Flashback Friday.
Behold, one of my favorite things on SocImages. This pair of Italian commercials are for a do-it-yourself fabric dye. First, commercial #1 (no Italian needed):
Message: “Coloured is better” or black men are physically and sexually superior to white men.
BUT WAIT! Wait till you see the twist in commercial #2!
When the man tries to use the dye to transform his wife, it becomes clear that the dye only works one way. Clearly, it is designed for women to produce the (heteronormative, racialized) object of desire that they supposedly want. Message: Coloreria is “What women want” or the laundry room is for ladies.
Originally posted April 2008, thanks to Elizabeth A. and Feministing. Also in women-are-responsible-for-cooking-and-cleaning: women love to clean, homes of the future, what’s for dinner, honey?, liberation through quick meals, and my husband’s an ass.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 23
E. A — April 14, 2008
Yeah, this was an ad that was so full of discussion material that I didn't know where to begin. After a lengthy rant about the ways in which I found it insidious, some commenters asked if I was taking the ad too seriously, as it was "just an ad." Sociological Images helps to point out that we're not dealing with "just ads" here, but pervasive trends of bias that are so common as to become invisible to most people...
Anonymous — April 15, 2008
"Coloured is Better" -- wow. just wow.
Gee, Thanks Kentucky Fried Chicken » Sociological Images — November 15, 2009
[...] in women are responsible for cooking and cleaning: a commercial montage, Italian dye ad with a twist, women love to clean, homes of the future, what’s for dinner, honey?, liberation through [...]
Who Buys For the Family? » Sociological Images — November 25, 2009
[...] for the home, see this KFC advertisement offering moms a night off, this a commercial montage, Italian dye ad with a twist, women love to clean, homes of the future, what’s for dinner, honey?, liberation through [...]
Laundry: Women Have Always Done It » Sociological Images — December 2, 2009
[...] more examples, see these: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, [...]
Andrew — April 4, 2014
This Australian commercial did the same thing, but with yet another stereotype thrown in at the end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8LeCJtKjEI
It's hard to imagine that the makers of these ad weren't aware they were going to offend with the Mandingo cliche; indeed, it's exactly the sort of controversy that helps an ad go viral without alienating the predominantly white customer base in those countries.
However, it's plausible that the Italian advertisers weren't aware of the cultural baggage of the word "coloured," particularly from the American perspective. In the US, it's essentially a racial slur, deeply connected to the Jim Crow era, whereas its equivalents in some European languages (I don't know about Italian) are on the more benign end of the spectrum of racial terminology. Complicating things even further, you have countries like South Africa, in which "Colored" is regarded as a distinct racial group and separate from "Black."
Larry Charles Wilson — April 4, 2014
If I thought it would do any good, I'd quote William James here; but I've read this blog for too many years to think it would.
Bill R — April 4, 2014
Why are we so afraid to ask and try to answer the big question?
What is it about these cultures that would make such ads so appealing that businesses would invest money in producing them?
Lunad — April 4, 2014
That little gulp at the end of the second ad... black men are to be feared, right? (also, do I detect homophobic fear of rape in that?)
Asta — April 5, 2014
About the "coloured" word so lightly thrown out there, I believe, as suggested by Andrew, that it could be the result of ignorance and ingenuity. Here in Italy the word "Di colore" is still popular among the masses as a "PC" racial definition, disregarding the implicit statement that a skin pigmentation different from pink would be a deviation from the norm.
About that last gulp in the second ad, it's free to interpretation, but considering the dominant male culture of Mediterranean populations, the most popular interpretation is going to be the honophobic scare of rape, which perfectly intersects with the recognition of the mandingo stereotype.
ThisMachineKillsLeftists — April 11, 2014
Sure is overanalysis.
How do you know the ad wasn't simply trying to portray a manlier, more desirable male who just happens to be black?
And btw, black men on average ARE physically superior to white men. It's time to grow up and stop believing in equality.