MultiCultClassics will probably go straight to hell for saying this, but it looks like the ad’s head and body were combined from different sources via Photoshop.
Love your blog. You are incisive and so good at unmasking how media images dehumanize and demonize POC.
Nice to know that it still boggles your mind to think a fat woman is attractive. Also, love the Burger King obesity image up top. 2X and Burger King might be white, but you can bet that your derision slams back on on all women. Thanks.
Actually, it isn’t mind-boggling. It just doesn’t appear the head is proportionate with the body—and the lighting barely matches. Sorry, it just comes from having been an art director.
Didn’t mean to offend with the BK pic; however, we’ve been pretty consistent with those types of images, presenting men, women, kids, etc.—of all races and ethnicities.
Highjive, thanks for the response and consideration.
One of the things I like best about the blog is that it points out that racism is just stupid and insulting and avoids hand-wringing, but....
I wanted to add a couple of points:
When I saw the BK image, it said white trash (almost the only explicitly racialized white folks in advertising/media), but it also reminded me of the Mammy image, Norbit, Big Mama. It hit the same notes of slovenliness, misplaced femininity, and excess.
Race, class, gender and fat intersect to create pictures of abjection, pictures that are constantly appealed to to sell. Fatties epitomize the thing we are not, Thank God! Make them Black and/or Latino, women, and/or poor, and you hit the stereotype sweepstakes.
In this context, the pictures used everywhere to 'illustrate' the obesity crisis have an insidious resonance that picks up on the notion that certain people are gross trash. And, what do you know, that trash is often color-coded. Y'all may be even-handed and non-racist, but the culture of the image isn't. Once overly reproductive, the 'urban poor' are now threateningly fat, yet another drain on 'our' resources.
Just saying--fat poking has serious spillover (no pun intended). This isn't really *your* problem, just one you inherit a little bit whenever you post on fat.
Agree with everything you typed. To be clear, the image was “found” by entering “Burger King” via Google Images. There was no forethought to anything; it just seemed to fit with the Burger King/obesity references in the news items.
Love your blog. You are incisive and so good at unmasking how media images dehumanize and demonize POC.
ReplyDeleteNice to know that it still boggles your mind to think a fat woman is attractive. Also, love the Burger King obesity image up top. 2X and Burger King might be white, but you can bet that your derision slams back on on all women. Thanks.
Actually, it isn’t mind-boggling. It just doesn’t appear the head is proportionate with the body—and the lighting barely matches. Sorry, it just comes from having been an art director.
ReplyDeleteDidn’t mean to offend with the BK pic; however, we’ve been pretty consistent with those types of images, presenting men, women, kids, etc.—of all races and ethnicities.
Highjive, thanks for the response and consideration.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I like best about the blog is that it points out that racism is just stupid and insulting and avoids hand-wringing, but....
I wanted to add a couple of points:
When I saw the BK image, it said white trash (almost the only explicitly racialized white folks in advertising/media), but it also reminded me of the Mammy image, Norbit, Big Mama. It hit the same notes of slovenliness, misplaced femininity, and excess.
Race, class, gender and fat intersect to create pictures of abjection, pictures that are constantly appealed to to sell. Fatties epitomize the thing we are not, Thank God! Make them Black and/or Latino, women, and/or poor, and you hit the stereotype sweepstakes.
In this context, the pictures used everywhere to 'illustrate' the obesity crisis have an insidious resonance that picks up on the notion that certain people are gross trash. And, what do you know, that trash is often color-coded. Y'all may be even-handed and non-racist, but the culture of the image isn't. Once overly reproductive, the 'urban poor' are now threateningly fat, yet another drain on 'our' resources.
Just saying--fat poking has serious spillover (no pun intended). This isn't really *your* problem, just one you inherit a little bit whenever you post on fat.
Agree with everything you typed. To be clear, the image was “found” by entering “Burger King” via Google Images. There was no forethought to anything; it just seemed to fit with the Burger King/obesity references in the news items.
ReplyDelete