12763: White Squad To The Rescue.

MTV launched a campaign featuring a TV commercial and website for White Squad, a fictional service comprised of “carefully selected White representatives who act on behalf of people of color.” If challenged with helping minorities land jobs in the advertising industry, White Squad would fall to the unstoppable White Mob on Madison Avenue and beyond.

10883: Buckwild Wildly Stereotypical.

From The New York Times…

Feeling Dragged Through the Mud, as MTV Comes to West Virginia

By Trip Gabriel

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Even though it has yet to be broadcast, a reality TV series set in this corner of Appalachia has created a stir for its portrait of young people prone to fighting, swearing, careening in all-terrain vehicles and wallowing, scantily clad, in the mud.

The series, “Buckwild,” will fill the MTV slot vacated by “Jersey Shore.” Like that series, the new show has aroused anger over what some consider the exploitation of broad cultural stereotypes.

“It doesn’t help the lousy reputation we already have,” said Greg Samms, 31, a dishwasher on a break at the Charleston Town Center mall. “You go west of Ohio, west of Kentucky — people think we’re hillbillies.”

Kent Carper, the president of the Kanawha County Commission here, said dryly, “Some folks in West Virginia wear shoes, believe it or not.”

Based on a two-minute trailer that MTV has released online, Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, labeled the show a “travesty” and called on MTV to cancel it. “This show plays to ugly, inaccurate stereotypes about the people of West Virginia,” Mr. Manchin wrote in a letter last month to Stephen K. Friedman, MTV’s president.

He accused the show’s producers of egging on a cast between ages 19 and 24 to misbehave for the sake of ratings. “You preyed on young people, coaxed them into displaying shameful behavior — and now you are profiting from it,” Mr. Manchin wrote. “That is just wrong.”

MTV declined to make Mr. Friedman available to comment, and the series is set to begin on Thursday at 10 p.m. West Virginia officials are well aware that in condemning the show they risk increasing its chances of gaining viewers.

“Jersey Shore” was also attacked for perpetuating stereotypes — in its case, of Italian-Americans — when it began in 2009. Gov. Chris Christie, Republican of New Jersey, blocked a tax credit the producers sought.

Read the full story here.

7941: Sorry Excuses.

Extending apologies in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Kanye West continues to take personal moral inventory, using Twitter to apologize again to Taylor Swift for interrupting her during MTV’s 2009 Video Music Awards. West also allegedly wrote a song for Swift. Wonder what will happen if it winds up winning an MTV Video Music Award.

• JetBlue Airways officially announced the flight attendant who went nuts and bailed out of a standing plane won’t get his job back. Is anyone really sorry to hear that?

• Burger King will stop buying palm oil from an Indonesian company accused of destroying rain forests. “[The Indonesian company’s] practices are inconsistent with our corporate responsibility commitments,” declared Burger King. However, firing its minority advertising agencies is apparently not inconsistent with Burger King’s corporate responsibility commitments.

7773: Dudesons, Where’s My Cultural Cluelessness?

From The New York Post…

Native Americans rage over MTV’s ‘The Dudesons’

A skit on MTV’s “The Dudesons in America” has a Native American advocacy group crying foul.

The American Indian Movement of Santa Barbara has started a boycott against MTV and its advertisers over an episode of the “Jackass”-style series in which four Finnish friends perform stunts as they assimilate to American culture.

In the episode, which aired in May, the Dudesons performed tasks to qualify as honorary Indians under the direction of Native American actor Saginaw Grant. The stunts included one Finn mounting a horse while wearing a feathered headdress and little else and one involving a totem pole falling painfully on a man’s crotch.

“There’s no other racial group that has to put up with this harassment. People may think it’s funny to do the fingers in front of the mouth and yell, ‘Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!’ but that’s deliberate discrimination,” said AIM director Michael Fairbanks.

The group wrote to MTV in May asking it to scrub the episode from the network and online. Then AIM called for a boycott of MTV and “Dudesons” sponsors, including Frito-Lay, Burger King and Pepsi. The petition site has already gotten 1,000 signatures. Fairbanks is also threatening to file a federal suit alleging the show violates Native Americans’ civil rights.

MTV rep Jeannie Kedas responded to Fairbanks via e-mail on July 2, writing, “I am sorry that members of the American Indian Movement were offended by that one particular episode where the Dudesons were trying to master challenges to gain acceptance into the Native American culture.”

She continued, “While I understand your concern with the dress that the Dudesons wore, in no way did they or MTV intend to offend Native Americans.”

New and previous episodes of the series will continue to run on MTV2.

7350: Taking Hits.

Hitting the news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• As Tiger Woods announced his “indefinite leave” from golf, a couple of sponsors were questioning their continued relationships with the man. AT&T is apparently reconsidering its connections—which is pretty bizarre, as there is an obvious text message advertising idea worth pursuing. Gillette is also reducing Woods’ presence in its campaign—which is good news for consumers, as those particular ads are terrible.

• MTV will not air footage of a character, Snooki, being punched by a drunk man in the reality series Jersey Shore. However, the network will still broadcast a PSA on violence against women. Additionally, Snooki will confess to being hit on by Tiger Woods.

7345: Food, Fools And Fun.

Friday bits in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• MTV will air a public service announcement after an upcoming episode of “Jersey Shore,” as the show depicts a scene with a female cast member being assaulted. The PSA will address the issue of violence against women. So far, the reality TV series has drawn criticism for perpetuating negative stereotypes of Italian Americans and now violence against women. They are one obscenity short of a trifecta.

• Mickey D’s announced it is responding to tough economic times by offering $1 menu items for breakfast. The items will probably be jelly packets and napkins.

• Rush Limbaugh declared that U.S. Blacks are not happy, thanks to President Obama and Tiger Woods. “The Black frame of mind is terrible. They’re depressed. They’re down — Obama’s not doing anything for ‘em. How is that hoax and change workin’ for ya? They’re all livid,” said Limbaugh. Blacks feel “upset” and “abandoned” by Obama and, Limbaugh added, “I’m sure Tiger Woods’ choice of females [is] not helping ‘em out with their attitudes there, either.” Yes, but Limbaugh doesn’t realize those things have been completely offset by the introduction of $1 breakfast menu items at Mickey D’s. Yippee!

7278: Pre-Holiday Cheers And Jeers.

Offensive maneuvers in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Italian-American group UNICO National has called for MTV to dump a promo for the upcoming Jersey Shore, arguing the show perpetuates stereotypes by referring to cast members as “Guidos.” An MTV official countered the characters are merely taking “pride in their ethnicity.” In other words, UNICO National should fugeddaboutit.

• A deal to buy the Saab brand from General Motors has fallen through at the last minute, prompting the automaker to say it will likely shut down the division. Or maybe GM can pull together an awesome Black Friday deal.

• Google apologized for displaying a racially offensive photo of Michelle Obama in search results for the First Lady, but refused to remove the image. However, an image of the Google logo will likely appear in future search results for “racist corporations.”

5367: Childproof The Home From BET, MTV.

From OneNewsNow.com…

Campaign targets MTV’s, BET’s music video ‘assault’ on children

By Jim Brown

A new report from the Parents Television Council finds that daytime music video programming on Black Entertainment Television and MTV features sexual, violent, profane or obscene content once every 38 seconds. Deep concerns are being expressed over the influence that is having on young children.

The study conducted by the Parents Television Council (PTC) -- titled “The Rap on Rap” -- examined music videos on BET and MTV during afternoon and early evening hours, when many children are at home after school. PTC president Tim Winter announced the findings at the National Press Club in Washington yesterday.

“Being in the trenches fighting for better indecency enforcement and cable choice on behalf of millions of American families, we thought we’d seen it all,” Winter lamented, “but even we were taken aback by what we found in the music video programs on MTV and BET that are targeted directly at impressionable children.”

PTC found more than 1,300 instances of offensive content in a mere 14 hours of programming in March, primarily in the form of sexually-charged images, explicit language, violence, drug use and sales, and other illegal activity.

The study was commissioned by the Enough is Enough Campaign led by Maryland pastor Delman Coates, who says his group is spotlighting a serious problem in American popular culture. He described elements of that problem: “The celebration and glorification of images that sexually objectify women, that glorify violence and criminal activity, that negatively stereotype black and Latino men as pimps, gangsters, and thugs -- and also that market adult-themed material to children and youth.”

Dr. E. Faye Williams, a leading black feminist and national chair of the National Congress of Black Women, has teamed up with the Enough is Enough Campaign and is denouncing corporate executives who are allowing the sexually explicit and profane rap music videos to be aired repetitively on the two networks. The campaign, she asserts, is not about censorship of artistic expression, but rather responsibility.

“We know how important our children are. And we know that many times if our children see these things on television, they think it’s alright -- unless we object to it,” Williams pointed out.” … So we as adults have a responsibility to show our children something better than they are being fed.”

The images that are “simply ram[med] down their throats everyday” by the networks are not appropriate, said Williams. “They are not the criminals, they are not the thugs, they are not the gangsters [portrayed in the programming],” she stated. “So we as adults must do something better.”

Former BET program director Paul Porter, who now runs the nonpartisan think tank Industry Ears, declared that only poor “ratings and revenue” will change the coarse programming at BET and MTV.

The Enough is Enough Campaign has been holding weekly protest rallies outside the residences of the CEOs of BET and Viacom (which owns BET and MTV), and plans to begin targeting companies whose advertising dollars are paying for the offensive programming on BET and MTV. Some of those companies include Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, Sony, and AT&T.