AgencySpy posted about a Taco Bell commercial created by Deutsch that sparked criticism regarding the brand’s racial insensitivity. Specifically, a version of the commercial showed a White man throwing garbage at a Black woman pushing her baby in a stroller—all taking place in a 1950s-style setting. Of course, the online discussions included the standard volleys between the offended and offended-by-the-offended, with the latter group labeling the former group as overreacting liberals. Meanwhile, Deutsch averted accountability in the matter, reportedly deferring to the client, who responded by stating, “We had no intention of upsetting anyone with this ad and apologize to anyone who was offended. We immediately re-edited the commercial and removed the original version from the air.” Contrary to the offended-by-the-offended’s position, Taco Bell’s apology and re-edit technically concede a mistake was made. Regardless, the teachable moment demands examining Deutsch’s role. Consider the White advertising agency’s history of deceit, extreme exclusivity, nepotism, sexist stupidity, cultural stereotyping and firing its Chief Diversity Officer. Why, the Taco Bell incident could be karma or cultural cluelessness—and probably a heaping serving of both.
The comments kind of say it all, don't they?
ReplyDeleteNo matter what black and brown people think about an ad, they are wrong in the eyes of the white people working on those ads. They're considered "crybabies" or "social justice warriors" or just flatout wrong.
No matter how the ad is received by ethnic consumers, if it's not with glee and boot licking gratitude, the ads' creators and the white ad industry at large will do backbends and twists to justify why they are right, and the consumers are wrong.
And those are the people in charge of creating 99.9% of all ads.