Dolores R. sent in a flubbed opportunity to represent Mexicans positively and reach out to the expanding Mexican market in the U.S. In “honor” of Cinco de Mayo, Mike’s Hard Lemonade hired five men — in fake mustaches and sombreros — to pretend to be a Mariachi band. They then improvised songs in response to submissions from viewers. The stunt is self-conscious, along the lines of the “ironic” “hipster racism” we now see so much of.
The fake band may have been making fun of themselves, but they did so by engaging in something that they had already decided was ridiculous, Mariachi music. Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone.
A better approach, Latino Rebels suggests, would have been to spotlight some of the actual awesome Mariachi music out there. They wouldn’t have even had to be traditional. They could have hired a real band to improvise, or they could have drawn on the existing Mariachi cover bands, bands that do really neat stuff! Here’s, for example, is a band covering Hotel California:
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 9
Daniel — May 6, 2012
This is Mike's Hard Lemonade, all of their ad campaigns consist of idiots making a fool of themselves and acting in stereotypical manners. When it came time to make a Cinco de Mayo themed ad, instead of making real Mexican mariachi bands look silly, they got a bunch of white guys to try to be mariachis and fail miserably, (the message the I received was that only authentic Mexicans can be good mariachis, as opposed to white hipsters).Can a case be made against Mike's Hard Lemonade because all of their ads (to my recolection) feature exclusively white people and don't feature women prominently? Absolutely, without a doubt. However, considering that the "theme" of all their ads is people acting ridiculously, how much MORE of an outcry would there have been if there were actual Mexicans acting foolishly in their ads?
In a sense, because all of the "characters" in Mike's Hard Lemonade's ads are acting foolish, it could be argued that they are "playing it safe" by casting white actors as opposed to underrepresented minorities, because otherwise they would have to answer to people complaining that they are protraying minorities in a negative light. For the record I am NOT MAKING THIS ARGUMENT (is there a way to do italics or bold or some other form of emphasis on this site?) I just enjoy playing devil's advocate and looking at things from all points of view, and wouldn't be surprised if the PR department at Mike's Hard Lemonade has had this exact thought.
Andres — May 6, 2012
I'm not particularly comfortable with the term "hipster racism". I think that if something is racist, then it's sufficient enough to just say it's racist. There's no need to insight a stereotype in order to combat a stereotype. It's counterproductive. The same goes for irony. The sooner the word irony is relinquished from it's "hipster" connotations, the better.
decius — May 6, 2012
In the phrase "A better approach" did you intend 'better' in the moral imperative sense, the suitability for purpose sense, or in some other sense? I can't interpret it in a way that isn't wrong or absurd.
JontKopeck — May 7, 2012
Well, as cultural appropriations go it's rare enough that the inauthenticity is declared, let alone brought to the fore.