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The "token" black women in commercials.

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    Posted: 02 May 2011 at 3:36am
I find this really annoying.
 
In almost EVERY commercial geared towards women (cleaning products, chocolate, yogurt, tampons, headache medicine, weight loss programs, diet foods, cooking products), there is almost always one token black woman, and SHE ALWAYS LOOKS THE SAME.
 
I always wonder if this annoys black women, and I know it would probably annoy me if I were black. sh*t, it annoys me already.
 
This woman is ALWAYS light-skinned, and she ALWAYS has a light-brown shorter Afro hairstyle. She's always just teetering on the edge of "white". She's always sitting around the dinner table with her three white girlfriends or hanging out at the beach with them eating yogurt, and she always just looks like an ultra-tan white lady with a poofier hairdo.
 
Because most African American women that I personally know are either medium-skinned or dark-skinned, it seems like blatant racism to me, and they NEVER have commercial actresses with women of this skin type. Has anyone else noticed this?? And if you haven't, just look out for it next time.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 May 2011 at 6:37am
Sometimes they're just a little sassy.
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hezadancer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 May 2011 at 6:20pm
Except for the Pine Sol lady. She was pretty dark, heavy, AND she had a gap tooth. That's like 3 strikes in the adverting world. I think they're trying so hard not to be racist that they're pandering to blacks with her character.

"That's the power of Pine Sol BABY"

You know what they really wanted her to say if they could...

"Oh Lawdy dat Pine Sol!"
It's ok, I'm in marketing!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 May 2011 at 7:59pm
Originally posted by Hezadancer Hezadancer wrote:

Except for the Pine Sol lady. She was pretty dark, heavy, AND she had a gap tooth. That's like 3 strikes in the adverting world. I think they're trying so hard not to be racist that they're pandering to blacks with her character.

"That's the power of Pine Sol BABY"

You know what they really wanted her to say if they could...

"Oh Lawdy dat Pine Sol!"
 
I used to know her.  Diane Amos, stand-up comedian.  Nice girl. 
 
According to one article I read, she said that someone like her is more believable as someone who might use Pine-Sol, than someone like Jennifer Lopez would be.  She's had the Pine-Sol job for 18 years now.
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hootman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 May 2011 at 8:18pm
Yeah, I'd have trouble with JLo down on the floor scrubbing away....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote PaWolf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 May 2011 at 9:28pm
Originally posted by Hootman Hootman wrote:

Yeah, I'd have trouble with JLo down on the floor scrubbing away....
ConfusedHeck, given permission, *I'd* get behind her and, in a proper 'Wolfy-Style-Way', support her 'effort'...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote belc0011 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 May 2011 at 8:16pm
YES!!!!  I have absolutely noticed this!!  The most recent one is the annoying commercial where the woman speaks with the ridiculous french accent and the black woman says she only spent X number of dollars on dresses for her girls, "parle vous good deal?"  She's the exact stereotype you're talking about, and you're right...it seems like every commercial has at least one black woman who fits the parameters you're talking about.  Very annoying! 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 May 2011 at 9:23pm
Originally posted by belc0011 belc0011 wrote:

YES!!!!  I have absolutely noticed this!!  The most recent one is the annoying commercial where the woman speaks with the ridiculous french accent and the black woman says she only spent X number of dollars on dresses for her girls, "parle vous good deal?"  She's the exact stereotype you're talking about, and you're right...it seems like every commercial has at least one black woman who fits the parameters you're talking about.  Very annoying! 
 
Isn't this a promo for a movie?  I forget the name, but the premise seems to be of a poor or average black family marrying into a real yuppie black family.  The woman speaking French is also black.
 
Looks like it might be funny.  "Poor meets rich" movies sometimes are.
 
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Malcolm Reynolds Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2011 at 1:41pm
I posted not too long ago about the racism going on in advertising (specifically McDs).  It's not just women either, the same thing happens in ads geared towards males.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2011 at 2:25pm
I think advertisers generally go out of their way to portray blacks positively.  Rarely, do you see a black person in the role of the villain or the buffoon or the ignorant.  One commercial that comes to mind is the one that shows the black dry-cleaner owner looking forlornly at his white employee who's hanging/thrashing about from the revolving hanger thing behind him. 
 
And you'll never see a black guy in the role of a criminal (as in those alarm system ads).  The closest I've seen is the commercial with the black guy running with a woman's purse.  Turns out he was only trying to return it to her after she left it behind at a cafe.  I think that one was a PSA of some sort.
 
It just seems to me that advertisers are verrry careful about which color plays which role in their commercials.  They try to appear color-blind when, in reality, it's just the opposite.  Even that "forgotten purse" commercial comes in two versions.  There's a version with a white teenager as the hero, though I've never seen it aired.  Basically, it's the same commercial, just with different "colors" playing the role of the good guy.
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ambrosia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2011 at 2:38pm
Originally posted by Thor Thor wrote:

Originally posted by belc0011 belc0011 wrote:

YES!!!!  I have absolutely noticed this!!  The most recent one is the annoying commercial where the woman speaks with the ridiculous french accent and the black woman says she only spent X number of dollars on dresses for her girls, "parle vous good deal?"  She's the exact stereotype you're talking about, and you're right...it seems like every commercial has at least one black woman who fits the parameters you're talking about.  Very annoying! 
 
Isn't this a promo for a movie?  I forget the name, but the premise seems to be of a poor or average black family marrying into a real yuppie black family.  The woman speaking French is also black.
 
Looks like it might be funny.  "Poor meets rich" movies sometimes are.
 
 
 

No, it's actually a commercial....for Burlington Coat Factory, I believe.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2011 at 2:51pm
Originally posted by ambrosia ambrosia wrote:


No, it's actually a commercial....for Burlington Coat Factory, I believe.
 
Gotcha. 
 
The movie I was thinking of is called Jumping the Broom (and the longer Youtube trailer for it makes it seem more like a romantic comedy than an actual funny comedy, as the commercial promo makes it seem).
 
 
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The one that irks me is the Popeyes Cajun Chicken commercials.
 
The lady is slightly heavy set, & light skinned but what gets me is the way they have her talking.
 
Not quite "look-a here, honey chile" but almost.
 
You can tell by her voice that it's just a put-on & she probably doesn't talk that way in real life.
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2011 at 2:59pm
We had a black commercial actress as a member of CIH for awhile.  Here's one of her commercials.  There are others with her on Youtube.
 
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ambrosia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2011 at 3:09pm
There is another black commercial actress who I see in SO many commercials that have to do with teeth.  I'll go looking for video, because the *exact* products are escaping my mind right now.  I think one is a whitening strips commercial because I remember her saying "and this is my sweet smile"....but anyway, then she showed up in some toothpaste commercial, then a dentures one....and THEN I saw her in a printed poster ad for dentures at Allcare Dental about a year ago!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote belc0011 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 May 2011 at 8:49pm
Originally posted by Thor Thor wrote:

Originally posted by belc0011 belc0011 wrote:

YES!!!!  I have absolutely noticed this!!  The most recent one is the annoying commercial where the woman speaks with the ridiculous french accent and the black woman says she only spent X number of dollars on dresses for her girls, "parle vous good deal?"  She's the exact stereotype you're talking about, and you're right...it seems like every commercial has at least one black woman who fits the parameters you're talking about.  Very annoying! 
 
Isn't this a promo for a movie?  I forget the name, but the premise seems to be of a poor or average black family marrying into a real yuppie black family.  The woman speaking French is also black.
 
Looks like it might be funny.  "Poor meets rich" movies sometimes are.
 
 
 
 
No, it's from a Burlington Coat Factory commercial and is most definitely NOT funny, trust me.
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I may be a little late to the party, but speaking as a medium toned Black woman, who wears her hair long I have to say, yes I do find it very annoying.  I get that the company doesn't want to seem racist but the fact that she is always very light makes it in my opinion racist.
 
We come in various shades with numerous hair types, heaven forbid we get to see dare I say two different types represented in the same ad.  Hell, I'd rather see no token then the same overused "poofier hairdo" (sorry but that cracked me up...I had to use it) light lady.
 
There are a few commercials featuring darker toned women but they are few and far between.
 
By the way, I thought only Blacks were bothered by this as it comes up in conversations at times.  Guess I learned something new todaySmile  
 
 
Originally posted by a3b3i a3b3i wrote:

I find this really annoying.
 
In almost EVERY commercial geared towards women (cleaning products, chocolate, yogurt, tampons, headache medicine, weight loss programs, diet foods, cooking products), there is almost always one token black woman, and SHE ALWAYS LOOKS THE SAME.
 
I always wonder if this annoys black women, and I know it would probably annoy me if I were black. sh*t, it annoys me already.
 
This woman is ALWAYS light-skinned, and she ALWAYS has a light-brown shorter Afro hairstyle. She's always just teetering on the edge of "white". She's always sitting around the dinner table with her three white girlfriends or hanging out at the beach with them eating yogurt, and she always just looks like an ultra-tan white lady with a poofier hairdo.
 
Because most African American women that I personally know are either medium-skinned or dark-skinned, it seems like blatant racism to me, and they NEVER have commercial actresses with women of this skin type. Has anyone else noticed this?? And if you haven't, just look out for it next time.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote PaWolf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 May 2011 at 3:39am
Confused
Maybe, as an ol'IrishWolf, I may not be the best to speak on this.
I suspect the marketing ploy leans toward the 'well-to-do', 'median/middle income' average folk of colour; probably no ill intentions of any sort by the commercial creators; may be more our perception.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mommacita Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 May 2011 at 11:37am
Originally posted by Thor Thor wrote:

We had a black commercial actress as a member of CIH for awhile.  Here's one of her commercials.  There are others with her on Youtube.
 
 
 


She's very pretty!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote musicman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 May 2011 at 4:07pm
I've watched African American TV shows that have a token white guy in them too.
He is usually portrayed as really dumb.  LOL
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 May 2011 at 4:21pm
Originally posted by musicman musicman wrote:

I've watched African American TV shows that have a token white guy in them too.
He is usually portrayed as really dumb.  LOL
 
 
 
That's another thing I like about Everybody Hates Chris.  Neither the whites nor the blacks are portrayed as cartoonish (except for a few minor characters).  The show transcends race, while not ignoring it either.
 
The main white person in the show, in fact, is based upon a childhood friend of Chris'---and he's not a buffoon.
 
 
 
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Synesthesia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 May 2011 at 6:47pm
I did like that show, except the punitiveness, but other than that it was very good.
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How come no "token" Hispanic people in commercials?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote PaWolf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 May 2011 at 1:01am
Originally posted by Tiz Tiz wrote:

How come no "token" Hispanic people in commercials?
To be a 'token', you have to come from a minority group, like White peeps.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote athomas917 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 May 2011 at 2:52am
Originally posted by Tiz Tiz wrote:

How come no "token" Hispanic people in commercials?


Hispanics get it the worst.  They don't even bother to use humans for their roles.



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