by Carmen Van Kerckhove
What do you all think of this Carl’s Jr. ad, which extols the virtues of the flat ass? (Hat tip to Feministing and Latoya)
Feel free to riff on some of the themes brought up in this earlier conversation. 
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of New Demographic, an anti-racism training company. She hosts the podcast Addicted to Race and blogs at Racialicious, Anti-Racist Parent, and Race in the Workplace.
Racialicious! is a production of New Demographic.
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rabi wrote:
as a (young, female) high school teacher, it makes me want to punch someone.
the stupid racial parody aspect of it is offensive too.
I’ve never heard of carl jr’s or seen this ad outside of the internet. is it not an east coast thing?
Posted 19 Sep 2007 at 7:47 am ¶
Rob wrote:
On the east coast (more in the southeast) Carl’s Jr is Hardees. This version didn’t really get shown that many times as teachers complained. Now its basically is just the rap. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20777246/
Posted 19 Sep 2007 at 1:32 pm ¶
baby221 wrote:
I haven’t seen the video (til now anyway) but I’ve heard it on the radio a few times and it’s just … confusing. The first time I heard it I had trouble realising that it was a Carl’s Jr. commercial and not just a straightforward parody of Sir Mixalot.
I really wish it’d been a parody :p
Posted 19 Sep 2007 at 1:57 pm ¶
Vox wrote:
Is it just me, or has there suddenly been a rash of racial parody commercials? In addition to this one, there are the Stride/Hot Pockets/Burger King “look at the funny Asians!” commercials, that phone one with the dots (”Where you at?”) which seem to be mocking AVE, the ones that have been posted here …
It’s at the point where the only place I even want to shop anymore is IKEA, because they seem to be the only people in existance who put non-white people in an ad and didn’t make it about how funny/weird/whatever “those people” are.
Posted 19 Sep 2007 at 3:32 pm ¶
Siegs wrote:
As well as being disgusted by the sexual objectification of the teacher (pelvic lifts on the desk?!?), I can’t help but be struck by how the commercial equates “flat buns” with white women in an obvious parody of the black women=big butt stereotype, which always reminds me of the tragic Saartjie Baartman (Hottentot Venus) case. I wonder if people would continue to find the stereotype acceptable joke fodder if they knew that it had such horrifying origins - and that Sir Mixalot didn’t start the trend.
Posted 19 Sep 2007 at 5:52 pm ¶
Mike wrote:
Damn that was funny though, dead wrong for a commercial. Never heard of carl’s jr, down here in atlanta but I know who they are now thats for sure. It definitely would of been more acceptable as a parody. But Vox is right there has been a slick movment in commercials at taking cracks at minorities. I blame Dave Chappelle. Remember the spoof on Mitshubishi and Mcdonalds? How could advertisers resist playing with the humor like that.
Posted 19 Sep 2007 at 6:50 pm ¶
Aaron wrote:
Wow. That ad is ridiculous. It’s definitely true that the ad industry has mastered cramming a TON into 30 seconds. Let’s look at a few of the racist and sexist messages they cram into this one:
-EXPLICITLY comparing women to pieces of meat
-all black men like big butts, and all white men like small ones
- teaching is for women
-teachers don’t deserve respect, especially if they happen to be young and attractive
-women in general don’t deserve respect, especially if they are young and attractive
-Skinny, blonde, young, white women are what white men should be attracted to, and what white women should look like.
Posted 19 Sep 2007 at 8:43 pm ¶
Vox wrote:
Mike, I don’t think you can blame Dave Chapelle (or Sir Mixalot, or etc.). These stereotypes are ingrained in a lot of people’s minds here in the U.S. Chapelle tried to parody the stereotypes, and he quit when it became clear that people just weren’t getting that, and that they were using him as an excuse to hold on to the stereotypes instead.
If the underlying racism hadn’t been there in the first place, there would have been nothing for Chapelle to mock and the adverts themselves probably wouldn’t exist. The problem goes a lot farther back than him.
(I’m pretty sure you were joking, but just in case.)
Posted 20 Sep 2007 at 12:55 pm ¶
JC wrote:
Truly creative and intelligent humor is dying in this country. No wonder I fast forward all my commercials when possible with my DVR. The only CM I really enjoy nowdays are all Japanese.
Posted 21 Sep 2007 at 4:19 am ¶
zero wrote:
The part I enjoy most about these things is not the inherent stupidity, but the cultural following that it generates.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hw2hU31h0I
Just warms me up inside.
Posted 09 Dec 2007 at 11:29 pm ¶