Comments on: The White Woman’s Burden

By: White Woman’s Burden or Just More of Pampers’ Poop? | Something Texty

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 02:18:16 +0000

[...] years-old post found on the highly-acclaimed Sociological Images blog analyses a Pampers commercial–noting [...]

By: Lindy

Lindy — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:59:00 +0000

OMG I practice what is known as “attachment parenting” and this is just an insanely irritating commercial!!! Let’s see beyond the overt racism, I love that the “civilized” and “independent” white/Western baby doesn’t need to be held, unlike the “ethnic” and “needy” babies whose poor mothers can’t afford strollers to distance them from their child. (I wear my baby much like the African mother shown in the beginning- I have a stroller and have never used it!) Also if we are so concerned about others, what about pollution from disposable diapers? Maybe those other babies would be even healthier if they had clean water instead of toxic waste from all the chemical additives used in the manufacturing of Pampers. Why can’t we Westerners cloth diaper or heaven forbid NOT diaper our babies at all? (Many non-West babies never have diapers and instead their mothers use a practice known as elimination communication where just as one senses when a child is hungry, so too do you sense when they need to go the bathroom and they hold them over the toilet.) Oh and don’t even get me started on the issue of vacines!!! I know how about we encourage more breastfeeding worldwide to naturally boost immunity instead of glamourizing Western commercialized baby products like formula and disposable diapers (which came about around the same time)??? Ugh!

By: Jo

Jo — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 01:41:48 +0000

That’s ok, Ki, they *are* cute. :)

That says, I imagine they’re all carefully chosen for their cuteness. Just like baby models in other ads :)

By: DoctorJay

DoctorJay — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:53:51 +0000

True

By: Ki

Ki — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:18:00 +0000

The first time I saw this commercial, I couldn’t get over how cute all the babies were, haha.

I’m curious, though. What would a less ethnocentric/sexist commercial look like? Would there be fathers included as well? Wouldn’t it be worse if instead of traditional clothes, they were all wearing jeans? Maybe the parents of the children in other countries would be giving something back, so it was less patronizing? I’m not sure.

While I definitely see where everyone is coming from with this, I can’t help but wonder if there’s a “right” way to portray such a situation.

Because the vaccines are helping people. (Let’s not get into the fact that colonialism created/contributed to so much of that poverty and spread of disease in the first place…) So I think there is at least some effort here. How would you make the commercial “better”?

By: Katsuryi

Katsuryi — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:59:16 +0000

Just so you guys know, they have a similar commercial from Pampers here in China, but it has a (most likely) Han Chinese Child and talks about helping poor Chinese kids. (No other nations/groups are mentioned)

By: Which Images Represent India? » Sociological Images

Which Images Represent India? » Sociological Images — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:43:35 +0000

[...] check out our posts on “starving African kids,” juxtaposing wealth and poverty, the white woman’s burden, the “we are all African” campaign, making charity recipients look gross, tourism in [...]

By: Romanticizing Colonialism » Sociological Images

Romanticizing Colonialism » Sociological Images — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:19:54 +0000

[...] posts about colonialism: Jewel thinks she’s progressive, the white woman’s burden, cadbury chocolate and colonialism, deracializing the modernity/tradition binary, and colonial era [...]

By: Cherie

Cherie — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 13:19:31 +0000

Did I read the fine print in the commercial correctly? Is Procter & Gamble only donating five cents ($.05 USD) per purchase? Wow. They probably spent more on the media campaign than on the actual donations towards the vaccines.

By: Sociological Images » What We’ve Been Up To Behind Your Back (July 2009)

Sociological Images » What We’ve Been Up To Behind Your Back (July 2009) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 19:53:18 +0000

[...] published a fascinating example of the white man’s burden. This time, however, it’s a white woman’s burden in the form of a Pampers commercial. It’s something; you should check it [...]

By: Sociological Images » Should Marketing Principles Be Applied to Disease?

Sociological Images » Should Marketing Principles Be Applied to Disease? — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:38:54 +0000

[...] discussed the commodification of activism extensively (see here, here, here, here, and here) and s0 I’m going to skip this point. Instead, I’d like the ask [...]

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:53:29 +0000

Yes. The racist overtones of this particular ad drive me crazy.

Another thing that’s always bugged me about those ads is this: it would be better for the environment to just buy cloth diapers once, and wash them. And just think of all the money you could donate to direct care programs like Doctors Without Borders if you weren’t buying disposable diapers.

By: Monday afternoon quarterbacking « Prioritizing the Paranoias

Monday afternoon quarterbacking « Prioritizing the Paranoias — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:32:24 +0000

[...] cynical reaction, but hadn’t been able to focus enough to write it out, so instead, you get the link to Sociological Images where they say what I was thinking quite well for the most part. I’d pr’bly add though [...]

By: White Privilege: Now for your baby « don’t do that

White Privilege: Now for your baby « don’t do that — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:27:33 +0000

[...] July 13, 2008 by harrietsdaughter I first saw this video on Sociological Images. [...]

By: Louisa

Louisa — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 05:01:36 +0000

Did they really just show the Asian woman with a STRAW HAT. Embarrassing.