by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Those of you who will be watching the Superbowl this weekend should brace yourself for this stinker of an ad from Taco Bell. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
(Hat tip to MultiCultClassics)
Ok, so Mexican men are all mariachi band members, they’re too lazy to work, always ready to take an unnecessarily long break, and their sex obsessed.
Did I miss any sterotypes?
!Yo NO queiro Taco Bell!
Being too lazy to work is a stereotype for us (blacks). Other then that nope lol.
I don’t see the reference to being “too lazy to work” (as cited above). The sales pitch suggests that this fast-food meal is worth sitting down to savor.
And isn’t it possible that the wink is merely a good-looking guy flirting and *not* a racial stereotype?
I can appreciate that the mariachi outfits are over the top. But one counterpoint and a question: The meal platter has been given the “fiesta” tag. How would *you* handle costuming?
The wink is definitely not indicative of just a “good-looking guy flirting” when accompanied by the suggestive “hola.” This ad conflates the two behaviors, as if to say speaking Spanish and being sexually unctuous go hand in hand. It’s the same old crap.
This made me cringe. I’m still trying to break down WHY it made me cringe.
The Marachi band was over the top and can’t possibly be the only way to advertise a “fiesta” platter. I don’t think it’s that the marachi band image is a negative one in and of itself. It’s just that it has become the primary image that has been repeatedly lampooned and co-opted to slip in a myriad of offensive “observations” of latinos.
Definitely the wink and “hola” is the as-per-usual latin lover stereotype.
The message, so inartfully relayed, is that the platter is so good the consumer should sit down and enjoy it rather than work through lunch. Oddly, that’s a rather positive message in our multi-tasking-gone-wild work-filled days. Sad that it’s overshadowed by the cringe factor.
oh yeah that wink was definitely an innocent wink!!! sure! i do that all the time when i meet new women in offices, order food, hit the bank or post office. that’s how us latinos say hello. its like we need to have sex all the time and especially when in our sombreros. its just the mexican way yanno?
Jack D., you may simply not see the stereotype because you have bought into it already so it seems to make sense when you see a Latino act in an oversexualized way. I mean of course, right? Hey, just the sound of “Hola” (a formal way of saying “hello,” as opposed to “Qué tal?” for example) makes me reach for my chimichanga you know? I bet you feel the same.
It’s cringey because it doesn’t bother, as usual, to really understand any part of the culture it is coopting and because especially in this time when so many Latinos in the USA are suffering behind U.S. ignorance and fear and loathing of those south of the border, media owes a responsibility not to just offer the same mindless tripe and stereotype of those people. Use us for our sexiness, our hot food, the tasty bits of our culture, and then persecute and prosecute and hate on us for living and wanting to work and wanting equal human rights.
All together, it makes the funny little ad quite disgusting.
¡¡Arrrrrriba!! (speedy gonzales sound effect here)
-Laziness
-Hypersexuality
-Love of white women
-Obviously members of a mariachi band
re hypersexuality: Perhaps my “blindspot” on that issue is that I’ve never thought Latinos were any sexier than the next guy. Where could I find material to study on that particular stereotype, please? I’d like to understand it better.
I suppose it’s *possible* that the woman could have resisted a handsome ad pitchman winking at her if he had lighter skin, blue eyes and blond hair …
gee, jack i’d love to help you study, but its time for my siesta. sorry bro!
For whatever it’s worth, anyone actually looked at a microwaved warmed over plate of Taco Hell crap before it hits your stomach?
I don’t know about you, but I’d use all the sexing up I could to try and sell it– lord knows I ain’t ever seen no Latinos buyin’ it in my neighborhood– it’s only Blacks and the white people waitin’ in line for the KFC combo platter.
The stereotype I still want to get rid of is all that uppity ass church music with the organs that plays on every damn chicken commercial with black people, who roll their eyes every time they get a biscuit. That bothers me more than fake Mexican food that people know isn’t even Mexican that Mexicans don’t even buy. When was the last time you even seen Mexicans advertising for a real Mexican restaurant? That’s my point: the good stuff don’t resort to the cheap tactics, know what I mean?
Nezua for president, is what I gotta say about that.
Luckily we Mexicans have arrived in time to teach the non-brown among us how to laze about eating tacos when they would otherwise be proving themselves to be productive members of society!
Frankly, I’m disappointed that the ad doesn’t feature a hot-to-trot mamacita dancing flamenco with a talking Chihuahua. I mean, someone at the ad agency really dropped the ball here. I’m not nearly as offended as I *could* be.
Wow! Taco Bell is racist! Wait, wasn’t Taco Bell always racist? They’ve always made me cringe.
I’m trying to decide how I would feel if the office workers were more Latin@ looking instead of “white.”
And now I need to think about that more because I know redheaded Colombians and blue eyed Cubans.
Still not as cringeworthy as this commercial, courtesy of Jimmy John’s.
If you think this is bad, watch 27 Dresses. I cannot begin to count the negative stereotypes against hispanics in that movie.
Oh, that cooky white girl!hairsmystory.com
And now Taco Bell be piling on the bad beans. Look what they and their nasty PR firm done cooked up:
So they exploit the striking writers, working writers, people who make and serve the crap– all to score the cheap point. That’s some evil junk man…
What’s the name of the redhead? Anybody?
White people are uptight and focused on professional success, while Mexicans want to slow down and savor life’s sensual pleasures.
Gross.
Yeah this one and the ad leads ad caught my attention yesterday. They are both so clearly stereo-typed I can’t believe they made it on air for the Superbowl.
Unfortunately I don’t think there will be as much outrage or disgust as I would hope.
Yeah, who is the redhead?
Oh god these latin lovers are stealing our women
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of New Demographic, a diversity education firm. Her perspectives on race and diversity have been featured on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, USA Today, and The New York Times.
Links: Chickens, Afghanistan, Pastors, Racism, and Grace at Trying to follow on 07 Feb 2008 at 5:01 pm
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