I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this one. There’s a huge palaver over a new billboard in Holland for the launch of the white PSP since it has a white, blonde-haired woman grabbing a black woman by the face while proclaiming that “White is Coming”. Hmm…
Now I hate all this political correctness shite (I’ll happily laugh at jokes about white people, black people, men, women, religions, gingers, blondes, the French, etc) but surely an ad agency had to know that people were going to find that offensive?
That was probably the idea since there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but coming after the shock news that LocoRoco is an allegory for white flight, complete with what appear to be fanged Rastafarian minstrels trying to eat the poor oppressed white (yellow?) folks, does this mean we can expect to see Ken Kutaragi goose stepping across the stage at E3 2007? It would surely be less controversial than his showing this time.
As I often do, I’d like to thank UK Resistance for the usual biting analysis:
The key facts of the matter are this: It don’t matter if PSP is black or white. It’s still shit and hasn’t got any games.
Can’t argue with that…
the whites are coming! the whites are coming! quickly hide!!
UK:R are right on the money, but will the same thing happen to the PS3? I bought a psp because it was so shiny and I assumed the games would come along later, but I wont be making the same mistake with PS3 (PS??) for that price…
Thought: If it were a black woman holding a white woman by the face, would it be racist?
Indeed it would, but you’d be surprised by the number of people who think that racism can only go one way. Regardless, something perceived as racist towards a minority or oppressed group is always going to be more controversial than something that shows them empowered. Same thing as how men’s magazines are sexist but women’s magazines which talk just as much about sex are not. Just the way it goes, unfortunately.
Although you are right and racism can go both ways, the fact that black people are in the minority (in holland where the ad appeared) is not the only reason people might find this more offensive than the image suggested by Luke. Black people do not have a history of oppressing white people, so an image of a black woman holding a white womans face with the slogan “black is coming” would not have the same subtext as this ad, and would be more of an abstract concept. While I’m not saying that current generations should be blamed for what happened in the past, it is still necessary to remember the wider context when considering things like this.
Sorry for the long post!