Is anybody bothered by VW's constant racism and sexism?

In reply to ShawnG :

The equipment isn't racist, its an object. I think she means the way they have things setup is awkwardly  unaware of cultural representation. 

I think the authors way of communicating her issue was terrible but, as someone who has observed and participated in those pelaton classes, it is rather cringey hearing the instructors talk and try to be whatever it is they're trying to be lol. Trying too hard is what it is. It's worth making fun of but not worth that article, in my opinion. 

That said, major gym/workout equipment will never be marketed to low or low middle class income. Its expensive and unnecessary for most, so I don't understand her complaint there. 

I understand what the author is trying to communicate but I don't particularly care to translate any further how black people can take things that are seemingly harmless as racist. 

ShawnG said:

Either way, it's got people talking about it. That's the goal of advertising.

I don't have cable, don't watch TV except for 1 hour a night with the wife.

 

"Any publicity is good publicity" may work if you're a Kardashian, but not if you're trying to get people to buy your cars. I guarantee you no one at the agency who made that ad for VW is high-fiving each other right now. They're E36 M3ting bricks that they may lose the account.

Advertising should create a positive association with the brand, and for some people at least, this ad is doing the exact opposite.

Okay maybe I care because I love y'all and I like giving a different perspective lol

One thing that gets me is how some apps and phones updated their emojis to have different skin tones for individuals but not for families lol. It's pretty E36 M3ty that if I wanted to use an emoji that has a family i can only use white skin emojis. What the berkeley is up with that.

It may seem stupid and insignificant because it's just an emoji, but representation matters. It has a huge affect on you as a child. 

My son was so excited when he saw Spiderman :Into the Spider-verse. Simply for the sole fact that the kid kind of looks like him in complexion and a biracial look. "Daddy I love this movie because I never seen a kid with powers that look like me", Miles Morales meant a lot to a whole lot of little brown kids everywhere. 

In reply to yupididit :

Thanks for the post about representation. That perspective helps a lot.

ShawnG said:

In reply to yupididit :

Black instructors playing "black" music is racist.

White instructors playing "white" music is racist.

NO. That's not what any of that means at all. I don't know if I can explain it in a way you could understand. 

ShawnG said:

In reply to yupididit :

But if it were a white instructor playing "black" music, it would likely be someone else saying it's cultural appropriation or something like that.

I don't think it's cultural appropriation. That is a hard term for me to live with since the norms of one culture can be learned and become a new cultural norm somewhere else. There's tasteful ways to do things though lol. To sum it up, Pelaton just has a goofy-ass way of trying to relate to multiple demographics lol.

I can assure you driving around while listening to George Clinton or JB, will not make you racist. Anyone who would call you racist for that is just stupid. But, imagine driving around and wondering if the next time you'll be pulled over will result in some form of trauma solely based on the color of your skin. The music you listen to is for everyone and don't let that be a worry, its insignificant. 

ShawnG said:

In reply to yupididit :

Thanks for the post about representation. That perspective helps a lot.

Its all good, I feel you're getting genuine  I don't judge and am always willing to communicate my thoughts, experience, and opinions as long as it's a healthy conversation. 

In reply to yupididit :

Sorry, I deleted my post before your reply because I didn't feel like it was adding anything to the discussion but thanks for the reply.

It's a tough subject to articulate properly and I don't feel like I can do it properly online.

I've thought about what you said about "trying too hard" and it makes sense to me now.

Thanks very much for your posts man.

After Hitler split, the company became a privately-held company.  There may be racist entities at VW, but not "because Hitler."

It could have been an oops, or maybe a racist marketing person slipped something past more sensible minds.

It does offend me, but no more than Lexus, Mercedes, Rolex, Jaguar, or any other luxury brand specifically including only rich white guys in their ads.  Racism and sexism is not a VW monopoly.

There is no clearer expression of ignorance than racism.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

After Hitler split, the company became a privately-held company.  There may be racist entities at VW, but not "because Hitler."

If you were referring to my post, in no way was that serious.

I think they made a bit of a mistake, but I also think a lot of people should try a lot harder not to be offended for other people.

(My Ghia was almost certainly assembled by at least one ex-nazi)

Henry Ford received an award from the Nazi party...

In reply to ShawnG :

Hush, we're supposed to pretend that never happened, much like many other American ties.

RevRico said:

In reply to ShawnG :

Hush, we're supposed to pretend that never happened, much like many other American ties.

In reply to ShawnG :

Anytime! 

In reply to yupididit :

This is completely off-tangent to this whole discussion, so I might as well share it here...

I grew up in a tiny rural midwestern town that was predominantly white, with 3 or 4 Hispanic families. That was it. Sure, I heard plenty of racist jokes(though they seemed to be relatively equally distributed, as if that matters), but I never witnessed racism directed toward any individual & thus was largely naive to the whole thing.

I also spent most of my childhood completely obsessed with trains - real ones, models, books/magazines, whatever. So being a child of the 70's every weekend when Soul Train was on TV I'd watch the whole thing just because of the intro. Through it I gained a love of funk and R&B, and early hip-hop like Sugar Hill Gang; then that music lead me to a lot of the 70's crime & action movies with similar music. And from that I found the 70's blackspoitation movies, which really gave me a love for(I'm sure romanticized) 1970's African-American culture. 

Yeah, if that wasn't a totally roundabout way to get to that point...

I find it bizarre that people associate yellow emojis with white skin. I know it happens but my skin is not even close to that color. It's just odd to me.

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to yupididit :

This is completely off-tangent to this whole discussion, so I might as well share it here...

I grew up in a tiny rural midwestern town that was predominantly white, with 3 or 4 Hispanic families. That was it. Sure, I heard plenty of racist jokes(though they seemed to be relatively equally distributed, as if that matters), but I never witnessed racism directed toward any individual & thus was largely naive to the whole thing.

I also spent most of my childhood completely obsessed with trains - real ones, models, books/magazines, whatever. So being a child of the 70's every weekend when Soul Train was on TV I'd watch the whole thing just because of the intro. Through it I gained a love of funk and R&B, and early hip-hop like Sugar Hill Gang; then that music lead me to a lot of the 70's crime & action movies with similar music. And from that I found the 70's blackspoitation movies, which really gave me a love for(I'm sure romanticized) 1970's African-American culture. 

Yeah, if that wasn't a totally roundabout way to get to that point...

Holy E36 M3! You too?  I got to see so many cool acts simply because I didn't know any different. I remember wanting to be Mr.T when I was a kid.  Didn't occur to me he was a big black man and I was a tiny white kid. A hero is a hero to kids.

Try hard not to offend, try harder not to be offended -- Dan Crenshaw

if vw has constant racism and sexism it would offend me, if it is just one ad they apologized for?  not outraged

Appleseed said:

Holy E36 M3! You too?  I got to see so many cool acts simply because I didn't know any different. I remember wanting to be Mr.T when I was a kid.  Didn't occur to me he was a big black man and I was a tiny white kid. A hero is a hero to kids.

This is when I was 4 or 5 years old. I was a big A-team and Mr. T fan but there were no black people (ok maybe I never noticed them) in the small town I lived in but there were three indian reservations around us.

Dark skin, mohawk, feathers on his earrings... I thought Mr. T was native until someone explained it to me.

TopNoodles said:

I find it bizarre that people associate yellow emojis with white skin. I know it happens but my skin is not even close to that color. It's just odd to me.

Your skin is actually orange. Try it. Take a blob of orange paint and start mixing in white.

In reply to Appleseed :

I have a limited palette so I usually start with red and yellow and throw in some green to tone down the intensity a bit. A single persons skin has several colors, plus slight translucency which further complicates things.

I'm thinking the yellow emoji has little to do with realistic representation and everything to do with yellow being a bright color that also contrasts facial features like eyes.

And I haven't seen a Volkswagen ad in awhile. All I get is Mazda and "Ford F150 is the best selling truck since the beginning of creation".

Appleseed said:

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to yupididit :

This is completely off-tangent to this whole discussion, so I might as well share it here...

I grew up in a tiny rural midwestern town that was predominantly white, with 3 or 4 Hispanic families. That was it. Sure, I heard plenty of racist jokes(though they seemed to be relatively equally distributed, as if that matters), but I never witnessed racism directed toward any individual & thus was largely naive to the whole thing.

I also spent most of my childhood completely obsessed with trains - real ones, models, books/magazines, whatever. So being a child of the 70's every weekend when Soul Train was on TV I'd watch the whole thing just because of the intro. Through it I gained a love of funk and R&B, and early hip-hop like Sugar Hill Gang; then that music lead me to a lot of the 70's crime & action movies with similar music. And from that I found the 70's blackspoitation movies, which really gave me a love for(I'm sure romanticized) 1970's African-American culture. 

Yeah, if that wasn't a totally roundabout way to get to that point...

Holy E36 M3! You too?  I got to see so many cool acts simply because I didn't know any different. I remember wanting to be Mr.T when I was a kid.  Didn't occur to me he was a big black man and I was a tiny white kid. A hero is a hero to kids.

Wow, I guess I'm not the only freak! I always wanted to be a pimp - although I didn't know that's what they were at the time  I loved the colorful suits, awesome Caddy's & Lincoln's, and larger-than-life personas.

yupididit said:

My son was so excited when he saw Spiderman :Into the Spider-verse. Simply for the sole fact that the kid kind of looks like him in complexion and a biracial look. "Daddy I love this movie because I never seen a kid with powers that look like me", Miles Morales meant a lot to a whole lot of little brown kids everywhere. 

A friend of mine teaches in NYC, and her class is largely POC. She said the exact same thing that you did about Into The Spiderverse. The print comics were far more progressive than Hollywood has been, too. Marvel had a gay character come out in 1992. 

Thanks for taking your time to chime in on this, and continue to engage. 

 

Mr_Asa said:

In general, ads have never made me interested in a vehicle though.

Oh come on now.  You mean "grounded to the ground" did NOT make you want to run straight out and buy a Camry?