New Fruit of the Loom Commercial Perpetuates Racial Stereotype

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?)

Rolling Scone Presents... Something from the Archive!

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Rev. Sharpton, "I think 'Thriller' more than makes up for all the molesting"

In the aftermath of the Michael Jackson death, many questions have been raised about the legacy he will leave behind. Jackson had a checkered past, with allegations of drug use and child molestation, however, all those questions have been put to rest thanks to the mild mannered and soft spoken Reverend Al Sharpton Jr., who recently spoke out against critics of Jackson. While some may question why Sharpton would defend the bleach-white Jackson, critics must remember that while Micheal died a child-molesting white man, he was once a mega-successful black superstar.

Reverend Al Sharpton Jr., who has long been a vocal proponent of Michael Jackson, issued a statement saying that, "The joy that the album, 'Thriller' has brought to over 28 million Americans more than makes up for the hundred or so small children that Jackson drugged and molested in his Neverland Ranch -- just by numbers alone, the thirty million American men, women and children who have been touched by Michael's song and dance far outnumber the few that Michael touched sexually. If he had never released 'Thriller' and instead was just judged on 'Bad' or 'Dangerous', I could see how all the sexual abuse might tarnish his legacy. But c'mon, we're talkin' about over 100 million copies sold around the world and seven top ten singles from one album -- seven. It's outrageous, it's ludicrous, it's so beyond bad it's good. 'Billie Jean' alone would make up for most of the molestations. Throw in 'The Girl is Mine', 'Thriller', 'Wanna Be Startin' Something', 'Beat It', 'Human Nature', and 'P.Y.T.' and Micheal could have bombed the World Trade Centers and I would still forgive him. Michael was the greatest, the king of pop, the sultan of soul, the greatest the world has ever seen, he was and will always be a king in our eyes, even though he wasn't a black man anymore and truly had nothing to do with our race and in many ways was a disgrace to every black man women and child in the world. However, let's not forget that he could moon walk better than Jesus; So that's good enough for me, and it should be good enough for America."