Dis-comfort Food

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGrqW3nx5HM

There is a recent Popeyes commercial that depicts an older African-American woman expressing her undying love for Popeyes fried chicken. Fried chicken, the stereotypical go-to food for African-Americans, has become a staple of black culture. Looking back on most Popeyes advertisements, unlike KFC, which seems to be more generally accepted and preferred, there has been a majority of African-Americans in their commercials. This may be due to their corporate belief that their main audience is within the Black community, however it does have a deeper affect of insinuation. With the woman who possesses a somehow slightly obvious hint of a Southern accent, seems to represent what American media has defined as the quintessential Black mom. She praises the chicken while condemning their competitors, and then performs a quick dance for her chicken. It seems that Popeyes figured an easy way capture their audience’s attention would be to perpetuate many stereotypes of African-Americans. Using a quick jingle, a flash of fried chicken, and a 3 second dance, Popeyes is able to, perhaps unintentionally, represent the Black community. Although one is much more aggressively promoting these stereotypes, the Popeyes commercials share similarities with a former YouTube phenomenon, “Fry that Chicken.” With these stereotypes being subtly kept alive through all media, it is hard to imagine that we can, as a general population, dismiss the prejudicial connection between Fried Chicken and Blacks. -C.S.

A Heavy Bottom FTW?

This Nike ad portrays that it is alright to have a curvaceous body or bottom heavy body as long as the skin is tight. In other words, being thick or voluptuous only becomes a problem when a woman has excessive flabby skin. This advertisement is not defying boundaries or creating empowerment for the curvaceous woman because it is still creating an ideology that they must abide to. Instead of creating a commonality between the consumer and the model, it just further points out the stereotype that women of color are the only ones with a butt. According to “Categorizing the Other: Stereotypes and Stereotyping”, the idea that “stereotypes flatten, homogenize, and generalize individuals within a group, emphasizing sameness and ignoring individual agency and variety” is reinforced (16). Nike tries to illustrate that the woman has agency because the woman is compared to a border collie, which is part of a breed of herding dogs. In addition, she is the one who is in control of her fit body thanks to “ten thousand lunges” and that those who mind her bottom heavy body are “invited to kiss it”. This advertisement proves that the in group are petite Caucasian women while the out group are those women of color. Thus, it still proves that the out group is subordinate. Why is it that Nike believes women of color need such empowerment? Had the woman been Caucasian the writing on the side would have been different because a different stereotype would be “addressed”.

"Blackface"

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7357648n

Recently, Beyonce did a photo shoot with for French magazine L'Officiel Paris.  It was a shoot that used her as a symbol for racial reconnection though particular ethnic clothing choice and makeup making her skin appear much darker than it is in reality.  The photo shoot was aimed to be a tribute to Nigerian cultural roots, but sparked much controversy because of the fact that Beyonce's skin was darkened with makeup.  This sparked controversy due to the fact that this was something done in America during times of cultural oppression to represent black people.  Though I personally find this to be merely a tribute to the Nigerian culture, I do think it is rather interesting how it is highly taken into account the details are.  The details meaning not just the "blackface," but the choice of clothing being seemingly animalistic and tribal, assuming that all Nigerians are not as civilized as whites and wear clothing that make them appear stereotypically fierce and wild.  This is done keenly by using Beyonce, who happens to be of African decent, as the model.  If this had been a model that had not been of African decent, it may have been looked at as even more offensive and controversial (i.e the America's Next Top Model episode) Beyonce, being an artist who posses her alter ego as a woman named "Sasha Fierce" allowed for the magazine's editors to use her for the editorial thinking she would be the good figure to represent this culture.  Still, regardless of her race and artist portrayal, the public found this to be offensive and controversial do to American history of societal oppression through similar representations of blacks.

Eat that Watermelon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT-j1N2iBLQ

Watching this video is sad for a number of reasons. One of which is the way that the Black music industry has in a sense deteriorated. There aren't a lot of successful Black artists, and this is for a number of reasons. Black artists have limited success mainly because of the content of their music, and the content determines how much success you acquire. With that said, some of the most successful Black artists right now are artists who's lyrics contribute to the degrading of the Black community. More specifically, artists like Soulja Boy, Gucci Mane, Waka Floka Flame, Wiz Khalifa, etc. The extent of these artists' actual talent and potential will remain a mystery because the ideology being sold through these artists have nothing to do with progress or knowledge (and I do not mean academia). Rappers like Nas, Lupe Fiasco, Wale, etc. aren't as popular because of the thinking that is required of their music. I'm not saying that all artists whose lyrics have substance are unsuccessful because Drake, Kanye West, and Jay-Z are very successful and have substance in their work. This clip represents what has become the norm, and the norm is to "sell out." The original purpose of hip-hop is becoming lost in all the materialism that comes with the false success that many artist have. Modern hip-hop/rap is a form of entertainment in the same way that Black-face was entertainment for Whites.~JF

Make me a racist

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhMJU2qPff6l8c464U

Make Me a Racist/Music/Race and Gender

When I first watched this video, I laughed because it was talking about Black women who were weaves. But as I watched it several more times afterwards, that laughter disappeared. Although he is right in saying that the content is not "racist," it doesn't take away from the fact that it is racially offensive. Black women wear weaves for several reasons, the most dominate reason is because of what society, media, community, etc., has shaped them to believe is beautiful. During the Black power movement, Black women were in great numbers embracing the natural texture of their hair and reframing of getting perm or putting chemicals in their hair that would make it straight and therefore, "More White." The time prior to that era of embracing their natural hair is back. This video brings to our attention how Black women are again turning to perms and now even weaves to give the illusion of long straight hair. This is very present at the celebrity level and therefore at the level of common folk as well. I stop getting perms a year ago because of this reason, in addition to the fact that my hair has never been "nappy" anyways and I didn't need chemicals to straighten it. Furthermore, he neglects to acknowledge that White women too, use weave, or what they call hair extensions. This video gives the illusion that only Black women wear weaves, which isn't true, although they do dominate. Also, He uses other stereotypes such as "All Black people love red koolaid," which is true to an extent, but I think that extent is mostly at the lower class level, and most black people are living in that class. I love red koolaid, if you look in my refrigerator, you are sure to find a pitcher of red koolaid (and if there isn’t, then I’m about to make some), so to me it isn't a stereotype, it’s a truth. Plus, he says that his parents only know one black person and that's "Randy Jackson " because of American Idol, which also calls attention to racial demographics of a lot of different areas across the US. This lack of "Black people" could have contributed to his choice in making this video. I’m not sure if the point in him making the video was simply to be funny, or if he really is this ignorant, but I think women are made fun of a lot, especially Black women, and we do not need one more thing being used against us.