On January 1st, 1863, Abraham Lincoln Issues the Emancipation Proclamation ostensibly freeing all African American slaves in the United States. In 1954, in the landmark Brown vs. the Board of Education case, the United States Supreme Court ruled that "seperate but equal" was unconstitutional paving the way for the civil rights movement. January 20th, 2009, Barack Obama becomes the 1st African American president of the United States.
Yet even with all of the historic advancements, African Americans continue to be stereotyped. In movies, in sports, on the street. Many people claim that America is a color-blind country, that we live in a society that can look past skin color and judge a person by their deeds and actions. These people are wrong.
The proof? This seemingly innocuous Fruit of the Loom commercial. At first glance it seems like a fairly straightforward commercial. Men of different races and creeds dressed up as a variety of instrument wielding fruit, hawking comfortable underwear with a rock ballad. HOWEVER, upon closer introspection, a shocking revelation can be gleaned.
The 29 second mark reveals the money shot. A green grape playing lead guitar? Okay nothing wrong with that. An apple lead singer? Totally normal. Some sort of leaf thing playing drums? You see it everyday. But wait. What's this? If you can hardly believe your eyes you're not alone. Yes, in a shocking and most heinous casting decision, the racists at Fruit of the Loom have decided to perpetuate one of the most hurtful and longstanding stereotypes of all: All African American men can play the bass guitar.
God forbid the racists at Fruit of the Loom could have an African American man playing the piano or rocking the drums. Maybe they could have put him as lead guitarist. Hey FOTL, ever heard of Jimi Hendrix? I hear he was pretty good at guitar.
It is sickening to see this hurtful stereotype still thriving in today's society, much less being plastered all over the airwaves for everyone to see. Fruit of the Loom should be ashamed and you the public should be outraged.
There is no place for this type of ad on TV. I hope you will join me in boycotting all fruit of the loom underwear until they make reparations for this blatant racist stereotype.
(Also, the African American is dressed as a bunch of purple grapes. Oh all African Americans love grape soda do they? Maybe they should just show him in shackles and an orange jump suit, eating fried chicken and talking to a white woman while they're at it. Disgusting, where is Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton on this one?)
2 comments:
I know where Punksatawny is.
Oh god, stop trying to be self-righteous and get ove rit. Are you saying that black people should never play the bass guitar? It's people like you that limit the freedom of others by making them feel as if they are not allowed to do certain things because it may go against the "cause". By the way, are you saying black people are not supposed to talk to a white woman? Way to go.
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