Thursday, January 29, 2015

12444: Cattiness For Kat Gordon.

Does anyone else think Kat Gordon’s perspectives make sense less than 3% of the time?

Gordon possibly topped her spinach-in-your-teeth nonsense with an Adweek column on the upcoming Super Bowl commercials that displays all the keen insight of an NFL-challenged woman who only watches the annual championship game for the half-time concert. No, honey, Deflategate is not a new VIAGRA® campaign.

In her latest delusional discussion, Gordon proclaimed this year’s Super Bowl commercials reflect a fresh effort to show “What it means to be an American in 2015.” Gordon continued by declaring, “As President Obama challenged in his recent State of the Union address: ‘Imagine if we broke out of these tired, old patterns.’ It appears Madison Avenue has not only already imagined this, but is delivering on it. We’ll see spots that are newly multicultural and inclusive.”

Perhaps, but the creators of the work are anything but multicultural and inclusive. To praise faux progressive propaganda produced by a predominately White male and White female posse is pathetic.

Has Gordon abandoned her alleged desire to battle for equality? Somebody locate the fiery fighter who once stated, “I am not advocating on behalf of my gender. I’m advocating on behalf of our industry. We all will prosper—every gender, ethnicity and culture—when we stop perpetuating this maxim [‘It doesn’t matter who does the creative, as long as they’re good.’] and embrace a more complex and prosperous truth.”

A 2010 report revealed the exclusivity of the folks behind Super Bowl commercials. It’s unlikely that much has changed in five years, as diversity remains a dream deferred and denied in adland—and the industry’s been in deferment and denial for over 60 years.

On the flipside, White women have made great strides in the field and continue to grow in numbers, despite whining to the contrary. But this White women’s movement—happening in US and UK advertising agencies, as well as many other industries—has been accelerating for decades.

Coincidentally, Gordon has scheduled a 3% girlfriends get-together for Super Bowl Sunday, which will take place on the first day of Black History Month. But don’t expect acknowledgment from Gordon and crew, even though White women comprise the group that has most benefited from affirmative action.

Gordon and her friends, incidentally, will be tweeting commentary on the Super Bowl commercials. Um, similar to the Clio Creative Bowl, does anyone really give a shit about self-absorbed opinions from clans of predominately White adpeople?

Additionally, Gordon is wrong to contend that the spots constitute “a lineup that sidesteps stale stereotypes in favor of new characters and storylines more in keeping with what the U.S. looks, feels and sounds like in 2015.” The commercials she references are simply the current pseudo-liberal clichés and stereotypes churned out by White advertising agencies and embraced by White advertisers. For example, the 2014 Cheerios spot is not “in keeping with what the U.S. looks, feels and sounds like,” as Black and White unions are the least common of interracial marriages.

Can’t help but feel like Gordon’s viewpoints are essentially promotional pieces for her 3% Conference—which makes her revolutionary spirit seem, well, patronizing. Sorry, but the 2015 Super Bowl commercials do not represent “What it means to be an American in 2015.” Rather, they ultimately underscore what it means to be a Black American, Latino American, Asian American, Native American, etc. on Madison Avenue in 2015—as well as spotlight the never-ending privileged status of White men and White women in our ranks.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you link this article to the comments on this other one? They feel like an important part of the conversation.

http://multicultclassics.blogspot.com/2015/01/12430-dumb-woman-perspective.html

HighJive said...

Added reference and link into content. Thanks.