Sony: Move over black here comes white

[MultiVaC]

I'm offended...











BY THAT HORRIBLE HAIRSTYLE! And I thought that black woman was a guy too.

 

[Steven]

Let's give it attention like they indend us to do with that add.

 

[Sulkdodds]

How strange.

Well, it's only racist if they don't have an ad with a black woman dominating a white one.

Maybe. >.>

 

[Rennmniscant]

Racist or not, that ad's clever

 

[JellyWorld]

Racist or not, that ad's clever

Quoted for truth.

 

[Azner]

That ad is funny as hell.

I don't know what to do with you, you are always totaly out of point opposing in a carppy way and deserve to be bant for the sake of peace cause you are an asshole

For the ad, it is Racist but i guess that made it that way to draw attention.

 

[Steven]

I don't know what to do with you, you are always totaly out of point opposing in a carppy way and deserve to be bant for the sake of peace cause you are an asshole

For the ad, it is Racist but i guess that made it that way to draw attention.

Argueing with tr0n won't make you very popular.

 

[Sulkdodds]

He'll just redneck atchoo anyway.

 

[Raeven0]

For the ad, it is Racist

Yes, using beautifully-presented black and white people to represent functionally identical black and white devices battling for control of the nerd market in a series of ads in which both sides are shown "winning" and "losing" at different times is definitely racism.

 

[JNightshade]

Azner does get points for use of the word "carpy", though

 

[Bad^Hat]

Always knew there was something fishy about that guyohjesusI'mgoingtobed D:

 

[CptStern]

lol!

 

[tehsolace]

Yes, using beautifully-presented black and white people to represent functionally identical black and white devices battling for control of the nerd market in a series of ads in which both sides are shown "winning" and "losing" at different times is definitely racism.

sarcasm ftw!

 

[Insano]

lol!

http://www.kotaku.com/images/2006/07/ds_ad.jpg

Is the black one male or female, this thing is confusing me

 

[CptStern]

well he does have boobs ..but that could be manboobs

 

[tehsolace]

Is the black one male or female, this thing is confusing me

in that picture? theyre both men...

its a pun on the original ad, only instead of black vs white its skinny vs fat...

 

[Mechagodzilla]

If you stop and actually think for a minute, the black gal obviously represents the black PSP. So is Sony honestly bashing their own product?
Seems to me more like the ad supports racial equality.

"Move over, dominant race. Here is other race to share the wealth."

Like I said, there's a stupid trend in which whenever something vaguely negative happens to a non-white person in media, everyone yells racism.

It's a "noble savage" racism that is almost equally bad.
Humans have flaws, and are capable of not always winning.
Now, if the ad campaign consistently presented white people beating up black people, there would be a problem.
But in the second ad, the black woman is winning the "fight" in an all-white world.
Note that everyone assumes they're being violent to each other.

It's totally a successful ad campaign. Like the benetton campaign minus pointless controversialness.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

in that picture? theyre both men...

its a pun on the original ad, only instead of black vs white its skinny vs fat...

No shit??????

/thankyoucaptainobviousnowgolearntorecognizesarcasm.

 

[tehsolace]

No shit??????

/thankyoucaptainobviousnowgolearntorecognizesarcasm.

sarcasm? wtf are you talking about. i was replying to his post, where he was replying to the cartoon pun of the ad, and he asked a question about it. i simply answered.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

Right but I think you missed the part where he was playing off what was happening a few pages back with people not realizing the black woman was female.
Did you even read the thread?

But what's hilarious is the post directly above his.

omfg sgdfksajfa ahahahah

 

[Insano]

Just leave it _Z_ryuken, I'm laughing my ass off

And now that I have comformation that they're both men, I can rest in peace...

 

[CptStern]

If you stop and actually think for a minute, the black gal obviously represents the black PSP. So is Sony honestly bashing their own product?
Seems to me more like the ad supports racial equality.

"Move over, dominant race. Here is other race to share the wealth."

Like I said, there's a stupid trend in which whenever something vaguely negative happens to a non-white person in media, everyone yells racism.

It's a "noble savage" racism that is almost equally bad.
Humans have flaws, and are capable of not always winning.
Now, if the ad campaign consistently presented white people beating up black people, there would be a problem.
But in the second ad, the black woman is winning the "fight" in an all-white world.
Note that everyone assumes they're being violent to each other.

It's totally a successful ad campaign. Like the benetton campaign minus pointless controversialness.

heheh you give the masses too much credit ..I agree that that was the intent however I think it went over the heads of most people

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

heheh you give the masses too much credit ..I agree that that was the intent however I think it went over the heads of most people

I don't understand how anyone could see anything but pure SECKS.

 

[CptStern]

well some people thought the black woman was a man sooo .....

 

[tehsolace]

Right but I think you missed the part where he was playing off what was happening a few pages back with people not realizing the black woman was female.
Did you even read the thread?

But what's hilarious is the post directly above his.

omfg sgdfksajfa ahahahah

ahh i see now... damn internet and its lack of verbal tone ability. :|

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

well some people thought the black woman was a man sooo .....

My point stands. (boy does it)
(or does he?)
(lololol)
*whooshoversternshead*

ahh i see now... damn internet and its lack of verbal tone ability. :|

Damn it to hell.

 

[Parrot of doom]

Looks to me like a cultural issue. Unless I'm mistaken, this advertising isn't used in the west?

Perhaps the imagery in the advertisement isn't an issue in the market its aimed at?

 

[Azner]

Looks to me like a cultural issue. Unless I'm mistaken, this advertising isn't used in the west?

Perhaps the imagery in the advertisement isn't an issue in the market its aimed at?

It doent seem to be used in the east either, so where was the picture from?

 

[Adidajs]

well, looks like the NAACP took offense to it too.

the fact that we're debating whether or not this is a racist ad - regardless sony wins.

 

[Laivasse]

Political correctness is so last decade. Why can't politicians and spokespeople find some other useless means of pretending they have principles.

 

[[Dragoon]]

Tim, of ctrlaltdel-online.com:

Sony has a recent history of some really off the wall and offensive advertisements going, but I don't know if some of you have seen this one. I read about it on Joystiq thanks to a reader pointing it out:

{THE AD}

Now at first glance, this stands to be a pretty offensive advertisement. That was my first reaction, definitely. However it's important to keep in mind that this advertisement isn't running in the US. It's a campaign over in Europe (Holland, if I recall correctly?) only. Why is that? Maybe because here in America we have such a history of racial tension, a history of slavery, an issue that divided our country in two in the face of war. So maybe it seems like a pretty harsh image to us, because we're extra sensitive to that sort of thing, perhaps out of shame, due to that part of our nation's history. (I'm not saying racism doesn't exist elsewhere around the world, but I'm not from elsewhere around the world, so I can't vouch for the feelings of different cultures.)

But the advertisement wasn't meant for us (America). It's probably not a mistake that Sony isn't running that particular campaign in the US. They may have felt it was more likely to be misinterpreted here. So I'm not sure I can condemn them as insensitive just because we Americans are so particularly prone to get our hackles up over things like this. It would sort of be like getting offended that a billboard in Japan is in Japanese, and I can't understand it.

It's just skin. Different colors, sure. And Sony has stated that their goal behind the advertisement was to focus on the contrasting colors (two other images from the campaign). So in that regard, using colors, what's the big deal about using a person with black skin and a person with white skin? It's just color.

It would be nice if we lived in a world where anyone looked at that billboard and all they saw was two people.

But, in America especially, you look at that billboard, and you see a white person in an assumed position of dominance over a black person, and immediately alarms go off in your head. Everything we learned in history class about the 1800's comes flooding into our minds, along with a healthy dose of guilt, and we apply our own demons to the image. We attach 150 years of racial tension to the image, and condemn it for our history, not because of any message it's actually delivering.

Which really is just two people representing two handheld video game consoles.

Here's a different take on my view.

No one is offended that the billboard suggests a precursor to violence. No one is offended that it's two women involved in violence. If it had been two white women, one in a white suit, one in a black suit, nobody would say a thing.

Furthermore, nobody has said word one about the version of the ad where the black woman is dominating the white woman. And I'm willing to bet that if that image had been on the billboard instead, nobody would have said a thing. At least not publicly.

So ask yourself, honestly, why it's offensive to you. Because the billboard doesn't depict slavery. Not in the slightest. If the black woman was picking cotton, and the white woman was standing over her with a whip, then hell yes it would be offensive. But it's just two people squaring off, and one of them has the upper hand. So why does it matter to you which one that is?

Because if we really want to reach the level of equality in our society that we all say we do, we need to stop dwelling on the past. Slavery is abolished. Has been for a good long time. Not a single one of us Americans owned slaves, or was a slave. It was a horrible period in time, but it's over. Being oversensitive about things like this billboard is what's keeping this racial tension alive. If you ask yourself honestly, you may find that you don't actually think the billboard is offensive, but that you've just been taught it's offensive.

Stop making race a big deal, and race stops being a big deal.

(PS, Kudos to whoever designed the ad campaign for accomplishing exactly what was intended; to spark discussion and bring attention to Sony and the product)

 

[Parrot of doom]

I think thats a very accurate and proper conclusion to reach. I agree fully.

I had presumed it was a Far Eastern advert.

 

[Insano]

It doent seem to be used in the east either, so where was the picture from?

Benelux: Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.