Comments on: Africa Is Wild, And You Can Be Too

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:55:48 +0000

It is not a Jaguar on the bottle lable. It is a Leopard from Africa.

By: More Fetishization of Black Bodies as Fashion Props (Mildly NSFW) » Sociological Images

Sat, 15 May 2010 16:32:27 +0000

[...] with a heart of gold, interracial dating as tourism, Indian people as props, Africans as props, and Africa is wild. var addthis_language = 'en'; 17 Comments Tags: clothes/fashion, cultural [...]

By: Helene Vork

Helene Vork — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:41:32 +0000

Of course you have to view Africa as a single thing when discussing the general associations with Africa(-as-a-single-thing)! But it is still simplified and wrong, and there’s nothing wrong with correcting that. Sometimes it can be neccesary to talk about Africa as a whole, because there is a great part of shared history, but it is important acknowledge that every individual country or ethnic group has its own culture, history and situation.

By the way, as a Dane (from Denmark), and thereby an European I DO get offended by being put in the same bow with everyother EU country. I don’t feel more connected to Italy, Switzerland, Turkey or UK than I do to US or the rest of the world. We have extremely different cultures and political systems. I find it ignorant, when people think that Europe is just one big country filled with castles.

By: Who Is Primitive? » Sociological Images

Who Is Primitive? » Sociological Images — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:32:34 +0000

[...] places that are, almost exclusively, in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the South Pacific. In a previous post I introduced the idea of “anachronistic space.” I wrote: “Catherine MacKinnon [...]

By: nightrain

nightrain — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:48:07 +0000

“what is interesting here is the association of Africa itself with animalism and primitiveness (an association that no doubt also colors our thinking about black people)”

This is a stupid assumption created by overreacting to anything even slightly hinting at racism. Did the writer of this article not notice the goddamn LEOPARD SPOTS on the people? Not to mention they’re not all black? It’s the fact that Africa is known for its WILD ANIMALS, not black people, that make it “wild”.

By: From the Publisher – Costco pulled the Black “Lil’ Monkey” baby doll from its shelves, along with its white “Pretty Panda” « The Political Agitator

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:07:50 +0000

[...] and justify hatred and exploitation. This associations continue to be propagated (e,g., here, here, and here). This week Costco pulled the black “Lil’ Monkey” baby doll from its shelves, [...]

By: advocate

advocate — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:49:37 +0000

The cultural unity of Africa has been incontrovertably established and this, several decades ago. There is little offense voiced at the discussion of Europe as a “single thing” (ref. the EU)

Any objection to an a discussion of Africa in the same light, is disgenuous…and ‘upset? Perhaps a little introspection into one’s own psychopathology is in order.

By: V for Vegan: easyVegan.info » Blog Archive » Intersectionality ‘Round the Interwebs, No. 4

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:33:21 +0000

[...] Sociological Images: Africa Is Wild, And You Can Be Too [...]

By: Black “Lil’ Monkey” Baby Doll » Sociological Images

Black “Lil’ Monkey” Baby Doll » Sociological Images — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 03:30:50 +0000

[...] and justify hatred and exploitation. This associations continue to be propagated (e,g., here, here, and here). This week Costco pulled the black “Lil’ Monkey” baby doll from its [...]

By: julian

julian — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:54:51 +0000

Since everyone else is/has covered the issues with this ad campaign/product (of which there are plenty!), I just thought I’d throw out there how fracking COOL some of them look — particularly the first and second.

The first one makes me think of a tattoo, and I love the idea of a traditionally “pretty,” wealthy white woman with a large, visible tattoo.

The second one because it’s a surprise — at first glance it looks like your traditional “hot lady with alcohol — drink this and you can have me!” liquor ad, and then BAM a tail.

This doesn’t make up for the myriad of problems, but still, it is neat.

By: wondering

wondering — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:11:33 +0000

In every case, the person turning into an animal is a woman, unless there is no woman in the image.

By: Morag

Morag — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:37:09 +0000

This ad (at least the bottom image with the woman and man embracing) was ordered to be discontinued in Britain, by the advertising standards agency.(http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/ – search for Wild Africa). It wasn’t because of racism, but because it was seen to imply that alcohol could make you more confident or enhance your mood, and because it might be implying that alcohol could be used in a seductive or sexual context. The UK is quite hard on gambling and alcohol adds implying you’ll be a cooler or sexier person, one complaint is often enough to pull an entire ad campaign.

By: Duran

Duran — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:26:55 +0000

Africa is indeed less modern than the West. Look at any measure of modernity: GDP, industrialization, infant mortality, literacy rates, access to information, etc. Why are you lying to your students?

By: adam

adam — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:28:36 +0000

Bex:
Yes we do! Look at the website. Regardles of who is advertising it, it is being marketed around the world to the North and middle and upperclass people. I think this company is not being as exploitative of “Africa” as others–they seem consious to include some cultural context. Yet, the point is that they are **marketing** this product through the association between Africa, animality, wildness, and aboriginal culture. Using the trope of leopards as powerful predatory animals instead of say meercats, they are exploiting widespread colonialist visions of Africa around the world which exist not only in the US but also Japan, Germany and other present or formally imperialist countries and those that continue to consume American pop culture representations of “Africa.”

Check out this distorted map that emphasises the Northern distribution (and the USA seems to have 52 states now???):
http://www.wildafricacream.co.za/view/distribution/2.html

For good reading–_Artificial Africas_byu Ruth Mayer (2002):
http://books.google.com/books?id=SdQraQVBeX8C&dq=artifical+africas&source=gbs_navlinks_s

By: adam

adam — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:16:36 +0000

According to the website:
“We cover our bottles in a sleek leopard print material, giving it a wilder attitude than any other bottle on the shelf. But our style has purpose, it’s about keeping cool – the content remains cool, even when removed from the fridge. We place ubuntu beads around the neck, because we are proudly South African and hold dear to our heritage…Ubuntu is a cultural way of life in this area, and means that “what is mine is yours and because I am you are.” And in the spirit of ubuntu, we’ve decided to share this smooth taste with the rest of the world”

My guess is that the inclusion of an equal number of white and black, male and female people in the adsis an attempt to be inclusive–trying to express “multicultural,” or multiracial, South Africa as the product statement expresses.

However, the idea that this Liqueur should be shares “with the rest of the world after using a threatened African animal who is poached and the aboriginal ubuntu “way of life” once (and continually) threatened by (neo)colonialism (and global capitalism) seems not so distant from commodifying and exporting these African resources for consumption in the North. Is this really sharing, be multicultural, or an appropriation/exploitation of “Africa”in another form?