sidewalk and just taking whatever the hell they want and walking off with it. They have been totally emboldened and safe feeling, they don’t need to wear a mask.
Amen Robert! You know it’s not right to be white in today’s Woke society 🙄
and the buffoon, always a white guy, UNLESS the actors are ALL of color, then a buffoon would be allowed.
if there are only women in a television commercial, and it calls for jocularity, the white woman is the clueless one while the other (of color) is the wise one. it is always so.
this is NOT saying people of color are not smart, nor is it saying they are not nice people, intelligent, funny, and personable! It MIGHT be saying, instead, that there is no way any one is taking a chance to piss off a black “Karen” who thinks the ‘buffoon’ or ‘clueless’ black person is a form of a micro-aggression, or subtle racism, or some baloney like that!
And yet when it comes to white males we don’t complain about micro aggressions because we’re too busy being hit with actual-in-your-face aggression which society seems to find acceptable, e.g., patriarchy, toxic masculinity, mansplaining, manspreading, all the worlds ills are the fault of the European male, etc.
find one blue eyed blonde male on tv or movies anymore
I am a pasty white Irish girl with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes and I never see anyone who looks like me in any media anymore… anywhere. What bothers me is that it’s not just a plethora of blacks, it’s an over-representation of all minorities. As long as you don’t look white, in any way, no matter your race, then you’re what’s in all the ads now. It’s galling to me that even in advertising locally here in the Mountain West, where the population is close to 90% white, I don’t see a lot of people who look like me or my friends, family, or neighbors. We’re mostly a bunch of self-reliant ranchers, farmers, and cowboys in my neck of the woods and don’t relate much to any of this urban minority messaging… sorry. Hoping all this “social engineering” crap, which people like I associate with can see right through, backfires on all these idiots. We are living the nightmare of Atlas Shrugged… whodathunkit?
Thanks, Kinchan. Always appreciate your thoughtful comments.
Spot on Kinchan!
Yep I am surprised that was not mentioned in the article.
Sorry, Carl, but there’s only so much I can pack into one Cranky blog post. That’s why I rely on you, my astute Cranky readers, who have never let me down!
Thanks for writing.
That’s something that bothers me: that these white male actors will accept such demeaning roles in return for however much they get paid. Then again, they might not object, since most actors are ultra liberals.
……I just went to the Library of Congress to maybe read some online books…..one of the sections had 3 pictures that came up one after another …pictures of mostly kids, reading, etc….all 3 had a total of 15 people –all black, POC except one white male….
watching youtube just now…Navy Credit Union commercial–no white males…2 POC males and an Asian lady
I was dropping something off at USPS Store the other day. Five corporate approved pieces of signage in lobby. Portrayed white women, and men and women of color. Not one white male in the signage.
And luxury car commercials. Just saw two in a row with black families. Which I wouldn’t have a problem with if it didn’t already seem that blacks feature in >50% of car commercials. (They’re 12% of the population, remember.)
I am a white female and I feel for the white male who is so obviously portrayed as a “home-staying” effeminate and clueless male. They often are treated badly by a domineering woman as well. Men, know that most women do not like this, especially Christian women. We respect you and are not part of this! Thank you!
Thanks, Virginia, for taking the side of fairness and sanity in this culture war.
I find all this whining about representation laughable; I’m half Mexican and Syrian and Filipino on the other side….where was my representation when I was a kid? Absent, but it didn’t stop me from achievement. Blacks are way, way over represented and it has turned me off to a point where I will not purchase from these heavy handed advertisers.
I like you already, Cathi! Good for you for boycotting some of these advertisers. If you get a chance, tell them what you think on social media, too . . .
yes, I don’t buy their crap either
This is not about money, or placating the woke mania. This is the Kalergi Plan and the Frankfurt School opperating at full speed ahead. They always do the slow seeping of an idea into the culture, and then, at some point, go warp-speed. I think the word to go warp–speed on this issue was given about five years ago, with a major increase 28 months ago.
Perceptive. I agree.
It’s pretty funny because my husband and I were just talking about this the other day. We watch a few shows, mostly our old favorites, with very few new ones. Often he complains about how shows are too woke. (‘Law & Order: SVU’ particularly.)
Though we haven’t seen much of this in the casting of the shows we watch, mostly because they are older shows, we do see this massively disproportionate diversity in commercials. One would think the population in America is majority black, with a handful of white women, and very few white men. Occasionally there is a tan or brown-skinned person thrown in there.
Now don’t get me wrong, I do recognize the population demographics are fast changing, but to exaggerate it like this, I feel, doesn’t help matters. It panders to the woke, makes us fear to mention Christmas, any “American” things, or anything a white person would like. God forbid somebody appropriates the wrong thing. (Wouldn’t that actually be “misappropriation?” So confusing.) Remember the Starbucks red cup debacle from a few years back? Yikes.
White men are portrayed as imbeciles, weak, and foolish. I am so sick of seeing this. My husband pointed this out to me some time ago. I noticed, but never has it been so apparent like it has in the past couple of years. It is actually quite embarrassing. I fear there will be a big blowback, not just because of this change in advertising, but because of all the current racial strife in this country.
I do think the movement several years ago of #OscarsSoWhite had a hand in this. If I’m watching TV, and there are, say seven commercials on before another, often annoying, show promo during the long commercial break, six out of the seven commercials have black people, or mixed couples. I often find myself questioning if the black people watching these commercials would really use this product or service.
I feel advertising should be proportionate with the population. I also think this placating the woke crowd will eventually get so out of hand that it will completely alienate white people. (See Coke.) I hope that we can stop going down this road before it’s too late.
Excellent points, B.Y.
One of the things that concerns me most about this topic is how many brainwashed people are so eager to dismiss us — the people who dare to speak out about the ridiculous mishandling of representation in advertising, entertainment, etc. — as racists. Too bad for them, then, that thoughtful and measured comments like yours, and so many others on this page, prove emphatically that we are not.
Thanks for writing.
Here in the East of England in the county of Norfolk I hardly come across any mixed race couples in my town. There are certain areas of Norwich which have pockets of concentrated areas of Eastern European people and pockets of concentrated Asian and Indian communities who mostly work for and live near an NHS hospital and some who drive taxies, so unless I need to see a doctor or hire a taxi I don’t usually come into contact with anyone other than a regular white UK person. So why is it that when I watch TV that my family and I are force fed brainwashing adverts that portray diverse mixed race mixed sex mixed anything as the norm! I am sure that for the vast majority of the UK this is not the case. It’s got to the point that when these adverts appear I have to censor them if my impressionable kids are watching as they think if it’s a TV advert it must be true.
I worked very hard to build a good reel as a “white” actor. Many years in fact.
I haven’t had a commercial audition in months. Scratch that. I was offered one audition to play the stupid, out of shape, sweating know-nothing white male being berated by his wife while trying to buy a mattress.
I turned the audition down. No point.
I think what irks me about it is the people making the choices. Diversity is great and was much needed in the entertainment industry. I’m proud of that, but I think the powers that be are trying to protect themselves knowing that they lead almost all white ad agencies. Overcasting Black folks is simply an effort to keep themselves employed.
Actors have always been expendable to Hollywood and the ad industry so I don’t think they care who they cast as long as they keep their jobs.
Thanks so much for your comment, Brock. Yours is a perfect example of how the current push for forced diversity is having real, negative consequences on people, on industries, and on the culture.
I hope you don’t mind (especially as you remain anonymous), but I shared your comment on both LinkedIn and Twitter and posed the question, “At what point does the push for ‘diversity and inclusion’ become *exclusionary* and itself as pernicious as the problem it was meant to solve?”
Predictably, not one person had the courage to comment. I know that a lot of people saw those posts, but no one was willing to touch the topic with a ten-foot pole.
I also want to say that your comment reminded me of an HR policy that was imposed on hiring committees during the time that I worked for a public university system several years ago. We were told that race could and should be used as a tie breaker when choosing between two otherwise equal job candidates. Think about that. Race as a tie breaker. Is that not the very definition of racism?
Thanks again for writing and good luck landing some auditions.
“Predictably, no one commented.” Of course they didn’t. Thank you Cranky Creative for your courage. Keep it coming.
You bet, Kinchan!
I think it is truly disgusting these people think that they’re going to sell us this trivial crap that they’re promoting? Why not call it like it is and show people for their real culture in commercials not this forced crap that they throw upon us. These advertisers are scumbags and people should boycott the products that they’re promoting!!
I am amazed that the conversation of this topic has been started. Thank you! It is obvious that the culture has been infiltrated from within by opportunistic, resentful and vengeful people. History shows that the Frankfurt School started all of this cultural Marxism by taking over academia, media and entertainment. Dr E Michael Jones has written extensively about this group of people in his book The Jewish revolutionary spirit. I suggested it as further reading for all.
“Infiltrated from within.” Yep, that about describes our institutions today. Far from being limited to advertising, it is government, healthcare, banking and finance, education (oh God, the public schools and colleges) . . . We are in deep shit.
I’ve read that White male commercial actors are being dropped by Agents or not being able to secure representation because the employment opportunities for them are dwindling to almost nothing. In regards to the number of black male/white female couples in commercials I would only add: What message does that send to black women? You aren’t good enough to even get a black man? Highly insulting.
Yes, Tommy, I too have heard about the difficulties white male actors are having finding work in advertising. (However, before I say more, I must correct you on one thing. AP — Associated Press — style dictates that only the word “Black” is capitalized when used in a racial, ethnic, or cultural sense; not “white.” Hey, I don’t make the rules. Only virtue-signaling organizations do.)
LIke you, I’ve also heard that many black (nah, screw AP) women are absolutely NOT okay with seeing black men with white women, whether it’s in TV commercials or in real life. Has this information crossed the desk of advertising people? I don’t see how it couldn’t have. Does it matter to them? Not when there’s an agenda to push! The advertising industry’s complete disregard for accuracy, fairness, or authenticity is truly breathtaking.
Thanks for writing.
I actually think it’s more nefarious. Life imitates art. Get society to abandon the white male by removing him from every situation. Show men of color as successful and attractive while white men if you show them at all are fat and stupid.
Ding ding ding!
Oh, I’ve been waiting for someone to say this. Thank you. Yes, I too believe this is an agenda for some, and not just in advertising, either.
That’s my point exactly. Powers that be in Hollywood and on Madison Avenue want women to stop breeding with white men. Now that we’ve created the world it’s time for those who sat back and enjoyed the fruits of our labor to take over and disappear us!
In England now this also the norm, where the percentage of black people is less than America. It is not uncommon for all adverts in one break to have no white males at all. My wife is Chinese and asks why there are no white and Asian couples. This is hard to explain as the Asian population is larger in UK.
It is indeed hard to explain, but I think a fair few comments on this page get pretty close to the agendas and forces at work.
Thanks for writing.
And don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with persons of color in movies and advertisements, nor do I have an issue with mixed race relationships, so long as they are organic and natural. And not created and shown exponentially more than they are present in the real world in order to enforce an agenda and brainwash the populace.
No worries, SL. I hear you. And I believe most people feel the same. The problem isn’t racism, it’s woke-ism.
You should have a problem. Being neutral isn’t going to change anything. Neutral is burying your head in the sand.
It’s fine to be neutral. The whole “you have to be an activist or you’re a racist” deal is getting old. I can live my life freely and am never required to participate in anyone’s cause, no matter how righteous its considered. Sorry, I have a life to live and just don’t care about this issue anymore.
Do you have kids, Anonymous? If so, then by golly, you should care. What you are seeing in TV commercials is merely a symptom of much bigger, more serious problems that will pose great challenges for our generation and the next. I’m not talking about changing demographics. I’m talking about the new discrimination against whites, men, Christians — and women, if we include all of the trans males that are now invading women’s rest rooms, women’s sports, and every other area traditionally held by biological females. Wokeness is not fixing our world or ridding it of inequality; it’s lighting the fuse on a whole set of new problems, some of which look uncomfortably like our old ones.
You may have missed my point. All I’m saying is that occasional mixed race ads or poc ads are fine if they mirror society, but when the viewing public is being indoctrinated by depictions that far outnumber real world representation in an effort to alter perception it’s problematic
Precisely.
yes, whites need not apply = discrimination ….they should file a lawsuit
Ha! That’s funny, Dan.
Because 75% of black women are on welfare with a bunch of kids and no father in the house. They are raised to get pregnant as soon as possible to get on welfare. Black people put the word out to lie on census to keep population % low. Get pregnant, get free insurance, get food stamps and sell them 0.50 on the dollar. You have it made! Generation to generation.
Not just all blacks do this. White girls too. The reason why you see white girls with black babies is because they pay blacks to get them then pay them every month til the child is 18. White boys don’t want anything to do with these girls. Because all they want is welfare.
The black women get the white men, or a woman of any color, and that’s another “culture“ that we are bombarded with… gender-less actors… hmmm is it a male or a female. 🤔
It reminds me of an episode on the series “Community“ in which the college mascot wore a tan jumpsuit that covered it head to toe because of the hype about college mascots offending people… we will soon have a neutral society, everyone will be light brown.
I had that same thought- and I’m a white woman!
Not only that, but I see very few women who look like me. White and ‘not-skinny.’ The women in commercials, no matter what race, are a size 0 model and they’re never shown eating. The only time I saw a woman with my body type, it was a prescription medicine ad, the actress was Black, and she was power-walking and doing healthy activities to lose weight.
White men ARE shown to be bigger/ plus-sized. And they’re shown eating burgers, guzzling beer, and lying on the couch with a remote when they’re not robbing houses. Black men in commercials are all very handsome, tall, athletic, and competent. Married to blonde white models.
What does this say about women who aren’t blonde white models? Or men like my husband who isn’t lazy and isn’t a criminal?
Oh, I don’t know, Anna. Quite a few brands have been making a point in recent years to show more “natural-looking” women in “body-inclusive” advertising. Dove soap is perhaps the most prominent example, but there are others. (Although, a quick Google search shows most of these “body positivity” models to be black, of course.) But I myself see plenty of ads from small-time brands that very conspicuously feature — oh, not “normal”-sized women, but actually obese women. The body-positivity trend has especially gripped women’s magazines, and more than one social commentator has taken these publications to task for celebrating and glamorizing unhealthy lifestyles. (This, as the woke Left shames and cancels people such as fitness instructor Jillian Michaels for not praising the morbid obesity of the musician Lizzo.) Yes, just like race, the mouth-breathers behind all of these so-called equity movements have gone way overboard with regard to the representation of women’s bodies.
It’s all so twisted, isn’t it? But the people behind it are telling you it’s all for a good, caring cause, so how can anyone possibly argue?
That’s right — we can’t. Not without being called a racist, a misogynist, a bigot, or a homophobe.
Meanwhile, teachers and politicians allow drag shows in elementary schools.
As one of my readers likes to say, “The End is surely near.”
Thanks for writing.
Sure could use a vacation from this bullshit three ring circus sideshow of freaks…
Learn to swim….
Thank you for calling BS on the misrepresentation and unbalanced perspective in advertising. It drives me nuts, and for so long I have felt like I am the only one who gets worked up about it. About the whole social justice push. It’s nice to see that others also notice and disapprove. Sadly, this is happening not just in advertising, but everywhere.
The latest example that has gotten under my skin is the coverage of the US Open tennis tournament. A large percentage of the tv commercials are of course pushing social justice of one sort or another. But even worse is what went on before, during, and after the three matches Serena Williams played. Listen – I know she is one of the best players ever, and I know this might be her last professional appearance. And I have nothing against her. But plenty of great players who were also well loved have had a final match prior to retirement. And none have ever been placed on such a high pedestal as Serena Williams.
When the Open subjects each of Serena’s opponents to a 5 minute video montage celebrating Serena as they stand there waiting to play her is going a little too far.
And when Serena lost her her third round match to an oppononet who played spectacularly, to see the tournament director rush out to cater to Serena immediately after match point; to see the camera cut to and stay on Serena for minutes after the match instead of showing the winner; to hear the commentators gush over Serena before saying anything about who just won; to see the media throw a microphone at Serena right away – this is all going a WAY too far. Not to mention the camera shots of the audience during the match – most of which were carefully chosen to show black members of the audience celebrating Serena’s well played points and celebrating her opponents poorly played points.
All of this is was clearly agenda driven coverage. And nowhere – not in the journalist media, nor in social media, can I find anyone calling BS on it.
I hear you, Steve. Identity politics have infiltrated everything: sports, movies, music, video games — the entire culture is lousy with it. Just last week, I tried playing the demo for a long-awaited Nintendo video game called Splatoon, which sees cute little squid characters shooting brightly colored ink at each other in a battle to paint the most territory. Well, the first thing I saw upon booting up the game was a billboard that had been created by another player which read: “TRANS RIGHTS.” This, in a kids’ game. Clearly, the activists behind this type of propaganda are not, and will never be, content to just live their lives and leave everyone else alone. No, they must get in our faces at every chance and turn everything into a platform for their message. The worst part, however, is that the vast majority of the sleeping populace goes right along with it, happily complying with the activists’ demands and parroting the “inclusive” propaganda. I call it Clown World — and we’re all living in it.
Thanks for writing, Steve.
You are totally right and I’m in the UK. This diversity crap has to end but it seems to be caused by companies so they promote ethnic groups in fear of retaliation that they are not representing other communities. Now, we are in the minority.
Maybe, we should all stop buying products from any of these companies that use these tactics and the governments now need to intervene to stop this escalating further as this will cause issues
Yeah, I understand things are as bad or worse in the UK, Ian. Sorry to hear it. Maybe sell your TV and use the proceeds to buy some extra fuel and food (and alcohol!) for the winter. I hear the energy rationing could get rough: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11173211/Life-Blackout-Britain-Experts-warn-energy-rationing-winter.html
Is it just me, or is the world falling apart?
the article is the TRUTH
Dan, I think I botched my original reply to you, but all I really wanted to say was thanks.
Thanks!
And in print ads, commercials, etc. it’s almost exclusively black man and white or Asian woman. I guess if you have to have a man in the ad, God forbid he be white.
Haven’t you heard, Anonymous? White guys are out. “Down with the old, white patriarchy!” or something. Because racism is OK when it’s a minority group that’s doing it.
yes –white males need not apply–especially blonde males – racism, discrimination
The reason blacks are overrepresented is because they are very vocal with their complaints. They are a very loud and sometimes violent minority. Execs want to cover their asses when blacks take to social media to yell about how racist their ads are. Hispanics and Asians are not as vocal about their grievances. Also, they rarely riot and burn down cities.
The BLM movement really made an impact on the American psyche. But even before that, we had the “social justice” movement which fostered entitlement in some groups and programmed so many young white people to feel guilty about being white.
To your point, I ran across a study while doing research for this post that showed that despite enjoying far more representation in television ads than other minority races, blacks were also the group that thought they should be seeing much MORE of themselves in commercials — by a wide margin.
Now some black people say that fast food companies target them to make them obese and unhealthy and it’s racist that 70% of fast food ads have black person because it causes obesity among black people. But if fitness ads over present black people some of them may say that they target them because people think that only black people are fat.
generally, its ridiculous. but lets remember its not all of “they”. its not like EVERY black person agrees with both and therefore is a self-contradicting blowhard. some complain about the fast food ads, and some (or ONE person who wrote an opinion piece?) may have complained about the fitness ads.
Absolutely correct
I’m pretty sure we have the George Floyd BLM protesters to thank for this. Ever since George Floyd, it seems that forced diversity has really gotten out of hand. You are exactly right that advertisers are concerned about violence and how loud they are, that explains why the majority of commercials are full of black people and not anywhere near as many Hispanics/Asians. Though I will say that I’ve been seeing more Asians in commercials than whites now. It’s ridiculous and feels like retribution at this point, rather than wanting things to be equal.
And it goes beyond just media. My local library showcases certain kids’ books on the top of their bookshelves, and all of the books now are always ones with illustrations of non-white kids. It’s ridiculous given that white people in my town are the majority, and the majority of the library customers. But yeah certain minorities are very vocal and loud about how any little thing is racist, and that’s the problem. It’s all a way to appease them. Just an example of how insane these people are…last summer when I took my son to the playground, he went down a slide right after a black girl went down before she got to the bottom. I pulled him aside and told him to wait his turn and not go down until there’s no kids on it. Right after I said this the girl’s mom loudly said “black lives matter”, I kid you not. So teaching your kids manners is racist now apparently.
Sad and creepy, but not surprising. For the past many decades — and, I would argue, especially since 2008 — we have been living in a world where race is used as a cudgel to divide us. For some, it is a crutch. Others wield it as a club. And everyone suffers.
Thanks for writing.
I just want to know where are all these Black men that spend their days doing laundry, washing floors and cooking. If there is anyone else in the ad it’s frequently a white woman and mixed kids but it’s still the man who’s been relegated to menial chores. The worst is the man who’s lamenting the loss of his afternoon because the white woman with him is selling her car. He’s worried about missing his bubble bath and pedicure. So insulting. All men are demeaned in commercials and have been for a long time but especially Black men lately. Come on men! Protest, boycott, call, write letters. Don’t just take it!
Interesting observations, Linda. Yes, society’s current obsession with “grrl power” and myriad forms of gender bending is on full display in today’s advertising. While I can certainly appreciate the occasional clever attempt to subvert traditional gender roles in TV commercials, it becomes a problem when the majority of ads go out of their way to push agendas focused on race and gender. For most of us, the reality we see in our daily lives looks nothing like the contrived bullshit we see on our TV screens, and while the endless assault has gotten very tiring, very fast, I’m not sure that any amount of protest, boycotting, or letter-writing is going to change a thing. People don’t have the stomach for it; they don’t have any alternative brands to turn to; and in the end, it’s probably just not worth the time. Brands and advertisers are going to push their activism on us regardless of what anyone else thinks. Most of us reluctantly accept this fact and just suffer through every commercial break thankful for the mute button on our remote controls.
Thanks for writing.
Amen! Thank God for the mute button. That seems to be the only recourse we have left.
Exactly! 99% of commercials and print ads for gyms, boxing clubs, basically any physical activity shows women.
It used to be, marketers could say they targeted women because women hold the purse strings. Nowadays, however, a lot of this women-and-minorities-everywhere-at-the-exclusion-of-white-males is over-the-top pandering at best.
Do these people even realize they’ve made straight white males one of the most discriminated-against groups in America?
Even worse than all these commercials nowadays putting black men in $1,000 shoes driving $100,000 cars living in million dollar homes and being depicted as superior to the overweight balding white guy who looks like a complete buffoon.
Yeah, it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? 🤣
If extraterrestrials were to study the human race on Earth by searching Wikipedia, they would have no idea that White race existed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aunt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle (no picture! they are all weird)
But if they are patient enough, they will finally find this one
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father
Yay, a 19th century painting, so at least white people DID exist!
But they’d still need to scroll down and will see white fathers along with obligatory POC.
Holy shit! 😂
Thanks for doing the legwork so we don’t have to, Wypipo.
How can a company make any money by only advertising to %15 of the population
Because, in sharp contradiction to what so many whackos in this country would have you believe — most white Americans are not racist.
Depends what you define “racism” as. The textbook definition isn’t quite right to me. But, neither are other labels in society. Call me crazy.
I’ve been retired for a year now and watch more TV than I have in a while and I thought the same thing. What’s going on with the weird “representation” in American advertising? At this point, no one is being “represented” and maybe that “vanilla” (no pun intended) approach is another misstep that creates a “billboard” affect. You drive by every day and don’t notice it. Have you seen Zuck’s Avatar? That’s captain vanilla.
“Representation” can be considered a buzzword because our indifference to ads in general have made them white noise most of the time. Thus, transforming it into whatever ad execs need to do the tick the box for corporate. Some people actually realize advertising is, and always has been, bullshit anyway. Even if they use a purple clown. Diversity for diversity’s sake has never been a good thing. But, this isn’t some sort of phenomenon. The squeaky wheel always gets the grease. Yell and stomp enough, you’ll get your way. Same could be said about Trump supporters or super Libs or gays or > insert whatever “group”.
I’m of the belief that our brains won’t simply rewire from group and gather tendencies, no matter how hard we try. Tribalism isn’t going anywhere… ever. It’s baked into our being. And, guess what? That’s perfectly normal!
And, as I get older… I learn the things that don’t make sense in life aren’t supposed to… because we’re humans.
Let Jake be Jake. No one cares.
You make some good points, Don. I was with you right up until the point where you said “No one cares.” Judging by the number of replies to this blog post — and that’s only from people with the courage to stick their necks out — I’d say a hell of a lot of people care. The constant agitation created by brands, ad agencies — and politicians and social-media crybabies and on and on and on — is stressing people out, playing on anxieties, and ultimately, forming divisions among people and cracks in the culture. It’s a problem for sure.
Totally agree. My blood pressure increases every time I (try to) shop online (Target, Marks & Spencer, etc.). Models are, in order: Black, black, black, white, black, black, white, black, black, black. You get the drift.
I grew up in a Texas County with a 62% black population. As a 73 year old white male. If you want to know the truth about how the vast majority of blacks socially interact simply watch 5-10 episodes of The First 48. It shows the truth. The ridiculously engineered commercials with a majority of blacks in unrealistic situations is something the American people will ultimately reject – at some point. I hope.
And the irony is when there are black American families that do strive to be successful or achieve affluence, they are criticized as selling out or being uncle Toms by others. It’s almost more insulting to watch advertisers paint their own picture of dark skin people living a prosperous life in the suburbs or even on a ranch with a pickup… yes I’ve seen that. It’s not about having the income to buy these nice things, but are these actually reflecting the priorities and choices of black Americans? Hardly.
Great point, Brad. On occasion, I myself have heard black people admit that their fellow blacks purposely behave counter-culturally to whites. For example, the black kids who beat up the conscientious black student at school for “acting white.”
I’d love to hear an actual black person’s take on the representation of black people in TV commercials.
A certain percentage of people see the propaganda for what it is, Charles. Unfortunately, the brainwashing has been so constant and so thorough that most have no idea.
And I thought I was the only one who noticed the disappearance of white males! (Am I allowed to notice this or will I be labeled as racist?)
You are far from alone, Bob. The bad news is, the people behind all of this will still call you racist.
You’re right. I’ve noticed this for a long time now.
Oh my gosh, I knew things were bad, but this takes it to an entirely different level. Just wow.
Rob, you have started a firestorm with this subject. I dare say it has produced more comments than any of your other blogs. And many, many interesting theories on what is going on.
But for what I think is the real reason, I would suggest that everybody read American Marxism by Mark Levin. Levin is probably the smartest, most observant, most literate social/political commentator out there. American Marxism is a somewhat difficult read due to his command of the American English language, but Levin goes back in history and lays out the beginning foundations of every social and political upheaval we are experiencing now. He names names, gives dates, gives quotes, and gives events, laying out an ironclad argument on why we are going through what we’re going through. This has been decades in the making, and has been very subtle and well planned. And we have not noticed it and allowed it to happen!! I am a somewhat older fellow, and looking back, single events and changes never seemed sinister. But in sum, they were extremely sinister. This is NOT the same country and society it was 60 years ago. Unfortunately, it will probably take a violent upheaval to reverse everything.
But once again, American Marxism, Mark Levin. READ IT!!
A firestorm indeed, Robert. And I dare say that all but one or two comments have been from people who agree with the premise of the post — boiled down simply, that blacks are conspicuously overrepresented in U.S. television commercials at the expense of other racial groups, and that today’s advertisers are duplicitous asshats whose anti-white and anti-white male agendas are driven by propaganda — either their own programming, or a desire to program others.
Clearly, this is a topic that people want to talk about. But unfortunately, Big Tech doesn’t want us to. I’ve peeked in on my Google search results on occasion and been perplexed by the low search ranking for this article. Up or down, it seems to vary in concert with social signals sent by Facebook, the autocratic, data-collecting platform that has several times blocked my ads promoting this blog post and restricted my account for “hate speech.”
Which speaks directly to your point about this country and society being dramatically different than they were 60 years ago. When corporations like Google and Facebook have total control over the information and ideas that we are allowed to see and share, and the direction of the country is being altered by invisible forces with their own hidden agendas, then we as a country have big problems and we’d better wake up.
Thanks for writing, Robert.
I just got a lifetime ban from Twitter for talking about how blacks are having everything handed to them and taking over and I think I’m at about 7 30-day bans on Facebook. Blacks are slowly and methodically destroying this country they’ve already poisoned the minds of all of our kids. Walking into stores and walking out with shopping carts full of merchandise and doing smashing grabs at high-end jewelry stores and they’re always talking about how everybody trash talks them and they don’t get any respect and they still blame Whitey for keeping them down. Personally I don’t know of any white people that held a gun to any of their heads and kept them from going to school or getting a job. Everything is everybody’s fault except for theirs ask all the black prisoners in prison!
This is the new WOKE CULTURE we are dealing with right now. The only true way to make your feelings known is to actually contact the companies directly & voicing your concerns & issues. I’ve been thinking of writing a boilerplate type letter that I can use so I don’t have to type my complaints & observations 100’s of times. Using a boilerplate type letter will allow you to just change the name of the company versus writing dozens or hundreds of individual letters.
This is a great idea, Thor. Do it. Make sure your voice is heard. And not only that — tell these companies you’ll be taking your business elsewhere; perhaps to a competitor that doesn’t wear its politics on its sleeve. (See: Jeremy’s Razors.) Then, make sure you do it. Nothing gets a message through like a punch to the pocketbook.
I was thinking about doing the same thing it’s definitely a lot easier than setting an email to each individual company that portrays blacks and commercials being Superior over white guys are made to look like total buffoons and inferior to blacks
I watched a fascinating interview on the Ruben report about an investor who talks about how, after the 2008 crash, Black Rock and other houses started actually pushing the fake green and inclusion narratives, posing as the investors’ voice, saying the general public wants this social awareness in companies. They are trying to do this to push off the negative view of investment houses after the crash. In reality the actual investors have no clue how their portfolios are being used. People need to be made aware that they are being misrepresented on company boards.
Black Rock? Fake green and inclusion narratives?
Good for you, Brad. I see you’ve done your research.
If only the other 95 percent of the U.S. population would do the same.
Perhaps Twitter did you a favor, Anonymous. That platform is nearly as bad as Facebook in its censorship of free speech. The healthy choice, I think, is to get off of social media. Get out and enjoy your life, and leave those miserable techno-fascists behind.
Again I say, read American Marxism for an explanation of EVERYTHING that is going on. If this was a book on physics, Mark Levin would win a Nobel Prize for his Theory of Everything. The current state of race relations goes back to the 60’s with LBJ’s “civil rights” Bill. This was a sheep in lion’s clothing for the blacks, the greatest giveaway and dumbing down in history. LBJ himself said about this act in 1964, “we have the [black] vote for the next 100 years.” But even a decade after this atrocious act, I can remember working side by side with many, many blacks at a Houston oil refinery who just wanted to provide the best they could for their families. I remember one hard worker with 10 kids that hacked a cab after his day at the refinery but saved enough money that everyone of his kids had more than $10,000 in a savings account at the refinery credit union, a princely sum in those days and the maximum for federal insurance. But the giveaways and removal of responsibilities took this motivation away from blacks, simply to secure their vote for the Marxist Democrats. An example of this is the 19 million black babies freely aborted over the past 40 years or so, simply because of the removal of responsibilities.
And sadly, race relations or whatever you want to call it is but one cog in the overall gear mechanism. There is so much going on that really is inter-related. And most of it is due to the monolithic multinational corporations and their greed for two synonymous and interchangeable terms – money and power. There are a number of outfits I will not have anything to do with if I can avoid them – Coca Cola, Nike, the NBA and NFL, to name just a few. Just look at the money they control, ungodly amounts. I remember in 1987 when Grand Metropolitan from Britain paid the astounding amount of $12 billion dollars for the Pillsbury company. Now, most corporations wouldn’t piss on you for $12 billion.
Now are the monoliths totally responsible for all of this? No, but they see opportunities to work with the Marxists who are also only interested in their own enhancement. So this makes for a huge boulder rolling down the hill with great momentum. What to do?
There was a poll released recently that found that nearly a third of the American population felt that they would have to take up arms against the government (ironically, I post this on July 4th). I would agree, but I’m kinda old and untrained for warfare against my country. I cry for the state of America these days because as previously posted, I date back to much better days. This country is not what the Founding Fathers envisioned. And sorry, they were NOT rich white guys. White, yes. Necessarily rich, no. Read about them. They were landed, like me. But again like me, their assets were all in their land. Much like in the 1980’s in the early beginnings of the S&L downfall, I banked at an S&L. One day while in line at my S&L, the old farmer in front of me asked the teller about their stability. She told him, “Sir, Ben Franklin Savings has assets of over 6 billion dollars”. He replied, “young lady, I have plenty of assets, I just don’t have any money.” But anyway, regardless, pray for your country.
And more thoughts and musings – yes, I would add Facebook and Google to my list of monoliths. I resisted Facebook for years and opened up an account only when I had a small business and wanted to advertise to my community. I closed it down soon after I closed down my business. And I’d still love to whack Mark Fuckerburg with a 36″ axe handle every time I see his punk-assed smug mug.
Yes, the Marxists and monolithic corporations are about to achieve their dystopian societies. Read Fahrenheit 454 and get a prophetic view of this, complete with prophesies of cancel culture and disinformation control, as well as the complete dumbing down of the population – the parlor room entertainment wall i.e., TV shows of complete idiocy. Sound familiar, folks? Also, try to find episodes of Max Headroom from the 1980s, early 90s. Corporations ran the world and kept people controlled with mindless TV as one mechanism. It’s just around the corner if we don’t do something now. And it all just ain’t about a disproportionate amount of blacks in commercials. It’s much, much bigger.
Right you are again, Robert. Say, did you see that someone blew up the Georgia Guidestones the other day? 😛
I just happen to have two 36″ axe handles right here by my desk. Any time you want to get together and teach Mr Fuckerburg a lesson in humility just say the word. I’d love nothing more than schooling all those like him. That think our lives are for their amusement and manipulation. I do believe that their day will come sooner than they think. Especially for the scumbags that are part of The Frankford School. If you truly want to be disgusted read about them a bit. It explains the Who, How, and Why of all these social issues….
I am sure you are speaking tongue in cheek, Kirk, but, the world being as it is, I have to go on record as saying that I don’t condone any violence. Even against Mr. Fuckerberg, who, at the very least, deserves an Atomic Wedgie the likes of which he hasn’t seen since high school.
If the general public only knew how creepy, manipulative, and destructive he is . . .
Microsoft censors 80% of my posts replying/responding to obvious left leaning readers/posters trying to give my conservative opinion/side & they constantly censor me. None of my posts or replies are hateful, I don’t use foul language, don’t attack the people who post or who I disagree with although I will use sarcasm occasionally. I don’t post racist or incentive posts or replies, don’t promote violent or Illegal activity, no abusive language or hate speech. I guess the issue Microsoft has with my posts & or comments because they are from a conservative perspective. It is amazing to me in this day & age, public high-tech companies such as Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat etc. can allow opinions they agree with but refuse/censor conservative opinions & perspectives they DON’T agree with. Why hasn’t someone filled a class action lawsuit against these high-tech giants for censorship?? Personally, I’d like to see the government reclassify these high-tech companies’ designations changed to utilities which would most certainly stop them from censoring the public as public utilities are forbidden to do any kind of censorship. Would love to hear from others about this.
You’re exactly right, Thor. All of the Big Tech companies are “woke,” and Microsoft goes out of its way to make its politics obvious. How many rainbow-colored logos did you see in June? I saw plenty on my Xbox dashboard whether I wanted to or not.
Like you, I would love to see the social media platforms reclassified as utilities, but I’m not sure who’s going to do it. If we are waiting for Republicans to get up off their asses, I think we’ll be waiting a long time.
Your article was on the top page of my search but it was on DDG. I had searched on impulse after opening the drop of new clothes in my favorite catalog and seeing not one model who looked remotely like me. I’m all for diversity, but c’mon, throw a skinny white chick a bone: I can’t picture what light summer clothes will look like on me if every single model is dark-skinned, has a gorgeous mass of curly hair and a booty that everything looks good on. We wire-hanger-bodied, pasty, straight-haired girls need to get dressed, too.
Anyhow, I googled my catalog and black vs. white models. Messed around with Boolean operators for awhile, but Google had zero wisdom.
Apparently no one has ever wondered about this before…
It’s really something how Google tries to hide discussions like this, isn’t it?
But Google image search “white family” vs. “black family” and see what you get.
Big Tech is corrupt. Instead of being objective purveyors of information, these companies selectively pick and choose the info we see based on their politics and agendas.
The only way out I see is to try and make these companies (including your catalog company) pay a price for their actions. Use Brave browser instead of Google; get off Facebook; find an alternative to Twitter. Hit them where it hurts — their profit margins — and tell them why you’re leaving.
Thanks for writing, skinny white girl. :p
Try truth social,or duck duck go
Scratch Duck Duck Go. The company head recently announced plans for their search engine to suppress results they don’t like, just like Google does.
Gawd, I am glad I am not the only one who is bothered by this (catalogs). I did contact one company to comment, politely, but received a lame-excuse response.
Those forces are not invisible, just flying under the general radar. I just finished a rather long article about the Frankford School and their agendas. A group of atheistic supporters of chaos to brainwash and control all human society. After being pressured to leave Germany in the early 1930s, they came here. And based themselves within Columbia University in NY. They have since spread their bullshit theories throughout the higher echelons of education. Explaining why many of our business leaders and politicians are in favor of these things. This is their method of dividing and conquering the lower classes of society as they see us. Teaching that erotic lust and egoism is the highest achievement of mankind. And that the belief in a God or divine spark within is a total lie. Since these people believe they are beyond Good and Evil, and the rest of us need to be reduced to savage beasts. To validate their superior socioeconomic positions above us of course. I’m attaching the link below, as it is a very enlightening read. It explains how ever since the post WW2 era our society has been led down this destructive path. Advertising is just the tip of this rather large iceberg…. https://archive.schillerinstitute.com/fid_91-96/921_frankfurt.html
Mark Levin? No thanks.
Different strokes for different folks, Bob, but you have to admit, the man knows the Constitution.
I am a middle aged white woman. I have noticed such a drastic change in the demographics of television commercials. I decided today to do some looking into finding out if anyone has made statements on line about this issue and came across your article. I could not agree more with what you have written. I am wondering if there is a way to get this information and observations out to a larger public forum? Who would we need to contact to bring this to their attention? Large advertising companies? News outlets? Etc. Thank you for writing this article!
Glad you found us, Kristen. Unfortunately, I don’t think there *is* a way to raise this discussion in a larger public forum — not without risking being cancelled and called a racist, bigoted homophobe. Yes, you can find the odd article here and there, or an occasional thread on a discussion forum. But the people behind the ads are all for this. They’re the ones producing the work. And the media champion it. Ad industry publications such as Ad Age and Adweek and Digiday cheerlead for it.
The problem of over-, under-, and misrepresentation in television commercials is part of a larger culture war that’s being fought on many fronts, and as with so many issues, it seems the corporations are on a different side than the people.
I agree. I’ve noticed that even traditional male subjects like weightlifting, pickup trucks, etc. are being promoted by females. I started to wonder why the vast majority of mixed relationships in ads were black male-white female and not the other way around. I realized it’s because advertisers don’t want to feature men but when they have to it sure as hell won’t be a white guy. I’m all for diversity but like the author points out, the numbers don’t reflect reality.
You raise a good point about female representation, Stephan. I’ve noticed it, too — a conspicuous number of women replacing traditional male leads in truck commercials, super-hero movies, etc. “The future is female,” as the T-shirts say. But then, we’re seeing a lot of men get to compete in women’s-only sports these days, so I can only assume that the people behind all of this are terribly confused.
Thanks for writing.
Why is every commercial have blacks and gay people and interracial marriages. Also cartoon ads having black cartoon characters. I am so tired of this. Thank God I tape everything so I can fast forward so I don’t have to watch this crap.
Have you also noticed that the majority of the commercials now have rap and hip hop in the background and are portraying things towards kids like the Kool-Aid guy wearing a gold chain and doing rap or hip hop? It seems like TV is pushing white kids to act like disgusting black kids.
Yes, everything has to have an “urban” feel to it now, as if that is something to aspire to.
I am a 30 year old White woman and it’s changed so much over the past 15 years. Honestly, I don’t see this getting any better. As a race, we’re actually the minority of the world, I wonder how many people know this. White kids, really all American kids regardless of race, are being Blacked/Africanized we can easily see. I plan on leaving the USA, if my husband and I have kids I don’t see a promising future here for White children. The black pill truth, optimism is great but the reality is here
I send emails every day to advertisers and tell them congratulations for being BLM loving SHEEP and just like all the other advertisers riding the black bandwagon just so they can be PC and shame on themselves for going out of the way to make white people look as stupid and frumpy as possible in comparison to the black actors! Who are they kidding? Everybody knows black people don’t go hiking in Sedona and the Grand Canyon and go skiing and mountain biking and four wheeling, and their households never look like the ones on TV they’re filthy and full of rage and violence that’s where their kids learn it and grow up to be criminals!
Good on you for telling advertisers what you think, Greg. Constructive feedback and criticism is the way to make your voice heard and hopefully get someone’s attention. I think many of us would agree that it does none of us any good for advertisers to continue to push such silly and unrealistic representations of people of different races. And the hard truth is, it’s well past time for us to have an adult, national conversation about the violence and criminality that is so pervasive in black culture. And if you take issue with that statement, look no further than the dozens of shootings that occur every weekend in Chicago, and just yesterday, the gun violence that erupted at a “Juneteenth” advocacy event in Washington, DC.
Thanks for writing.
I’ve been retired for 9 months now and I have been watching a lot of TV lately. I’ve noticed the absence of white people too. I laughed at the commercial showing a black upper middle class family cooking S’mores in their backyard. Jake from State Farm is laughable too. The high-end advertising being geared towards blacks is so unrealistic!
As is “Jardiance Ron.” He’s whiter than just about any white person you know.
Yes, the black family camping out in a tent in their back yard and cooking S’mores together gave me a laugh, too. When an ad looks that unrealistic, you can be sure I won’t believe anything else it has to say, either. 😛
While I agree with the blogger on many of his points (especially the way ads portray whites as dumb and in need of people of color to survive in America), I read an article that stated Hollywood and Networks (most notably, CBS) are required to hire 50% of the minority applicants in order to push their social agenda. What you’re seeing in many of these ads that are pushing the black person/actor to the forefront are the writers and directors who are predominantly black. Sad. But true.
Interesting, RPD. Another reader mentioned something similar. It would seem that racism is alive and well, and I’m not just talking among white people.
I got rid if my idiot box thirty years ago, and have not set foot in a cinema in forty two years. I felt what was being offered was an insult to intelligent, thinking people. I went on a two month road trip Nov-Dec. 2020. Every night when I reached my hotel, I would turn on the boob tube as background noise while I unpacked. I was astounded at what had happened to tv since my last road trip. A gutter had become an actual cess-pit…and white folks had virtually disappeared from advertising. Most nights I could barely stand five minutes before pulling the plug. Looks like I have missed nothing of importance in the last thirty years.
Kris, I can’t say you made a bad decision pulling the plug all those years ago. Between the low-IQ programs, terrible commercials, and fake corporate “news,” there isn’t much to watch anymore on the old boob tube. Here in the Cranky household, we don’t turn ours on unless it’s to stream old movies or TV shows we like. To that end, Tubi is actually a pretty great (and free!) option. Thanks for reading.
It is pathetic and I refuse to watch all of these commercials and online ads .. I literally get up and leave the room or x out ALL of these commercials (and blacks are in ALL of them) that are bombarding and attempting to control our thinking that they’re normal ..
Yes, changing channels and closing out of online ads are two ways of telling advertisers their ads don’t interest you. But if you are willing to stick your neck out a little further and tell them exactly what’s on your mind, you might consider writing them a thoughtful email.
Thanks for reading.
While I agree with most of the above comments, I feel the old mantra comes to mind “follow the money.”
This is classic social engineering via Madison Ave. But I think it’s gonna work as badly as forced school bussing did in the 60’s and 70’s. Integration will only come gradually over generations. Let it be done by nature. And if many people still choose not to intermarry, so be it.
George Orwell was a prophet.
Yeah, I’m not seeing how “follow the money” works here. If that were true, why don’t we see more Latinos in ads? They now account for nearly 19 percent of the U.S. population, yet they are in nowhere near 19 percent of TV commercials. And their purchasing power is growing 70 percent faster than that of non-Latinos.
No, there is something else at work here.
That might seem to make sense but do you know a lot of really poor Asian people in America? They earn the most per capita and have the highest education by race. $1000000 to the first mention of a TV commercial with a Filipino actor and no, not Bruno Mars. Even Beyond just the ads, if black people make up 12% of the country why are there so many channels on Cable I counted 18 of them but had the word black when it came to the HBO and the Starz and Showtime movie Networks could you imagine if there was something anywhere on TV that was called White Entertainment or white HBO? If you’re catering ads towards the people that are actually buying the product it would make sense to include those people when considering creating the ads and especially casting. You would think that there were no white couples anymore left in the country or that they were trying to make sure that every white woman television commercials is in an obvious marriage or relationship with children with a black husband in the commercial yet in real America black fathers are the smallest percentage of those at home with their children as a family unit. Why are there commercials that mention the term “baby daddy”? Father’s Day is just around the corner so maybe you will see some realistic commercials this year but I doubt it.
I agree with the commenter who said “Maybe use no actors, there are some out there that are well made and entertaining.”
To me it’s not a Repub vs Dem or Right vs Left issue.
The problem as I see it is that black people are the most racist people there is. As soon as they get a position of power (hiring, for example), they do exactly what actual racists do: hire their own, pick their own, empower their own. I used to work in IT and whenever there was a black hiring manager, they’d hire 75-80% black employees. They’d hire a token white guy and a token Hispanic, no Asians. [Same goes for Indian Americans… the departments led by Indians were the same: 80% Indians, a few whites, a token far East Asian, a token Hispanic, no blacks].
When you see 95% of commercials featuring 95% black people, it’s because of black producers/directors/executives. I am so sick of this bullshit “diversity”. Where are the Hispanics? Where are the Asians? Where are the 60% white people? Why is the white guy always the buffoon and the Hispanics (if they appear) always the low-level employee showing the rich black executive to her car?
I’ve heard similar stories, Daniel. And you’re right, racism is racism no matter who is doing it.
Thanks for reading.
There are no white males other than stupid guys! What is going to happen to white children that are not being represented? I change the tv when a commercial comes on. I have cancelled my AMEx card.
Wait until you see my Broadway production of an all WHITE Porgy and Bess!! Think there would be a problem?
Oh, Sage. You slay me. 😛
I am sad that white people are not represented in TV commercials. I don’t even watch the commercials anymore. I just press the mute button and minimize the picture in the corner of the screen until it is over.
The problem isn’t that white people aren’t represented in TV commercials, Kathy — it’s that advertisers are over-, under-, or misrepresenting pretty much everyone. You wouldn’t think it so difficult to properly represent diverse populations on screen, but for some reason, the people behind today’s ads are tying themselves into knots over it and still failing spectacularly.
I am completely disappointed over everything happening. I completely agree with everything in the article. This is propaganda. I became republican for this reason. I have boycotted every company pushing the propaganda. I hope advertisers read this!
Yep. You’re not going to see a straight white male in a commercial unless it’s to play an idiot with a lampshade on his head or if they need one to play a home intruder in a SimpliSafe commercial. Because that’s who’s doing all the robberies 😆
wow…i mean, ZING! and so true, so true…..
Yes black people are way over represented in ads. It’s absurd especially given the lack of Asian American representation. Yes and the bumbling, idiotic White male is overplayed too. I boycott all these companies with their PC bull****.
I am really tired of seeing mainly blacks featured in TV ads! Also, diversity does not only mean blacks–where are the Latinos especially? Also almost never see Asians either. What happened to the concept of “target market”? Are tv ads only meant to target black purchasers?
I came across this post as a result of a duckduckgo search specifically asking about the subject because for this reason and many others, I no longer use Google services unless absolutely necessary. The comments to the thread are right on the money too. The organizations (both foreign and domestic) behind this aren’t even attempting to hide their intentions anymore. And there absolutely is a reason that interracial couples are being propagated as a black man and white woman. You don’t have to be a Rhodes scholar to see the intention behind all of this. And if the definition of racist necessarily requires holding a position of power, then tell me who has power over the hearts and minds of our kids en masse through public institutions and entertainment propaganda:
A. rappers, celebrities, certain unnamed conglomerates who happen to operate a HUGE segment of children’s programming, et all?
B. some bigot dropping hurtful or played-out tropes on Reddit?
I have a few observations:
1. Back in the 1980’s, I read several papers on how “America’s changing demographics” was going to leave any corporate players who didn’t get on board with “the new normal” of the time at a distinct disadvantage in this “profitable” market segment.
2. Even then I remember observing how these articles addressed this new future as if it were simply a matter of natural human progression vs the very intentional Hart-Celler Act coupled with our government’s refusal to police its border adequately. And let’s be succinct here- it isn’t the northern border that is the problem. We aren’t being displaced both figuratively and literally by Canadians.
3. I remember the globalist-bent ads for Benneton and when Levis and Coca-Cola began pandering directly to blacks. It wasn’t long after that that the cultural thrust of their products became “urban” and there wasn’t much “whiteness” left to them, so this has been going on for nearly 30 years now.
4. As with everything millennial, there is a gross lack of maturity, knowledge and understanding when it comes to the real, living 3D world. As this was for all intents and purposes a “manufactured generation” raised on Disney Cumbaya, Sesame Street, anti-white propaganda, blatant feminism, rap and hip-hop culture, they have turned out precisely as intended. They are Boomer V2.0….only twice as insufferable since they lack the experience and context behind the 1960s cultural revolution and overthrow accomplished by their creators.
5. There is positively an endgame to complete the destruction of the west underlying all of this. As others have posted, advertising is but a cog in the machinery. First they went after the church, then it was the nuclear family and now it is men in general- all to be replaced by the State according to the edicts of the long march through our institutions begun by the Frankfurt School. And when it really comes down to brass tacks, the end of our currency lies at the heart of much of this as well. The dollar is becoming essentially worthless and history clearly shows the connection between the corruption of currency and the decline of civilization in terms of morality, prosperity and material wealth. I know that every generation makes the same claim, but it is only in recent times that we have reached the critical 100yr mark of the Federal Reserve Act being passed. These schemes absolutely have a shelf life and we are at the end of ours. And I think a lot of people instinctively realize this even if they have difficulty expressing it.
THANK YOU for an amazing post, and for sharing your observations with us, as disquieting as they are. I believe you’re right on the money — from your refusal to use Google services all the way through to your predictions for the end of the dollar.
How I would love to sit down with you and talk about all of this.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to re-read this frank and insightful comment again — probably a few times — and I encourage you to do the same.
I’d also like to note that DuckDuckGo is now following Google’s lead in censoring and suppressing information that its owners don’t like. Since the company’s announcement, I now use the Qwant or Brave search engines instead.
You make too much of this…
All it is is black people getting into positions of power and choosing their own… just like the racist people do (yes, there are racists in every community). To a black person, “diversity” means adding black people. They don’t care about anyone else. There is no war against white people.
Excellent points. Might you be the same “Anonymous” that authored American Divorce?
Erik Radle, the CEO of Miller Advertising (Texas) has openly bragged about how advertising is going to change our society. His firm is huge, and he sees his responsibility in the industry to promote diversity. Interesting, on his website there are no blacks working at his firm. Send him your thoughts. https://www.milleradagency.com/about/miller-crew/erik-radle/
Slavery is the original sin of American’s founding, and we are paying for it over and over again, from the Civil War to affirmative action and now to the over-representation of blacks in TV and print ads. Even a black president did not expiate the sin. Slavery is like the albatross around the white neck. We will never be rid of it. It’s there, it’s part of our history, it’s part of who we are.
I disagree that slavery is “America’s sin.” People who don’t know history don’t know that slavery has been widely practiced throughout the world for centuries, and in fact, millennia. For example, slavery was widely practiced by American Indians in the Northwest and Eastern woodlands of the United States. African slavery existed well before the arrival of Europeans. African monarchs often bought slaves from dealers in order to sell them again to other Africans or to Arabs.
The sad truth is, the spectre of slavery in America’s past is now merely a convenient tool used by one political party to drive a wedge between black people and white people. (And I’m just going to say it: Barack Obama, the so-called “Great Uniter,” did more to damage race relations in this country than any leader in my lifetime. Also note that Americans happily and overwhelmingly voted for this black man to be their president. So much for being a racist country.)
No, America is not racist. Not one person alive in this country today has ever been a slave, or has ever owned a slave. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in 1865, and the U.S. fought a bloody war, nearly destroying itself in the process, to end the practice.
We need to stop allowing ourselves to be manipulated by the narrative put forth by the jackals who would divide us, and realize that the vast majority of our fellow Americans are in fact good people who are very accepting of different races and cultures.
I don’t know about you, but I have no albatross around my neck. And that white man’s burden schtick is tired old racist pap.
amen to that.
Slavery has existed within all peoples over the world. When whites came to America the Indians had slaves, they killed other tribes and made slaves of the women and the young. White men did what nearly every race all over the world did, but the white man didn’t cross the ocean and capture blacks and bring them to America, it was usually other black or Arab people who captured and sold them here. History shows some of the first slaves in America were bought by other blacks, there were also white and Indian slaves, Chinese slaves, you name it we have all been slaves at one time or another, slavery was not right who ever pushed it, and it still exists around the world today. We are not to pay for the sins of our fathers, and absolutely no one has done more to help lift the black community out of poverty. It was the white people of America who spilled blood to free the black man, brother fighting brother. It’s not the people who create these situations, people on their own will work out their problems, Governments are usually the problem, they keep people stirred up in order to justify their existence. Always point the finger at some one else and never accepting responsibility for their actions. Political leaders on both sides of the aisle continue to enrich themselves while we pay the price, war is big money and it is used as a distraction from from the things that are usually going on right under our noses. The rich profit from the loss of our young. It’s been part of this country for 200 years even Lincoln first proposed sending blacks back across the water but decided not to because it was going to be too expensive. Again money and power for the rich was behind it money and power was behind slavery and it still is hopefully we will all get past the hate and discontent but, it won’t happen by trying to force it.
Bang on, Dennis. Thanks for the insightful post.
I usually watch Restaurant Impossible on Thursdays, but now after seeing coming attractions from the last two weeks, and coming attractions of him helping only all black restaurant owners, I will stop watching until he puts white people back on his show.
You’re not alone. It’s getting tiring seeing everyone and everything become obsessed with skin color, gender, gender identity, etc. That’s when things start becoming exclusive rather than inclusive, and it comes off as pandering even when it’s meant well.
Exactly!! I am so sick and tired of seeing that one race on TV all day!! I am not a racist. I am just sick of all this CRAP being shoved down our throats. I am a gay man and I am sick of the LGBTQ with their crap too! We finally got respect form America years ago, we got gay marriage legalized and now these crazy people want to groom children in the schools??? GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!! Lgbtq is crossing the line. People are starting to hate them. And can you imagine if there were commercials promoting white only banks?? Enough with their double standards crap. Just sick of all the whining. Boy.. America lost its spine. Giving in to these groups of people and cults. Yes, the lgbtq is a cult. Just like BLM is a terrorist group. Wish we could go back to the 90’s.. when America had a backbone and when the cops could beat the crap out of the criminals without the cops going to jail for doing their jobs and the criminals being made into heroes. This country is so much in the toilet right now. America… GET YOUR BACKBONE BACK AND START SAYING NO TO THESE PEOPLE!!!
I totally agree with you. Wish the 80s and 90s were back, where people actually cared about each other and understood each other. This is a horrible world we live in. And getting worse by the day. I really feel sorry for the kids being born today.
Thank you! I love you!
Does anyone know if there is a list of products with ads featuring mixed race, LGBQT, or predominent black people?
The first step in correcting Fake Ads is to boycott the products with letters to the companies. By the way, everyone has chromosomes. You are born with them and cannot change them no matter if one surgically destroys what they were born with, or hormones one takes. The female chromosome is XX, the male is XY. This should be the test used to determine if someone is male or female.
Well, Robert, I think you’re exactly right. If you don’t like what you’re seeing from the brands that want your business, the best way to let them know is to contact them and tell them how you feel. It’s happening already with companies like Disney and Netflix. These companies didn’t get the message, so now boycotts and canceled subscriptions are hurting their bottom lines.
And regarding your chromosome comment. A man can identify as a woman all he wants, but he’ll still need a prostate exam around age 40. 😀
Need to tell that to the UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas about the annual prostate exam!! What she/he is doing to women’s college swimming is a travesty!! Many of the other female athletes have been too afraid to speak out for fear of losing their scholarships or getting kicked off the teams. Politically correct is out of control!!
Off the subject but… There needs to be set a new standard for the determination of male and female. A very simple chromosome test is all that is needed. You can’t change chromosomes. The only good Lia has done is prove without a doubt that males are stronger than females. Every soldier, police officer and fireman knows this. Yet we continue to lower standards, bend the rules, to be politically correct, or diverse whatever. The same has been for blacks since 1960.
I canceled my Netflix membership also.
Omg, I just watched TV for an hour and there wasn’t 1 white younger female at all.
Hey, Robert, you’re going to love this. Check out this children’s cereal from Kellogg’s, the box of which encourages young kids to choose their pronouns — or even make up their own.
Still just a box of addictive sugar.
I think it is multifactorial but I see globalist propaganda as the main force. The Davos crowd is trying to destroy America because our Christianity and freedom-loving traditions stand in their way. It is the same with Russia, because they have no control there. If they can disenfranchise white people and make us feel demoralized and that America isn’t our country any more, then it strengthens their hand. They have many corporations with their HR divisions and advertising departments all drinking the Kool-Aid. Ultimately the enemy is Satan. I don’t know where it ends, but I hate the globalists for their evil, greed, and corruption, and try to contribute as little to their profits as possible.
Thighlander, I think you and I have been reading similar things and doing similar research. Put us in a room together and we’d have a lot to talk about. Thanks for your comment!
We’re being lied to on an epic scale and if you look at who is in on it there are not a lot of other possible explanations.
I have to tape all my shows because I am so tired of seeing all black and gay and transgender and interracial people on tv. I am disgusted by all of this. I am not the only person noticing all this. So advertising does no good to the advertisers because I flip through all these commercials and TV shows. More blacks than anything on every commercial. What happened to ALL the white people in ads. Yes it is the Democrats doing this because “all white people are racist.” Not true. I was not brought up like that. I was brought up to love everyone, but enough of these commercials. Boycott the ads and don’t buy the products.
Me, I think I’ve just hit a personal milestone. I just saw three commercials in a row with mixed-race (black/white) couples/families, including at least one with kids and one with an attractive black woman dating a doofy-looking, ginger-haired white guy. (That’s got to be by far the most unrealistic thing I’ve seen all day. 😛 )
I have no interest in tracking or counting these things, but when advertisers shove it in our faces to this extent, it’s impossible not to notice.
Amen to that Debra!!! I am a gay man and i am SICK AND TIRED OF ALL THE LGBTQ BULLCRAP BEING SHOVED DOWN OUR THROATS!!! What I will never understand is this desire for some gay people to tell the whole damn world that they are gay!! I keep my business behind closed doors where it belongs!!! I worked at DFW Airport for 30 years and I did everything in my power to keep my sexual preference hidden form all my coworkers. That is my decision and I am very happy about it!! I am happy with my life. I do not need to go outside in my front yard and scream to the world “I AM GAY”!!! And as for all the black commercials that are being shoved down our throats all day??? BARF! Tired of it! This is all about control. Blm and its little followers are trying to take over the world and that will NEVER HAPPEN!! People are getting tired of BLM and lgbtq. The lgbtg is nothing but a cult and BLM is a terrorist group. If blm does not get their way, they burn down the cities. Man, this country is in the toilet now. So now, the police officers are going to jail for doing their jobs and the they are erecting statues to honor the wonderful THUGS that resist arrest and the thug’s families are winning the ghetto lottery. So now, some black people are using their skin color to get their way and win the ghetto lotto. SO GROSS!! When will America get the spine back and start saying no to these people?????
Not only are advertisements being infiltrated by blacks, but remakes of movies putting in blacks where whites use to be. I’m waiting to see when the Sound of Music turns black and Maria Von Trapp evokes a black rapper.
My television watching consists primarily of Green Acres and Hogan’s Heroes on METV, but that doesn’t exempt me from the awful ads misrepresenting the public. Nissan had an ad last year that I found annoying in great part because it had an unmistakably white boy call a black woman ‘mom,’ but also seemed to be advocating the idea that women are all poor drivers. I won’t even try to mask my disdain for Nissan’s horrible ‘Hollywood’ sales event ads, although I would like to lampoon them with scenes from 1963’s Charade.
The best ads I’ve seen in the past few months have been Arby’s, Chick Fil-A, and ServPro, each of which focuses on either the product or service being offered and do not appear to be pushing nonsense. I have no problem with people from different cultures, perspectives, etc. being represented in advertising, or anywhere else in media, but when you focus ads on anything other than what you’re trying to sell, you’re hurting yourself. Likewise, movies and TV shows should be about stories, not propaganda, and the same goes there. Bad media of any type hurts the creator just as much as it does the audience.
Great points, G! When an ad appears to be pushing an agenda harder than it works to sell a product or service, then it’s no longer advertising — it’s propaganda. At last, just recently, it seems that people are pushing back. Witness The Daily Wire getting into the shaving razors business to combat “woke” Harry’s and Gillette; the intense backlash against Disney for opposing Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, which prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for students in kindergarten through third grade; and the huge 35% drop in the stock price of Netflix this week as more than 200,000 subscribers canceled their subscriptions.
“Get woke, go broke” appears to be ramping up as the culture war boils over.
Stop what you are doing right now and read/watch this article from Dallas. It blew my mind, yes we are being force-fed fake commercials, listen to this agency CEO, unbelievable. It’s so insulting to reality. Let us all push back. Boycott products. https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/diversity-in-commercials/76279/
Thanks, Robert. At 2:54 in that video, the voiceover says: “Whether it’s acceptance of an interracial family or a same-sex couple, advertisers say these new ads are a reflection of modern America.”
No, they aren’t. They are a reflection of a small fraction of modern America which is being conspicuously amplified to unrealistic proportions.
100% agreed!
Agreed!
You are so right! As a white person, and proud of it, my race and history is being erased. But Caucasians don’t march, or wear mask….we need to speak up and not be canceled out
Indeed we do. More than ever, be lions, not sheep!!
I agree, The advertisers are trying to brainwash our children. It is refreshing to see an advertisement showing an all white traditional family. I make sure to buy their product. Caucasians need to stand up for their heritage and values.
Anyone up for organizing a white history month?
I read with great interest everyone’s comments here and certainly see that I am not alone in noticing this current activity in the advertising world (not a “trend” as this exploded on the scene during the summer of 2020). I too see the stupidity in it, and resent and push back against it. And I have lots of hypotheses on why but have yet to finalize my theory. As with the Universe, there is a great mass of different forces here. I do think there are definitely some sinister forces intermeshing here – globalism, socialism, and extreme greed.
But I am still trying to work in my mind why advertisers, particularly the advertising companies, are such willing participants (I understand why certain multinational corporations are pushing these agendas). Used to be, advertisers/retail corporations avoided controversy at all costs – don’t disturb any portion of the buying public. As a Communications major in college in the early 70’s, Public Relations courses I took stressed the importance of quickly putting a lid on any negative news on your client company, being transparent in what happened, getting it quickly under control, and telling the public how you were correcting the situation. Get your image and reputation back in the positive and continue with a wide open market.
But at the same time, the advertising companies were developing a new marketing strategy that got away from mass markets – Positioning (Rob, you know what I’m talking about). In advertising classes, we were taught that companies had certain markets/segments of the population to focus on, and to not waste money advertising dollars on markets where they weren’t selling. Don’t worry about opening up new segments, just focus on the market segments that do buy from you. Maybe this is why advertisers are pushing these social agendas?? I’m still postulating.
I certainly do think the under currents in all of this are more sinister forces that have been playing the long game for decades. And I certainly find it curious how everything has exploded all at once. Certainly the George Floyd killing was a catalyst. But now we have this transgendering mushroom cloud appearing. Everything is going crazy, and much like in astrophysics, whenever you think you have everything figured out, 50 new questions come up. I just want, as Tool says in Aenima, Mom to come and put everything back together again.
Appreciate your thoughts, Robert. As to the “why” of it all, I’m still looking for a good answer myself. I probably won’t find it because, as you say, there are many forces at work here. Astute readers have shared their well-considered opinions all over this page. I also strongly suspect it has something to do with the indoctrination centers we call public schools and universities churning out young people with leftist programming. Oh, and don’t forget critical race theory.
I truly believe advertisers are receiving a subsidy from somewhere or something, this can’t be a lucrative selling campaign, it makes too many people angry, there’s a subsidy.
I live in Canada and it’s the exact same thing here as well, 73% of the population is white yet nearly all our advertising features mixed-race couples predominantly with a white female and black or now sometimes Indian spouse, and mixed children, but it gets worse. Take a look at LinkedIn or anywhere else you see digital or print adverts and it’s predominantly black females.
I have a theory:
I think it is about destroying the indigenous populations of countries so Germans, English, Americans, etc. are flooded with open borders watering down the natives. The immigrants will be so happy to be free and have a chance at Western lives that they will vote for the liberals who bussed/planed/sailed them in. Secondly, brainwash the kids to let them think they are gender fluid or that being gay or trans is normal, while shutting up any resistance with cries of racism and homophobia, remove all white males from TV and advertising and if they are shown, they have to be depicted as Beta males – we can’t have our next generation of white men be strong role models, right?
So in short, replace the current population and weaken the next generation with confusion so there is nobody to fight back.
Excellent points. Check out GoDaddy site, if you find a white person, is like a needle in a haystack.
You’re not alone in that theory, Anonymous. More and more people are becoming convinced that all of the things you mentioned are part of a globalist agenda to weaken Western nations and allow organizations such as the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and the World Health Organization to gain power and control.
Someone should research who is actually creating these ads!
Thank goodness somebody voiced what I have been thinking for days. I truthfully never paid much attention to skin color and such, but now I am seriously starting to resent the fact that it appears 90% of the people in commercials are black. What I resent is the corporations and the media with their money-motivated catering to what they decided we need and want or rather should need and want. Just like I resent, though I am a woman, that when a white man – usually on psychiatric drugs – goes nuts and shoots people, it’s “white rage” right along “toxic masculinity” and other clap trap. And lets not forget it’s also the gun’s fault. But when a black man (also most likely on psych drugs) does the same thing, somehow his race and “toxic masculinity” are never mentioned. I find the media, the big corps, anti-social media, etc., quite nauseating. Not to mention that the sacred cow that feeds and finances most of the media is never called out. I am talking about the pharmaceutical companies that are behind most of those senseless shootings and violence
Good comment, ARG. Thank you for pointing out yet another double standard.
So very well said. Thank you for your comment. I thought I was a horrible person for even slightly thinking or feeling frustrated with what I’m seeing. I don’t consider myself a racist by any means, and hinting that I’m not supportive or on board with all the overnight, progressive changes and what I see as “financially driven” portrayals of race in commercials and ads. I can’t help but notice the blatancy of this and it feels so forced and ingenuine.
Amazing. I have been saying this for years. Cancer culture. Not cancel culture. It’s great to have black people in commercials and shows and such but it is certainly not a representation of this country in terms of the amount of black people that are in commercials. It’s the far left wing radical idiots that want to appease people of color. In fact they are disrespecting them at every turn.
I noticed that as well about the lack of mention of race in news articles about crimes committed. Or let me correct myself—the race of the victim is mentioned, but not the perpetrator in those cases. When the roles are reversed, BOTH races are mentioned.
Yes, yes. Where I come from, the news has been doing that for years. The suspect is on the loose and must be found, but if it’s a black man, they won’t mention the race . . . because that’s “racist.”
We live in Clown World.
And even further, every time a black person is shot by a policeman (white or black), the media and the black community goes into hysteria. Never mentioned is the fact more white folk are shot and killed by the police than are black folk. But do you hear about it, unless the white person is a mass shooter? Should we start shutting down and burning down communities to highlight this fact?
Indeed. A rudimentary familiarity with basic crime statistics would open a lot of people’s eyes, if they weren’t so farking stupid.
The real issue for me isn’t that they are showing more commercials of interracial couples but the fact that these companies are burying us in the number of commercials & completely exaggerating the actual numbers of interracial couples & transgender folks in these commercials. Making it seem like 50% or 60% of the population are wealthy interracial couples which as we all know is very far from being accurate. And the fact that they are over playing the number of gay & transgender people by making the percentages of races & genders in these commercials much higher in numbers than they actually are. It would be more realistic & more palatable if companies would use the actual or real percentages of interracial couples, races & genders instead of trying to make these things as absolutely above normal or actual numbers. When I say normal, I don’t mean this in a derogatory way but normal as in real life normal. What people do on their own time is fine with me just don’t try to indoctrinate the populace to their unrealistic commercial portrayals. I’m curious if people feel I am I wrong for stating this comment the way I did? Trying to be politically correct.
Of course you are wrong. Now send $5 to BLM for repentance.
‘Political correctness’ is what’s gotten us here in the first place, Thor. That said, I think you expressed yourself quite well. As you say, if television ads did a better job of reflecting real life, there would be a lot fewer people complaining that advertisers are pushing an agenda.
Don’t worry about being politically correct. I think everyone is a little sick of that.
This all went off the rails after the killing of George Floyd. Liberal white creative types were so wracked with white guilt the only thing they could think to do to assuage it was to erase white people (esp white men) from advertising. And they think they can “fix” racism by depicting black people as cultured, educated, successful, and harmless. And if they get some more white women to date black men along the way, all the better. As others have pointed out, it’s actually exacerbating racism. And it’s all so laughably obvious and transparent but we’re all supposed to act like it isn’t happening.
That’s a pretty good take, Anonymous. The reaction by brands and advertisers to George Floyd and the BLM movement has been misguided, disingenuous, and, as you say, laughably transparent.
It’s called brainwashing. We all are being subjected to a new society. They are grooming young minds. They are force-feeding something that is unnatural. And who are they? Liberals. LGBQT. NAACP, BLM, George Soros, Antifa, stupid jock groupies, affirmative action laws. Personally, I don’t like being forced to accept anything by people that have an agenda to change society to their follies.
Another word for it is “indoctrination,” and it’s rampant. Witness all of today’s current news stories about educators (including elementary- and pre-school teachers) in our public schools and universities promoting “curriculum” about gender identity, trans ideology, sexual fluidity, and so much else without parental consent. Without a doubt, traditional (read: European, white, Christian) values are under attack and the war is now out in the open.
Notice even the stereotyping of a certain physical build and slightly unhealthy/unfit body type of said bumbling white males?
“Toxic” masculinity is out. Feminized “males” are in.
There was a shooting today in a predominantly black neighborhood where 13 people were shot by a young white male, the white male is claiming he was driven by the great replacement theory, of course I don’t condone his violent act but it doesn’t take much for The Fringe to react, these commercials that have erased the strong white male in our society will push many white males over the edge and into acts of violence against those they feel replaced by. Sadly I feel like the shooting in Buffalo is just the beginning.
May be should be renamed critical replacement theory
I don’t believe a lot of what I see on the news, Julie, but quite a few recent mass-casualty events have allegedly been motivated by racial hatred — and Buffalo is most certainly not “the beginning.” In the past half year alone, we’ve had “the SUV” that drove itself through the Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin in November; the synagogue shooting in Texas in January; the Brooklyn subway shooting in April; and that’s just off the top of my head. As for this weekend’s shooting at the Buffalo grocery store, I’ve heard that the shooter had carved the name of one of the Waukesha victims into the barrel of his gun — no idea if that’s true or not. In any case, the media, government, and yes, advertisers too are sowing the seeds of racial division through their constant barrage of misinformation, manipulation, and spin.
Edit: It’s six months later and the media still isn’t done blaming “the car”:
I am so disgusted by the the portrayal of feminized males in the media (and frankly their actual existence in real life) today. There is something very disturbing about the emasculated effeminate “girl” men being pushed in our society. It makes my skin crawl. What have we allowed the wicked and perverse among us to do to our poor boys? I don’t know how any young women these days can even be attracted to the opposite sex anymore since there seems to be nothing but a slightly more boyish version of themselves to choose from. I’m grateful that I was dating and selecting a spouse in a time when men had enough testosterone and muscular build in them that I felt they could defend me if needed. I like my man to act like a man and not line me. Hell, I have a hard enough time dealing with all my own female hormones and emotions… I don’t need another girl in the house to contend with (I have two little girls who will soon enough be teens with hormones I’ll have to handle as well!) I love me some big broad shoulders, massive biceps, and masculine moxie, like my husband has, yum. There’s nothing like a hay-bale-throwin’, truck driven’ guy who know how to fix things! I’m thankful my husband is sometimes rough and insensitive at times about what’s going on in the world. Ironically I feel a little safer knowing he’s a little less tolerant of bull crap than he probably “should” be. Thank you so much Cranky for your article. You are spot on, except I do have to disagree about the Hispanic and other people of color not being represented well in advertising. Along with the over representation of blacks, there’s a ton of people of color from all races in most ads. I see nothing but brown skin and brown hair from blacks to Asians, to Hispanics. I am a pasty white Irish girl with blonde hair and blue eyes and I rarely see a woman who looks like me in any ad today… and that’s not because they’re all black, it’s because they’re all just not white.
Love your post, Kinchan. As you note, we’ve allowed our culture to somehow brand masculinity as toxic — a big mistake, as it is and always has been the natural combination of masculine and feminine parents that has allowed the human race to survive, to birth and raise the next generation, and to prosper in a harsh world. Together, the masculine and feminine complement one another in ways that only nature could have devised. To brand masculinity as “toxic” is as ignorant as it is dangerous, and if you ask me, it’s the product of radical feminists who are themselves a toxic breed.
I have to agree with you on your second point as well. Recently, I too have seen greater representation of Asians and Hispanics in commercials, while the over-representation of blacks has stayed about the same. The net result is even fewer white people in commercials. It’s a phenomenon known as “white replacement” or “white erasure,” and those who champion it are the very same ones who would ridicule and call racists those who point it out. Clearly, it is very real.
Thanks for writing.
Spot on Cranky! I agree wholeheartedly. We have all forgotten that the fall of the Roman Empire, and every great civilization that has risen and fallen, was the result of sexual deviation and perversion. Once the Romans went down that path their society began to fail. We are headed in the same direction. And yeah, all this emasculating of males is clearly entirely the fault of the feminist movement… I detest these kind of women. Of course I think women should be paid and treated equally with men for their work, but these equal rights in the work place are not what the feminists’ cause is really all about. I blame them for many of society’s ills. Thanks again!
Thank God there is a voice of reason on the net. I would love to organize SHWM (Single Heterosexual White Males) because we are apparently unrepresented and as such are solely responsible for the oppression of all non-SHWM people!
“A voice of reason on the net”? Oh, thank you, Anonymous. I’ll remind myself you said that the next time Facebook refuses to let me advertise this post due to what they have deemed “inflammatory content.”
Facebook is as unreasonable as Twitter, it’s just more successful because, despite his many other flaws, Zuckerberg bears a slightly closer resemblance to a book than Dorsey or those now in charge at Twitter ever did. Ultimately, however, they will all fall in a spectacular, but awful manner, as all would-be tyrants do. If they succeed in overthrowing the Constitution and establishing the communist hellhole they are aiming for, they will be the first ones murdered by the new tyrants. If they fail, they will ultimately find themselves facing justice for their many crimes and forced to pay for their misdeeds. If we want to avoid falling with them, we need to remain the voices of reason and sanity in society.
Excellent post, G. You’ve been paying attention!
Thanks for writing.
Its so absurd and annoying. We need to go back to where white men were portrayed honestly and accurately as being masculine and strong. Its quite obvious the liberal clowns are trying to portray white men as stupid and weak. This is so fake, who fights in our wars? Mostly white men. Who comes up with the best inventions and breakthrough technologies? White men. Who built this country? Mostly white men. Ignore the “diversity” on tv, it’s a bunch of nonsense.
As a fellow white male who judges others by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin, and who has worked his ass off to get where he’s gotten, I agree: the endless portrayals of white men as stumbling, bumbling fools and the foils for characters of other races in advertising is insulting, unfair, and perpetrated by hypocrites.
A form of brainwashing. Reminds me of Hitler in the 1930’s brainwashing the German population. I don’t want to see 2 guys kissing, 2 girls walking hand and hand or every black living in in the Hamptons. I’d like to blackball every company stuffing this crap down my throat but where would I go.
Hi, James! Can I interest you in a Jeremy’s razor? I think they may be right up your alley.
https://thecrankycreative.com/jeremys-razors-commercial-the-shot-heard-round-the-ad-world/
Watching commercials on ABC and NDC, I was shocked to learn that ~70% of black families drive Lexus SUV’s and live in McMansions, because every commercial I see portrays this to be just normal everyday life in America. This leads me to believe that a majority of blacks have finally achieved the American dream and escaped poverty. They did this by acting white, wearing white clothing styles, talking with a white dialect, and going to piano recitals. If WOKE commercials have transformed America and raised all races and creeds up to be economically and culturally equal, I am THRILLED. This is the greatest country on earth !!
Isn’t it something, Rob?
Alas, the way advertisers misrepresent their audiences insults us all.
Yes! Sooooo, does this mean we can put systemic racism in America to bed now? I mean, according to these commercials, we’re all doing well right?
The problem is look at the actual news…. Do the stories you read there measure up to the advertising portrayal? Who is committing the crime currently?…..
A breath of fresh air. I was starting to believe that it was I who was exaggerating the amount of blacks in commercials. They are also becoming the professionals on sitcoms, fire chief, head surgeon, police chief etc with whites reporting to them. It you really want to see how lopsided the commercials are with blacks watch sporting events and musical events. Thx again for bringing me back to the reality of the situation.
Yes, sir. The sheer number of black people in TV commercials is already highly suspect, but the equation becomes even more lopsided when you consider that they are almost universally portrayed as clever, sensible professionals and leaders who hold positions of power over whites and characters of other races.
This has gotten way worse in 2022! It’s gotten to the point where you never see a smart white male in a television commercial. Culture war, definitely.
Right, it is a culture war and as usual average Joe (s/w/m) isn’t part of the war just a “victim” of it. 😉
It’s true. To many people, white males have become the very symbol of privilege.
If I were to judge America from its advertising I would believe 90% of its population was black, and that white females could only be in relationships with black males and white males don’t exist. There are over 80 commercials currently airing that feature black male white females in romantic relationships. By comparison there are aprox 4 featuring white male black female. My question is how do so many different advertisers all develop the exact same racist propaganda? Subliminally the affect is that white females should be dating black males or are supposed too. It’s coercive propaganda in the background of each of these commercials repeated 1000s of times each day.
It’s a good question, Bill. If I had to sum up the answer in three words, I would have to say fear, guilt, and “social justice.”
Actually, it was breakfast cereal companies who, 100 years ago, propagandized breakfast as “the most important meal of the day”. The Kellogg brothers were Seventh Day Aventists who preached that meat is evil, advocating a grain and veg based diet. Google it, it’s a fascinating story of how they duped consumers into believing they NEEDED cereal to be healthy.
A grain based breakfast most certainly ISN’T healthy. Far from it. Current science says the exact opposite, and more and more people are getting on the bandwagon with low carb diets + fasting until lunch to experience weight loss and better overall health (👋 –me, reversed diabetes and down 60 lbs so far). We now know that sugary, high carb cereals are to blame (at least in part) for the rising crisis of obesity and diabetes in the US.
So yes, we have been, and continue to be manipulated by corporations that have political, social and religious agendas.
Thank you, Jo! I love this comment. So much truth here, especially in the fact that so many political, social, and religious agendas and “conventional wisdom” are driven by big-money corporations (Pfizer, anyone?). And the corporate media — including Big Tech — are not just complicit, they’ve been captured completely.
If you forced an alien to consume a years worth of American media, he would come to the conclusion that the country is about 40% black or mulatto, 25% Jewish, 25% gentile white, and 10% “other” (hispanic, asian, native american). He’d also probably think 1/3 of relationships are interracial, 25% of people are LGBT, all white men are either evil or stupid, all women and PoC are virtuous and intelligent, etc.
I doubt most have a problem with people of different backgrounds being represented. However, when the nature of this representation in no way reflects society at large, it’s only reasonable to assume that an agenda is being pushed. Literally every piece of entertainment or advertisement follows the same formula. It’s all getting lame and predictable. The need to check boxes has destroyed any sense of creativity within our culture. The focus is all about diversity and political correctness instead of just making a great product.
You’re right, Zan. In fact, there’s an article over at Redstate that proves your point exactly using the very same analogy. In “Opinion: Survey Says: Americans Are Dumber Than a Bag of Rocks,“ writer Jim Thompson cites a study that shows just how out of whack people’s perceptions are regarding the size of different populations by income, race, religion, gender identity, and more — all due to the agenda-driven programming we are being force-fed on TV.
25% Jewish? I’ve never seen Jewish representation in commercials. No one eating Shabbat dinner or at a seder, or celebrating Chanukah, etc. I’ve seen plenty of representation of women in hijab, though.
That’s a great point, WonderWoman. Considering how many Jewish people are said to own and run media companies, the lack of Jewish representation does indeed strike one as odd.
Speaking on the subject of underrepresentation of Latinos in advertising, here’s what makes it even worse. When you do see a commercial aimed at Latino consumers, the commercials go out of their way to make sure that you know that the people in the commercials are Latino by saying the surnames out loud:
Chevy Silverado – “Thanks for bringing me with you today, Mr. and Mrs. Lopez”
Buick – “It looks like the Garcias got a new car”
GoodRx – “The Garcias are good at getting the most out of things”
The list goes on and on, Maria this, Carlos that. Now that you are aware, you’ll start to notice it yourself. It is Hispandering plain and simple and it is insulting to Latinos.
These companies are so worried that their Hispandering will all be wasted if someone doesn’t realize that the people in the commercial are Latino that they have to yell out loud to consumers : “Look, we care about Latinos, too!”. All they are doing is checking a box on the inclusivity inventory checklist. It’s all so insincere. Where were all of these companies five years ago.
“Sir, step away from the bandwagon, and slowly back away!”, said the advertising police to the insincere advertiser.
Interesting observation, Phelan! I haven’t noticed, but I’ll be sure to listen for it now. “Hispandering.” Who knew?
Thing is, in the Chevrolet commercial, Mr. and Mrs. “Lopez” look and sound no more Hispanic than Joe Biden. And come to think of it, Hillary Clinton at times sounds blacker than most blacks in commercials.
specially if she has her hot sauce!
I am glad I am not the only one who has noticed this trend lately. Of course, when I searched with Google for this, nothing would show up. I had to use DuckDuckGo for results to show up. Its gotten so bad that I mute commercials, look the other way, or change the channel now. It has actually made me racist somewhat. I dont even want to look at another Black person on TV, and this is coming from someone who has had many Black friends in life. So its actually had the opposite effect that the companies are going for.
I think another reason companies are doing this, is because they are trying to change the Black culture. But nothing will change the culture until it happens from within. Until Black leaders come out and say something nothing will change. But they only come out when it fits their narrative, like when a White cop shoots a Black person. They dont care that Blacks are dying everyday at the hands of other Blacks.
But this is not happening just in commercials, look at all media. Look at the new TV show “Everythings going to be all White”…..its 100% racist. Look at the article Whiteness is a Pandemic. Look at the movies now. All White men are portrayed as stupid, and now all smart funny characters are all POC. Look at the latest Purge movie….its about POC people running around killing White people.
But alot of us are tuning out from media like this. I used to vote Democrat….but now, I would never vote for one again. I bet I’m not alone….and the funny thing is, I am not a straight White male. And I see it clear as day and constantly find myself defending straight White men. Anti racism is still racism. It’s ridiculous.
I have noticed this myself the last year and is more prevalent the last 6 mos. Suddenly the “woke” corporations have dropped whites and replaced them with black America acting like white America. I don’t believe they are diverse just playing the role. After all white men have been portrayed as stupid do nothing without the help of the wife in Sitcoms for years, to the point I stopped watching such nonsense. This just goes along with whites are bad, blacks are good and Hispanics and Asians are non existent. We are all human beings with different cultural differences which are good for all.
I totally agree and you would think that white people are completely ignorant of what is going on. I mute the commercials and think to myself this is all but nothing but clown commercials, fake and actually racist against whites. This just divides the people. I guess if you can have fake news why not fake commercials.
Ladies and gentlemen, this man gets it.
Powerful words, Will. And you’re right. If black people (12.4 percent of the population) were represented proportionately in TV advertising, just 3 out of every 25 characters would be black. That’s . . . not what we are seeing on TV.
There seems to be a concerted effort among companies to replace white people with black. “New Jake” is the obvious example in advertising, but examples abound in other media, from film and TV to comic books. (Witness attempts to reboot the film “Annie,” “The Wonder Years” TV show, and Marvel and Disney’s efforts to replace white characters with characters of color, and even change their genders and sexual orientations.)
No wonder “black fatigue” is becoming a thing.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Have you noticed, even the cartoon commercials contain black, interracial and gay people in them.
🙌 [That’s a “clapping hands” emoticon in response to Will’s comment, for those who don’t know. –The Cranky Creative]
You make an excellent point.
TOTALLY agree with your point of view Will! Your comment about the blacks throwing a fit when a white police officer kills a black person, kills me! I live in Saint Louis. Every single night, there is a shooting/homicide. 90% of the time it’s one black shooting another. It’s so common that you just eat your breakfast and go “hm” why don’t those people in those neighborhoods do something about that? They need to work with the police and clean up their own communities. I could go on. lol. Thanks
I switched to GOP after 52 years as a Democrat and a progressive Democrat. I will never vote dem again. They hate normal people. And I’m sorry, but stuff like gender fluidity—where I read many times that these folk sometimes feel like they “want“ to be female, and other days, they feel like they want to be male. This seems like an attack on God and the Bible, and without gender dysphoria, the idea of choosing what gender I feel like being for fun seems childish, confusing, and narcissistic most of all. Everything is about what “I FEEL LIKE” or “I want.”
Well, I was so upset that I decided to fight fire with fire. I SELF-IDENTIFY as a CAT! And honestly, when I was a child between 5-10, I fantasized about having a LITTER of KITTENS. I never wanted to have a baby and wanted stuffed cats instead of dolls. I HAD EVERY SYMPTOM of DYSPHORIA! And WHY NOT a cat? What’s the difference between self-identifying as a feline instead of a different gender. Any day, science will enable a human to have a litter of kittens. It seems the same to me as a pregnant male having a baby. That is how I deal. I am a CAT.
I also think it’s ridiculous to write “Pregnant People.” Isn’t a pregnant person a WOMAN whether she is trans or not? We are in the TOWER OF BABEL! And I am CONVINCED this is due to SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS and PACs and ACTIVISTS.
If more ad people want to be activists, this idiocy of “Progression” will ALWAYS INCREASE because the ACTIVISTS need JOBS! So Progressives get more and more LEFT because after activists achieve their original goals, they MUST make NEW GOALS, and NEVER BE SATISFIED because THEY NOW COUNT ON THEIR ACTIVISTS JOBS for their livelihoods. Like what happened with that BLM founder after she bought four million-dollar homes in L.A. Activism has become a LUCRATIVE CAREER. That is the main problem.
And the BIGGER and OLDER the ORGANIZATION, the MORE EXTREME their wants. BLM will NEVER BE SATISFIED. There are WAY TOO MANY FOLK EARNING their LIVINGS! Frankly I have NO idea what to do about this, EXCEPT ALERT THE MEDIA so those folk DONATING to these organizations WILL NOT HAVE MILLIONS of $$ and in some cases (BLM) 100s of MILLIONS.
What turned me to GOP? When BLM founder purchased four homes I had just read a piece by a paid-by-democrats political consultant on CRT. It basically said ALL WHITES ARE RACIST. And…. It had a list of things an ANTI-RACIST can do to make amends to blacks. GIVE YOUR HOME WHEN YOU DIE TO A BLACK PERSON, I read. What? The FOUNDER of BLM just purchased four homes over a million dollars FOR PERSONAL USE! I have no heirs and actually considered it for a moment but the HYPOCRISY of both BLM and the CRT government consultant who gets paid $20,000 for a LECTURE and $250 thousand annually by government. NEITHER of these black democrats who blame whites for everything bad had GIVEN HOMES or anything that I know of to POOR BLACKS they PRETEND to care about.
The target demo is never the minority actors depicted in ads. The intended audience is upper middle class white suburbanites who feel guilty about being upper middle class white suburbanites. And therefore will feel comfortable buying products from companies that support “diversity”. The irony is most young suburbanites who care about the issue choose streaming services to avoid or skip the ads anyway.
Sadly, I think you are largely correct. “Tokenism” is real. I prefer the authenticity of brands like Sprite and Cheerios that frequently target the black demographic specifically because they already have an affinity with this audience or they want to make inroads with these consumers.
I don’t feel guilty about being an upper white middle class citizen but I am feeling a bit offended because advertisers of TV commercials are completely ignoring their main buying group of the population. I’m also bothered by the fact that these advertisers are shoving gay & transgendered families down our throats! This group of people can’t represent more than 4 or 5 percent but they seem to take up Al least 30 percent representation in TV commercials. Personally, I’m singling out these advertisers who are ignoring white America by falsely showing more gay & transgender people in a much larger percentage of America than it really it. Even more so with people of color!! By watching TV commercials today you would think that 70 to 80% of the population are people of color. Which we all know is no where close to being true! I am truly sorry for what people of color had to endure throughout early American history but white people today had nothing to do with what happened 100, 200 years ago. People of color & for that matter every individual needs to take responsibility for their own lives & stop blaming white America for their problems & hardships. The reason more white people don’t speak up about issues like these is because they fear they will be labeled a racist!! Take All Black Network for instance. What if someone came out with the All White Network? They would be absolutely crucified for going this route. I am constantly hearing the phrase Black Power, Brown Power. If a white person says white power you would im be labeled a racist mainly because hate groups have wrongly kidnapped the term. I think a white person wants their race to survive & thrive as much as all other races. Currently the white race has been painted into a corner.
Believe it or not, the United States of America is one of the *least* racist countries on the face of the earth. But I’ll bet it’s in the top 5 for virtue signaling.
I believe it!!
What is the “Whitewashing” of black people?
Please explain what you mean by the statement…” the other problem is that all of these ads showing black people aren’t really representative of black people at all?” You do know that Black people are not a monolithic group. There are upper middle class black people who do and buy things that other upper middle class people do.
Don’t be obtuse. Today’s advertising presents black people precisely as a monolithic group of affluent, sensible (compared to their white counterparts) folks who love camping in the back yard and reading bedtime stories to their kids.
Yes, but if that group is grossly over represented in commercials, then white folk may think -“hey, they be do’n ok now!”…..and we tknow their not. Reparations?…..one strong advocate called for 13 Trillion dollars, $300 K per…..if only this country could print that much money and get away with it!….and, when i talk with my friends, we all agree, something has to be done…..at this point, as an individual, i can only do what i can, and really, there is a lot i can do.
The dilemma we face with reparation, is that when someone feels wronged, and they choose to remain bitter, no amount of apologies and reparations will ever suffice. When relationship of ANY type is broken, it requires both parties to take some level of personal responsibility to make amends that genuinely last.
Finally, if a sum of money is all it takes for someone to get over something, that’s called a bribe. Let’s not reduce the dignity of humans with dark skin to that mindset. It’s shallow and degrading.
Thank you, Brad. Well said!
My problem with reparations is that it is not needed. All the rights and benefits one could have living in an urban area ARE afforded to all. Everyone and anyone can use a public library – free internet, job searches, self-education are all to be had there.
There are a plethora of resources for the economically underprivileged to attain post-HS education in a trade, or in a college, etc.
In some cities, the best and newest YMCAs are in mostly black neighborhoods. there are rows and rows of subsidized homes, with yards and a garage (meaning a sizeable chunk of the cost was paid for by taxpayers)…..i have no garage and have to hope some of my irritating white trash neighbors dont have their buddies park in MY designated spot. no taxpayer is going to care about my first world problem…..lol
Go to virtually any website from Ralph Lauren to Nike, to even Dale of Norway or Toyota. Most every person shown now has black or brown skin. While anyone is free to buy these products, and they aren’t restricted, just going by reality and consumer numbers, why are brands suddenly trying to appeal to what might be less than 5% of there target market? Remove race and substitute with something else. It would be like running ads that showed aging college professors using your outdoor gear… because they’re under represented and, you know, there are analytics that show they are 1.3% of the buying group. This is brand suicide.
Yes, I agree, this absurd level of over-, under, and misrepresentation in ads would have been brand suicide in saner times. Alas, these are not sane times.
Just imagine the amount of fear, uncertainty, doubt, disingenuousness, and follow-the-leader mentality that must pervade today’s advertising agencies and marketing departments. It truly boggles the mind.
Right, who are very ‘zen’, too. Perfectly coiffed. Absolutely no hint of animosity between their privileged children (dressed so nicely) and the parents.
I perfectly see Michelle FH’s point – she is correct, absolutely. But the point is in The Cranky Creative’s response, which is spot on.
Absolutely 💯
I don’t feel guilty. And why would I? I don’t own slaves and neither did any of my ancestors (poor immigrants). It’s annoying to see so much over representation. The biggest lie I see every day in TV in ads is mixed couples with a white husband and black wife. That is rare in RL.
You are so right. Wake up America!
Interracial couples are 10% of all new marriages, which is material. However, 90% of those are Asian and hispanic interracial marriages. Black/white interracial marriages are 1%!!!!! When you see it in TV, you would assume black/white interracial marriages are 95% of all marriages.
……I’m thinking that we are witnessing a more subdued, diluted and pervasive approach to the impossibility of reparations – everywhere, in hopes that these little tidbits may just blunt the tip of that spear. NPR is now the voice of BLM,,,,and, maybe it has to happen that way – the constant beating of the drum,,,,,,but, their preaching to the choir has started a boomerang effect with me, so much so, that i can no longer just turn on the radio and allow myself to be at their programming mercy….instead, i go onto the computer and select what segments i deem avoiding those issues…..even then, sometimes they seem to find a way to weave it into the fabric.
You’re right, Richey, there’s definitely a feeling of fatigue setting in, and not just among whites. I believe most everyone is getting tired of race, gender, and politics infesting everything from advertising to sports, entertainment and beyond.
Whats ironic is that blacks are 14% of the population and are they represent the majority on tv commercials. However, they are 14% of the population and commit about 60% of all murders in the United States but that is somehow not talked about or depicted on tv. Its complete nonsense. Brave white men fight and win wars defending freedoms but the woke in hollywood abuses that freedom and shuts them out and replaces them with blacks and asians.
I happened along this post because I have been observing everything you mentioned. I also was curious if others were noticing the same phenomenon. I’ve been in the brand/marketing/creative realm for over a decade and am really surprised at the overtness of this trend, while looking for photo stock. The irony is, as I’m trying to do work for regional brands, our demographic is mainly rural ranchers and small business owners. Those ranchers usually drive large pickups. We are wanting to reflect our audience back to them but now it’s incredibly hard to find Caucasian, rural looking Americans even in stock imagery. Its almost comical how they have seemed to disappear, when in reality its quite the opposite.
I’ve always thought that rule number 1 in marketing is to know your audience. Then speak clearly to that audience and deliver faithfully on brand promise. Now everywhere I turn in commercials, I hear the copy saying “everyone”, “all” “together”, “we”, “inclusive”… This breaks the irrefutable law in branding that you can not be all things to all people—ever. The sad part is over time these companies become vanilla as they try to cater to what they think their audience wants, all the while alienating their audience from them in reality.
These trends in media and advertising grieve me deeply for 2 reasons. First, the more brands jump on this bandwagon, the more they transmit a subconscious message of insincerity which leads to eroding trust. Eroding trust means consumers are less likely to be brand loyal overall. When brand loyalty goes out the window, consumers tend to price shop or product hop, turning most of our landscape into boring commodities. Not to mention these brands begin to be perceived as followers rather than leaders so innovation, creative thinking and originality fades away too. A bleakness akin to socialism.
The second reason is the more we insult and lampoon strong male role models, the more our children will suffer. Most of the modern world’s issues stem from the hidden bitterness towards our own dads that were either present and imperfect or vacant altogether. Statistically this means that the child is more likely to struggle with identity, self confidence, material and financial stability and even a higher paying income. These are proven statistics. These fatherless children become bitter adults that seem to want to exact their revenge now through these various culture and media outlooks, but sadly this perpetuates the cycle…All the while deteriorating a consumer landscape that has less money, less confidence, less curiosity, lower critical thinking skills, less innovation and less resilience when confronted with challenges and uncomfortable topics. In other words they are literally destroying their markets slowly while thinking they are getting the upper hand and the last word in their agenda that’s fueled deep down by fear, anger and pain. Every victim needs a villain. And the victim mindset is poisoning our culture as we make the very creator of our stable life–hard working men, the villain.
Forgive me if I digress or ramble on, I think about the future of marketing and branding often and care deeply for the future of our society and culture. I’m wondering what the solutions could be? I’m willing to do my part.
Brad, thank you for your thoughtful comment. I appreciate you widening the discussion to include the very real and destructive impacts on families and societies. Indeed, the warped representations we see in TV commercials are simultaneously a cause and a symptom of deepening problems in our culture.
And although these cultural problems dwarf the small, daily inconveniences that the forced-diversity agenda creates for creative professionals — I wholeheartedly agree with your example of the difficulty in finding stock photography of white, rural-looking Americans — I think those issues are important enough to our industry that they merit discussion.
(Quick experiment: Do a Google image search for “white family” and “black family” and see what you get.)
Yes, “equity” is paramount and we marketers should all strive to achieve it. But when we all are forced to see people of every race, sex, and culture as “equal” (meaning “the same”), then we rob everyone of the traits and characteristics that make each of us stand out as unique and special.
Very insightful comments Brad. Agreed.
I think the dramatic shift in commercials is very odd, mostly because I can’t quite figure out what corporate America is trying to do. The irony is that at the same time the majority of commercials has switched to 90% black actors, depicting black families living in multi-million dollar mansions, spouses buying each other luxury sports cars for Christmas, climbing Mount Everest, and flying all over the world on European vacations, Hollywood, politicians and the media still continues to debate the issue of how black Americans can’t seem to find their way into a DMV without white assistance to get an ID to vote and don’t have the money to pay for the ID card, and how it’s racist to even suggest we have a voter ID card like they have in other countries. That black Americans wouldn’t be able to vote if they can’t mail in their votes because they would have no way to get to a voting booth on election day, or that there are no bus routes to some voting booths, as if black Americans can only use public transport and don’t own vehicles. I’m sure people watching us from other countries have to be like ‘wtf??’.
The worst part IMO is that most of us recognize that these are the same commercials that used to be mostly all white people so they’re really not even showing black Americans or black families. They’re just trying to make them appear as white families. Are they hoping they can influence black families to ‘behave’ like white families? I don’t even know…don’t they think some black people might be offended by these commercials, like they’re being ‘white-washed’, for lack of a better term? To be honest, I feel more badly for any black people watching this crap. I also happen to feel very very bad for Asian and Hispanic people. Like, they must feel like they’re totally at the edge of Corporate America’s mind. I see about 3% of Asians and less than 1% of Hispanics in commercials these days. I just don’t think they’re really selling products anymore. I think they’re trying to sell ideas..I just don’t know what ideas they’re trying to sell. At the end of the day the only ones who really care are probably actors who no longer get called for commercials. I actually cut cable years ago and just stream and make sure I pay extra to stream commercial free because honestly the whole thing is stupid and it feels like Twitter sponsors everything on TV these days. I’m tired of woke, condescending BS.
I think it’s funny imaging these losers making 6-7+ figures/yr patting themselves on the back for paying a black actor (probably less than they used to pay whites) to be in their boring commercials as if that can assuage their guilt.
“I think they’re trying to sell ideas… I just don’t know what ideas they’re trying to sell.”
I hear that, Cranky reader.
While I’m sure that some of what we are seeing is driven by good intentions, I’m also sure that a lot of it is driven by politics, fear of cancel culture, and cynical attempts by brands to hitch their wagons to the latest hot-button social issues.
And I have to remind myself, this is advertising we’re talking about. An industry filled with media creators so oblivious to human psychology and so far up their own pretentious asses, most couldn’t portray a believable version of reality if their clients’ corporate profit-sharing plans depended on it.
No way is a white woman and a black male is going to have a blond headed daughter and a really dark son.
Thanks to the Cranky one for putting this out there. Exactly everything I’ve been thinking and seeing too. Good response posts too. My wife and I have been noticing this trend increasing (obviously in the wake of #me-too and George Floyd) and have been calling bullshit on it since. Quite maddening, but not surprising since the vast majority of commercial advertising is mostly devoid of creativity. We also noticed several auto agencies running the same awful holiday ads from the year before – we’re looking at you Ford Trucks. There are very few ads that are unique in some way, interesting, relatable, maybe even make me laugh and actually highlight the friggin product. The AT&T Fiber spot with the mom turning into a pixelated monster via video call – ironically from one of the oldest corporations still operating into the 21st century, is one of very few commercials I’ve seen recently that strikes gold.
Seeing the proliferation of the kind of diversity representation ads we’re talking about here really bugs me. As another poster mentioned – the bullshit detector is immediately triggered. I understand these ad people are maybe trying to achieve some kind of authenticity and will always try to protect themselves by claiming their ads are “aspirational” i.e. African American families living in 2 million dollar, mid-century modern mountain homes, driving 60K cars. Sure, there’s probably a small percentage of black and brown folks who live that way, but it seems a cheat, disingenuous and just plain lazy. As the Cranky put it so well – it’s obvious that people of color are simply “plugged into” white cultural settings. I guess this is what makes me mad – it feels disrespectful, not just of folks of color, but also of my intelligence. It feels forced, obvious and it’s now constantly shoved in our face. My wife and I often wonder – doesn’t this also have an immediate negative effect?
Let’s face it, we’re in a culture war and race is it’s beating heart. It’s not just tv ads, this “forced culture perspective” is everywhere and is very much being driven by the so-called coastal elite i.e. movie industry, Silicon Valley, Wall Street, Madison Ave, etc…Is it any wonder there’s a whole lot of white folks who are incredibly angry and feel threatened that “their way of life” is quickly disappearing? It’s my belief that all these things are doing harm and serious damage and just pissing people off even more. Not to get too political here, but the progressive mind-set is akin to that of a sledgehammer when instead, precision instruments are called for. Then again, we live in an age of extremes – the very rich, the very poor and a rapidly shrinking middle. Civil discourse, along with shades of gray, subtly and moderation are in short supply and disappearing fast.
I always enjoy your comments, Criswell, and this may be your best yet. Agreed on all points!
On the topic of authenticity: In my research for this blog post, I happened across an article from the UK on how some advertisers have faced a backlash for tokenism — that is, running ads filled with white actors and checking the “diversity” box by including one single member of another race or ethnic group. This kind of fake, phony contrivance no longer just looks silly — it’s blatantly lazy, transparent, and insulting to everyone. Sadly, it’s just one more example of advertising “professionals” being crap at their jobs, as half-hearted efforts like this fail miserably to engage or connect people or pass the smell test with anyone.
That’s one of the things that bothers me most about this topic — brands and advertisers and everyone else banging on endlessly about racism and diversity and inclusion, and then doing absolutely nothing fair, honest, equitable, or meaningful when they have the opportunity to actually be the change they say they want to see.
A solution might be to use No actors! It would definitely save money in making the stupid ads, unless there is some stupid union actor’s contract to deal with. Use cartoons or just anything other than actors!
Nice idea, Timothy, but I doubt that would solve anything. “Woke” companies like Mars are way ahead of you, having already revised their M&M candy characters to “reflect a more dynamic, progressive world.”
Actually, If you watch TV ads in the UK these days, you will see tokenism – a group of black people with one white friend. In fact, you rarely see an ad without a person of colour. I think they must have passed a law, or something. Usually any family consists of a black male, white female and a variety of ethnic children. In the UK, white people make up 82%, black people, 3%. We also have Greek Cypriot, Chinese, Pakistani and Indian folk who rarely get a mention in the ads.
I believe it, Janet. And this blantant overrepresentation is not limited to TV commercials. I’ve been playing the video game Watch Dogs: Legion, an open-world adventure set in near-future London where it seems 80 percent of the pedestrian population is Muslim or black African. In reality, however, Muslims account for 14.3 percent of London’s population, and black Africans 7.9 percent. The contrast between today’s media and the real world is truly striking.
Very clear & accurate message!! For me the clearest single point from your comment is that there is a very negative affect from all this woke & diversity advertising by alienating their main audience. Now I’m actually paying attention to these commercials but not for the reason the advertisers are shooting for. I am making a mental note to avoid these products. I realize the world is changing but mixed race couple, gay & lesbian couples, trans people is a small percentage of the population but you would never know that by watching todays TV commercials. At some point there will be a backlash for these companies who try to portray average Americans in a very disingenuous way.
Advertisers, take note.
As for myself, they are missing their mark because I don’t watch the commercials anymore I see nothing recognizable in them. I wouldn’t buy the product for a penny let alone what they are selling it for. The remote is the best thing invented and silence is golden. It’s all such a bunch of crap because the WOKE folks have taken over. Advertisers, be aware I’m not alone. The remote works for us all no matter what race creed or color we are.
That’s the crux of it, isn’t it, Vi? We all “get” that the world is changing, that America’s demographics are changing. I don’t hear white people complaining about that. I do hear them complaining that TV commercials seem to be promoting an agenda rather than reflecting real life.
So true….we mute them or leave the room.
Yes, I agree with the earlier poster in commending you on your courage. Actually, several months back I was composing an email to you on just this very subject, but never hit the “Send” button. Shame on me.
But this points out the effort towards Social Engineering that is being made on us from all sides. Not just in the race area, but other sensitive areas. For example, how often do you see a father and son interacting in a commercial. That is one of the strongest bonds in human society but you rarely see it in commercials. In fact, you hardly see boys at all in commercials now. Oh, I forgot about the talking Rice Krispie Treat giving the boy in ballet tights a pep talk. Geez.
And again, your comments about the roles blacks have in commercials were dead on. Although blacks have made inroads into “white suburbia”, the blacks in most commercials have mostly been dyed lily white by Madison Avenue. It should be degrading them as it totally erases their culture and transforms them into white culture.
And lastly, the “attack” on white males in commercials has been going on for years. I remember a commercial for some years back showing a husband so stupid, he couldn’t even go to the grocery store without constantly calling his wife, even when the cashier asked “paper or plastic.” I don’t remember the advertiser, only that that commercial totally pissed me off everytime I saw it. Even more than Limu Emu and Doug do.
My question to you on this general subject is “is all of this the result of advertising producers or at the directions of the advertisers?” I don’t trust American corporations any farther than I can throw them, but I don’t trust a lot of advertising copywriters, either (present company definitely excluded, of course!!).
Hi, Robert. In answer to your question, it’s both. Today’s brands and advertising agencies are very concerned about representation in TV commercials — and most do have good intentions. And I believe wholeheartedly that if an advertiser wants to go after a certain demographic with an ad or ad campaign, it should be their prerogative to do so. But it would be naive to think that many brands and advertisers aren’t also being driven by other factors, including a fear of being labeled racist and canceled.
I don’t need to tell you that we live in a hyper-politically-correct society. It’s just where we are.
Thanks for writing.
Movies and tv followed the same trend. In the 1930s, the big movies studios often promoted effeminate men as their leads—David Manners… Leslie Howard. There was an exception made for John Wayne and Errol Flynn but some of it had to do with a desire by Hollywood to promote the war.
Charlton Heston got famous for playing non-Christian Biblical characters. He didn’t portray Anglo-Saxon heroes very often. If you look at the Hollywood films he made in the 1960s–The War Lord, Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man etc..he dies at the end or loses.
Same with Eastwood—Dirty Harry throws away his badge at the end of the movie–and in other Eastwood films–there’s usually a negative compromise. In Unforgiven he made a vow to his wife not to be violent but when his black partner is killed he goes crazy for revenge. This is an expansion on the “magic negro” trope. In the 1940s, certain studios would have a black janitor who sacrifices himself for the white male hero. Eventually this transformed into the black sidekick or partner–and then eventually the white male lead was replaced–and Will Smith and Denzel Washington’s son became the lead.
Ditto with James Bond. If you notice, the actors playing Bond have gotten shorter and less masculine over time. Pierce Brosnan is not the same physical type as Connery.
Hollywood has always loved the exotic–so casting a Scottish actor as an Anglo-Saxon Englishman–that was their kind of shtick. It gets stronger over time. I do not think we will see another Anglo-Saxon actor as James Bond–if we do, he will be feminized like the guy playing Spider-man (compare Holland to Nicholas Hammond and you see what we mean–Hammond was a boy-next-door kind of actor–he wasn’t a tough guy–but he was more masculine than Holland-who seems like a child or midget).
There were some American actors like Lex Barker and Ken Clark–big men–not ever going to be mistaken for women–and they went to Europe to work because it was more traditional–men were masculine and women were feminine (although they also made women-led action movies—-Hollywood didn’t catch on to this trend except in comedy films). Hollywood was not interested in making films with such men as leads. Clint Walker got a few breaks but that was an exception, maybe because he wasn’t blonde. In Europe they didn’t have a problem with a blonde male lead who was strong-looking.
Consider that Luke Skywalker was 5’7. That’s short for a leading man. Bogart was that height but he wasn’t going to be paired in a movie with Cary Grant or Robert Mitchum because he would look like a midget. If you look at some famous movies of the 80s–like Back to the Future, the big blonde man is the bad guy–Biff. And he is presented as stupid, while the shorter dark-haired skinny nerd is the good guy. There’s a lot of that in Hollywood—in Die Hard you have the evil blonde bad guy.
Walt Disney did not have a problem depicting masculine heroes. He also often had female villains–the worst thing as a villain in a Disney film was the evil mother.
But modern Disney is very different. In Pirates of the Caribbean 4, the white Christian male character spends most of the movie tied up or making mistakes–and it ends with him fatally wounded and dragged underwater.
You know that scene in Sleeping Beauty where Maleficent shows the prince what she has in store for him? She is going to lock him up for decades and then release him? Modern Disney loves her plan! How many movies are made now featuring men (and some women) in their 70s as the action hero lead? Han Solo, Indiana Jones, Terminator (which feminized Arnie and eliminated John Connor as the savior of the future). Why is this? It is because they loath to present young white men as heroes or role models.
Art to be good, has to reflect truth in nature and if doesn’t, then it is propaganda.
Hollywood is not making art at all anymore–it’s all social engineering propaganda.
Most if not all of the developments in dramatic theater and film tech came from Europe and European artists are discouraged from representation now. It’s becoming like the Soviet Union where art creation was greatly restricted to party members and those who followed the narrow political agenda.
Advertising is just an extreme version of the same phenomenon. It’s because Europeans do not operate advertising agencies or movie studios.
Great post, Kallock! I’m not as well versed in Hollywood films and actors as you, but I recognize and appreciate many of your examples. (Another is what Disney has done with the Star Wars franchise in erasing male leads.) And I 100% agree with what you said about the relationship between art, truth, and propaganda.
These days, we are all seeing a hell of a lot of propaganda.
Today’s Madison Avenue seems almost as preoccupied with social engineering as Hollywood. Although both are paying a price for it, the losses in revenue are apparently seen merely as an investment toward the cause.
Thank you for my new mantra in this next season: “Art to be good, has to reflect truth in nature and if doesn’t, then it is propaganda.” Brilliant and true.
Excellent and well stated observation.
Seeing the new Top Gun was so sad. Once Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt have made their exits, I can almost promise you White male representation as the main leads will be over forever…. unless he is placed beside a “Nubian Goddess” as his love interest or something. “they” are letting you know what they desire for the future, what is good and what is bad… “White family bad”… so plain to see
I believe your observations are all valid, and appreciate your courage in posting. The slice of life peeks presented in advertising seem unrealistic, ridiculous, and egregious. Recent LL Bean catalogues are great examples of everything you mention.
Good observation. We the buying public are born with pretty good BS detectors. Which is exactly why so many commercials never pass the sniff test — they’re phony and daft, bearing little resemblance to reality.
Do you actually expect TV commercials to accurately represent life? If you took commercials seriously, you would think the most pressing problem in the lives of young American women is avoiding split ends and shaving their crotches, that normal people do cartwheels after getting a $5 refund on their taxes, or that married couples often give each other new cars for Christmas.
Hi, Merle. As I say, I do appreciate authenticity in my commercials, and I don’t think I’m alone. It’s the preposterousness of the ads’ premises that makes so many commercials unwatchable.
I’m glad you posted this. Also annoying are the interracial couples. I read that 3.9% of the US population intermarry. Who exactly are the ads trying to reach? Most blacks and whites don’t think it’s okay. I’m getting sick of TV in general.
No doubt, interracial couples in commercials are a hot-button issue for many people of all races. But, as with most things, acceptance is growing as the real world begins to catch up.
Or, is it rather that commercials are catching up to the real world? Sometimes, it’s hard to tell. I think the problem for most people comes when they perceive that brands and advertisers are purposefully using their commercials to push social and political agendas. We expect this from brands (like PETA) whose missions are tied closely to such issues. But a breakfast cereal company? Not so much.
To your point, Roo91, I tried to find the latest stats for interracial marriages in the U.S. As far as I can tell, about 19 percent of newlyweds today are married to someone of a different race — a number that’s been ticking up year after year.
Thanks for writing!
While interracial marriages are certainly more common now than they were in the past, I see very few black-white couples in the real world. Most interracial couples I know of and see are either Asian-White or Hispanic-White. And Asian-White couples should be far less numerous than black-white couples given that blacks outnumber Asians 3 to 1. Admittedly I’m going off of anecdotal evidence, but it seems almost every interracial couple in commercials is black-not black (usually black-white), with the bare minimum being black-not black.
John, you are absolutely right. While 10% of all new marriages are interracial, only 1% are black/white marriages. The other 9% are asian and hispanic interracial marriages. In general when companies and advertisers say they want 50% minority representation they mean 50% black, not asian or hispanic.
As a White woman, I’ve never had any interest in interracial. What can a brown man give me that a White man can’t? Anyway, overseas you see more representation of the other interracial mixes. In the UK you notice plenty of Indian/Arab + White couples. And the Asian mixes. All combos you can think of…. how wonderful, right? Mainly in the USA is Black pushed so hard. I noticed in my travels thru the UK and Western Europe it seems people there really are into Arabs and Moroccan