After researching some of the worst television commercials I
found an article which had clips of the commercials and a description
underneath them. I found the ever popular Lucky Charms commercial was on this
list and this really shocked me. I can remember when I would see these
commercials and thinking I want to ride the magical rainbow or the red balloon.
So after the shock wore off I read the description below the clip. The blur
said the common stereotype is that the Irish were greedy, selfish,
superstitious, perverted and thieving. Well
as many people know the mascot for Lucky Charms is a leprechaun. I decided to
watch the short commercial again and kept this stereotype in mind and sure
enough I found the portrayal of an Irish man (Lucky the Leprechaun) playing
with little children (perverted) withholding the marshmallows (selfish/greedy)
and he makes them look as though they are magical (superstitious). Then when
the children go to eat the marshmallows he steals them back and says they are
mine and runs away (thieving/greedy).
The clip I have inserted on this blog is not the original
clip I watched. The reason for this is because I wanted to know if they still
made the commercial and if they still had the same stereotypes in there and
sure enough they did. Even though this ideology was formed in the 1800s, when
the only reason the Irish came to America was to have the freedom to practice
their own religion and to find better work, it is still being shown through the
media in the late 1990s through 2000s.
I believe this relates Winant article about Race and Racism:
Towards a Global Future when it talks about the five themes of racial global
formation. The one I am specifically looking at is The Nation and its Peoples
which talks about citizenship and immigration. As Winant explains the United
States was perceived as a white man’s country. However, this is interesting
with the clip I chose because Lucky the Leprechaun (before he speaks) is perceived
to be white. Winant continues in this sections talking about frequent nativism
was being directed against immigrants. This is true today and it was true back
when the Irish first migrated to America.
Finally General Mills the company who makes lucky charms
could state they are being inclusive of every race by mentioning they have a
boy who appears to be black, a boy who could either be of Asian or Latino
decent and a girl who is white. However, this is the prime example of being
Colorblind and Bonilla-Silva and Dietrich would argue this is Abstract
Liberalism which they believe provides a discourse for white people to appear
reasonable and equal because they are including all different types of
backgrounds.
Still General Mills is bringing back a stereotype which
supposedly was only prevalent in the 1800 and as we can see in the commercial this
is not true.
The link to the article where I found the 25 racial commercial is http://www.adsavvy.org/25-most-racist-advertisements-and-commercials/
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