I found this in Rolling Stone.
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Here we have buying bottled water–a product criticized for its environmental impacts–portrayed as a form of humanitarianism. Also, in smaller text the ad sneaks in a plug for a movie: “Ethos is a proud supporter of ‘Running the Sahara.’ In theaters this spring.” I presume Matt Damon stars in it. Why can’t celebrities just donate their own money instead of trying to get us to buy something expensive just so a tiny bit of it goes to a charity?
And in the tiniest print down at the bottom you learn that 5 cents from every purchase is donated to the Ethos Water Fund. The Impulsive Buy says Ethos costs $1.85 a bottle (I found that price listed elsewhere as well). Also, Ethos is owned by Starbucks.
You might want to pair this image with this, this, and this.
While we’re on the topic of the current presidential campaign…
I’ve noticed something interesting about the images and phrases used to criticize Clinton and Obama. Why does the majority of anti-Clinton rhetoric use sexist images and language? And how prevelant is the (expected?) matching racism in the anti-Obama rhetoric and images? Why, instead, does Obama’s national allegiance and patriotism come into question? I think this would make for a great class discussion on intersectionality, an what prejudices are perceived to be “socially acceptable.”
Some possible questions for discussion:
- Is it more socially acceptable to be overtly sexist than overtly racist? Why?
- Why might it seem to be more okay to question someone’s patriotism/nationalism than to be overtly racist? What is the difference?
- What is really racist that doesn’t immediately appear racist?
And the images– again these come from Facebook groups with tens of thousands of members. See also previous images of Hillary Clinton here and here.
“Fly, my pretties, fly! Bring me the presidency”:
And now for Obama…
And here are some attacking Barack Obama’s nationality and patriotism:
And the infamous image (more info from snopes.com):
This is a cover of Vogue featuring LeBron James and Gisele Bundchen. Notice the postures: LeBron as the hulking, angry black man, and Gisele as arm candy. Apparently this issue has a whole section on “the World’s Top Models and Star Athletes.” Hmmm, I wonder what the gender breakdown is?
Notice also the way in which the image reproduces the famous King Kong imagery:
Here is a link to an MSNBC segment on the cover.
Thanks to Carmela Z. for sending this image along!
NEW (Jan ’10)! Ruth D’R. and a reader-who-wishes-to-remain-anonymous sent us this (highly photoshopped) photo of Kanye West and Lady Gaga, one of the images in her “Fame Monster” CD liner notes. Some argue that it, too, reproduces the racialized King Kong imagery in which a black man (threatens to) ravage a white woman:
Some may think that this is a reach. But I think her nudity, plus the symbols of primitivity (the plants, the erupting volcano, and even the khakis) clearly invoke animalism.
I guess this is what sexism used to look like (before it looked like this and this and this and this and this):
These Folgers commercials are doozies:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VprIbx4QkPc[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnjjkgIO3Ck[/youtube]
Thanks David P. for sending us both the ad, found here, and the commercial!
* I stole the title of this post from HeatherShow.
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.
Since we’re on a plastic surgery kick…according to members of the American Society of Plastic Surgery, breast reduction is the most common cosmetic procedure among 13-19 year olds (girls and boys combined). Members performed 17,269 in 2006. A set of photos available here shows is how trivial the difference is between the before and after pictures. These men were diagnosed with “moderate” gynecomastia. The belief that men are flat chested and women are breasted is not based in biology. In reality, there is a great deal more overlap between men’s and women’s bodies than we’re comfortable with… so off to the plastic surgeon.
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.
Chris Uggen has a nice discussion of this graph (see here) showing the (it turns out more or less linear) change in drug use between 2001 and 2007. In particular, he offers a nice idea for how to use it to talk about the difference between cohort, age, and period effects.
Graph originally found here.
If you have a pulse and exist in or near the liberal blogsophere, you have likely been told that the website Stuff White People Like is hilarious. I don’t share the love for the site, but it might be useful to bring it up in class in order to have a discussion about WHY people like it so much. What, exactly, is it tapping into?
The website, Black People Love Us, is, in my opinion, a smarter satire.
And my personal favorite, which I have successfully used in my Race and Ethnicity course numerous times, is Damali Ayo’s Rent-A-Negro. It packs a real punch. (Oh, and yes, people do sometimes think the site is real and fill out the order information, including their credit card numbers.)
Here we have buying bottled water–a product criticized for its environmental impacts–portrayed as a form of humanitarianism. Also, in smaller text the ad sneaks in a plug for a movie: “Ethos is a proud supporter of ‘Running the Sahara.’ In theaters this spring.” I presume Matt Damon stars in it. Why can’t celebrities just donate their own money instead of trying to get us to buy something expensive just so a tiny bit of it goes to a charity?
And in the tiniest print down at the bottom you learn that 5 cents from every purchase is donated to the Ethos Water Fund. The Impulsive Buy says Ethos costs $1.85 a bottle (I found that price listed elsewhere as well). Also, Ethos is owned by Starbucks.
You might want to pair this image with this, this, and this.
While we’re on the topic of the current presidential campaign…
I’ve noticed something interesting about the images and phrases used to criticize Clinton and Obama. Why does the majority of anti-Clinton rhetoric use sexist images and language? And how prevelant is the (expected?) matching racism in the anti-Obama rhetoric and images? Why, instead, does Obama’s national allegiance and patriotism come into question? I think this would make for a great class discussion on intersectionality, an what prejudices are perceived to be “socially acceptable.”
Some possible questions for discussion:
- Is it more socially acceptable to be overtly sexist than overtly racist? Why?
- Why might it seem to be more okay to question someone’s patriotism/nationalism than to be overtly racist? What is the difference?
- What is really racist that doesn’t immediately appear racist?
And the images– again these come from Facebook groups with tens of thousands of members. See also previous images of Hillary Clinton here and here.
“Fly, my pretties, fly! Bring me the presidency”:
And now for Obama…
And here are some attacking Barack Obama’s nationality and patriotism:
And the infamous image (more info from snopes.com):
This is a cover of Vogue featuring LeBron James and Gisele Bundchen. Notice the postures: LeBron as the hulking, angry black man, and Gisele as arm candy. Apparently this issue has a whole section on “the World’s Top Models and Star Athletes.” Hmmm, I wonder what the gender breakdown is?
Notice also the way in which the image reproduces the famous King Kong imagery:
Here is a link to an MSNBC segment on the cover.
Thanks to Carmela Z. for sending this image along!
NEW (Jan ’10)! Ruth D’R. and a reader-who-wishes-to-remain-anonymous sent us this (highly photoshopped) photo of Kanye West and Lady Gaga, one of the images in her “Fame Monster” CD liner notes. Some argue that it, too, reproduces the racialized King Kong imagery in which a black man (threatens to) ravage a white woman:
Some may think that this is a reach. But I think her nudity, plus the symbols of primitivity (the plants, the erupting volcano, and even the khakis) clearly invoke animalism.
I guess this is what sexism used to look like (before it looked like this and this and this and this and this):
These Folgers commercials are doozies:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VprIbx4QkPc[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnjjkgIO3Ck[/youtube]
Thanks David P. for sending us both the ad, found here, and the commercial!
* I stole the title of this post from HeatherShow.
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.
Since we’re on a plastic surgery kick…according to members of the American Society of Plastic Surgery, breast reduction is the most common cosmetic procedure among 13-19 year olds (girls and boys combined). Members performed 17,269 in 2006. A set of photos available here shows is how trivial the difference is between the before and after pictures. These men were diagnosed with “moderate” gynecomastia. The belief that men are flat chested and women are breasted is not based in biology. In reality, there is a great deal more overlap between men’s and women’s bodies than we’re comfortable with… so off to the plastic surgeon.
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.
Chris Uggen has a nice discussion of this graph (see here) showing the (it turns out more or less linear) change in drug use between 2001 and 2007. In particular, he offers a nice idea for how to use it to talk about the difference between cohort, age, and period effects.
Graph originally found here.
If you have a pulse and exist in or near the liberal blogsophere, you have likely been told that the website Stuff White People Like is hilarious. I don’t share the love for the site, but it might be useful to bring it up in class in order to have a discussion about WHY people like it so much. What, exactly, is it tapping into?
The website, Black People Love Us, is, in my opinion, a smarter satire.
And my personal favorite, which I have successfully used in my Race and Ethnicity course numerous times, is Damali Ayo’s Rent-A-Negro. It packs a real punch. (Oh, and yes, people do sometimes think the site is real and fill out the order information, including their credit card numbers.)