Is Racism Funny?

It first started out that only African American comedians (Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle) could make fun of both blacks and whites. Stand up routines that would last for hours making fun of racial topics that a white comedian could even think about. Hilarious insights were made on racial and cultural values of both African Americans and White people and there wasn't an ounce of controversy over the subject.

Now these topics that were once taboo are breaking into Prime time television. Now, it is acceptable for popular shows like; "The Office", "30 Rock", "Family Guy" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm", to address topics of race and make entire episodes centered around it. Casts of white people poke fun at the ironies and awkwardness that often exists between races in America. “Remarkable people, the Blacks,” Alec Baldwin says on an episode of “30 Rock” on NBC. “Musical, very athletic, but not very good swimmers, and again, I’m talking about the family.” Where did this sudden surge come from? Is racism a subject that we should all just laugh about and pretend that everything is okay?

What kind of effect does this type of humor have on people of other races? We have all seen shows that stereotype different races and make jokes about all different types of people and the majority of us may find them funny. Perhaps, we never stop to think though about how these racial remarks come off to African Americans or any other race that is made fun of. Maybe we shouldn't be so concerned with what a simple television programs says in effort to entertain us. Maybe we don't pay enough attention to how these programs might be shaping our opinions or what impressions we might be getting for fictional characters that will be applied in a reality that we live in.

One personal experience that I had not too long ago was when I had gone to pick up a pizza with a friend of mine. I entered and approached the register and a young man maybe in high school began to speak to me in a thick Middle Eastern accent. The only problem was the fact that he was not the least bit Middle Eastern. His buddies laughed in the back as the cashier tried to speak to me like Apu, a popular Middle Eastern character on a television program. I paid and left to him shouting, "Thank you come again," in his Middle Eastern accent. Is this funny?

Why is this humor so acceptable?

diatribe

Lets talk about race. Who here among us can claim absolute unbiased views of differing races? Who here can claim absolute unbiased views of their own race? Is there a difference between the two? Does hatred have a color code?

I know the answers to these questions aren’t nearly as black and white (pun intended) as we would all like them to be, but they are important questions for us to ask ourselves if we are ever to ‘move forward’ in our views and actions regarding race.

I suppose the point of ending racism, is an increase in tolerance. Maybe a better word would be an increase in acceptance. An acceptance of religions, cultures, races, Gods, and at its most basic form, an acceptance of differences. So how is this acceptance accomplished?

Of course there are many ways in which we can attain our goal (I say ‘our’ goal, but immediately we see the first hurdle in the road. Is this everyone’s goal?).

A change in policy. This was the suggestion of the author in the article we all read this week. But this policy change didn’t quite make sense to me. The idea of changing policy is only acceptable to me if you agree on what that means. Does a change in policy only come after those that create the policy have changed themselves? Or does the policy change the people? In my experience change only comes from those that want to change (Ever had experience with someone addicted to drugs or alcohol?). Borders do not create a nation; people come together as a nation and create the borders.

But I could be wrong. Maybe action can’t or won’t be taken until someone makes us take the first step and pushes us out of the nest? So in an exercise in humility and to demonstrate that this isn’t just one persons fight and it won’t come from just one person’s solution, these are the questions I leave to you.

100 years of the NAACP

On February 12, 1909, a group of people met in New York and formed the organization we now know as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). At the time blacks were still essentially denied voting in the South, D.W. Griffith was making his controversial silent movie Birth of a Nation about the Ku Klux Klan, and lynch mobs were wreaking havoc. In the years following their organization the NAACP has fought disfranchisement and illegal trials, and through the 1950s and 60s they led lawsuits like Brown vs. Board of Education.

Now there are all sorts of state and national laws prohibiting segregation and discrimination and promoting affirmative action. Is America still struggling with equality? Does discrimination exist? NAACP says yes. Their website reports that is still takes place on television, with mortgage lending, and most recently in the advertising industry.

The NAACP states that their mission is to "ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination." While they talk about helping the rights of "all persons," I've never seen them represent any other ethnic groups. Even in their report about the ad industry, all of their statistics refer to African Americans. With a rise in Hispanic population, do we need another group like this for them? Does the NAACP need to keep investigating discrimination, or would it essentially turn into a witch hunt and they'll find it where ever they look? How would they determine if discrimination has ended? Can we come to a point when we don't mention race in a news report?

I'm sorry I've been asking more questions than I probably should, but here's my main question:

Does having an organization such as this perpetuate differences between races? Does it promote a lack of color-blindness?

Race & Language-Specific Television

Mainstream popular television appears to be, well, not so mainstream or popular. With an increased availability of cable, satellite and internet streaming, the United States offers a broad spectrum of television networks that fit any nationality or ethnic background. We’ve moved beyond Telemundo and Univision alone. As much as I miss watching cheesy soap operas, filled with sex, drama and passion in Spanish, I now have the option of watching it in Finnish, Farsi, Korean, Chinese--practically any population that is represented here in the United States.

As an intern this summer for Porter Novelli Public Relations, I had the opportunity to lobby on behalf of restaurants in Los Angeles County. On any given occasion, I would walk into a restaurant that served Ethiopian, Korean, Armenian, Mexican or Vietnamese food. Most of these restaurants had at least one commonality: a television set broadcasting in their native tongue. I had no idea the range of television stations available in so many different languages. (And despite the language barrier, I could still pick up on the sappy soap opera. Daytime television must be similar for all.)


Even those that speak English have television networks based on race. Black Entertainment Television (BET) has been very successful in marketing television and music to African-Americans and other cultures alike. BET and similar organizations have brought blacks and multiculturalism to the forefront of American popular culture.


Even as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we too are witnessing this media phenomenon. Although we are not necessarily a race, we have our own niche market, thanks to BYU television. BYU television is available through special request on most satellite or cable companies here in the US and it is being spread outside of the US through BYU Television International. The advertising there is specific to our demographic, ranging from advertisements for Deseret Book, food storage or LDS-based troubled youth academies.

However, I believe that this emerging market is important to recognize. As communications professionals, we have niche markets that are available on so many different levels, especially ethnicity and race. If you recall, on page 546, the text said “we need to realize that many Americans, particularly nonwhite, have felt excluded from full economic and cultural participation in American life and may deeply resent the view that we should just see ourselves as Americans.” Based on this statement, my question is: Does race-specific television further the nonwhite animosity towards Americans and make nonwhites feel more excluded? Why or why not?

Advertising

“It's not a matter of forcing people. It's getting them to want to use it. If you can't, you're not going to do great advertising." -Alex Bogusky. $200 billion was spent on advertising in the United States alone last year. This number signifies that corporations see the inherent need to use advertising as a means of getting people to use their product or service. Can the staggering amount of money be justified? How effective are ads in today's society?

People who useTivo and Dvr systems try to eliminate ads during their tv show will find that we live in a world where it is literally impossible to escape from ads. A person is exposed to an average of 3000 ads every single day which is why it is impossible to dodge ads.

I wrote a paper on advertising vs. public relations about the effectiveness of each and if one field yielded more profit for an organization. When it comes to brand building, advertising only works when everything else is right. A product doesn't build a brand, experience builds brands. Public relations exists to build relationships through creating positive experiences hence is a very effective means in brand building.

Advertisements, however, must be doing something right if corporations are willing to spend $3 million for a thirty second ad during the super bowl. At the end of the day, the message of the corporation is more important than any advertisment.

If advertisements align with the message of the organization and if that message resonates strongly with the public, the message will drive numbers. Dove’s campaign for real beauty is an example of a message that created high resonance with women worldwide. Instead of focusing on its beauty products, Dove accentuated the beauty of women everywhere regardless of shape, color, size, race, or age. Global sales surpassed the $1 billion mark after the launch of the campaign. The Dove phenomenon illustrates that corporations can benefit more from a strong message than the product itself.

Advertisers in a new age

I would like to write about advertising from the advertisers point of view. We are now living in a transitional time. The miltibilion-dollar business of TV advertising is changing. It has been now 10 years since the first DVRs came out for market experiment. Today “approximately 15-17% of television homes in the U.S. have DVR systems, either from a local cable or satellite system or from TiVo or Replay.” (www.nielsenmedia.com) I personally, need to say that it has been weeks since the last time I saw a full add on TV. I record all of my favorite shows, and I wait for them to be over just so I won’t have to see the adds. When DVR technology first came out, researchers were trying to predict how this new device would disrupt this billionaire business. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,179125,00.html). We have not seen it go down yet, but the advertising industry only showed a small growth this year. According to Aaron Lewis at The Nielsen Company, “Cable TV set the pace for ad spending, climbing 8.4% over the same time period last year. Overall, television showed the most growth, representing four of the top five media categories. After a 6% dip through the first half of 2008, Network TV - thanks to a boost from Olympic broadcasts - worked its way back up to a slight growth (0.9%) through the third quarter.” (www.nielsenmedia.com).
Despite the growth, this percentage is very small compared to previous years, and I keep imagining that 10 years from now the percentage of people with DVRs at home will be the same as the percentage of people who have DVD players today. In this changing scenario, what new strategies can advertisers use to reach their target audience? Besides merchandising which is not a new technique. What ideas can we come up with, since we are the generation that will be dealing with this change?

Advertisers in a new age