Slashdot Mirror
PSP Ad Draws Charges of Racism
Lord Kano writes "The Guardian Unlimited is reporting that a new Sony ad for the upcoming white PSP has caused an uproar because of claims that it carries racist overtones. The ad depicts a white woman, clad all in white, grabbing the face of a black model in a dominating pose." From the article: "It's questionable whether the world is ready to explore themes of race and domination in the context of a videogame console ad. Although not as wilfully controversial as Benetton's infamous 'United Colours' campaign, many viewers will be unwilling or unable to decode the imagery until it becomes about two different colours of plastic." What do you think about this latest in a long line of PSP ads of questionable taste?
I like how a Keith Stuart (a games blogger from the UK Guardian) can comment on the state of racial tension in two countries he doesn't live in.
In America, it's called "racism." In Europe, it's just people trying to protect their culture. To me, it's called "ignorance." Ignorance is everywhere no matter how hard we try to eradicate it.
America's quick to cry foul play because of our recent history, yes. It's seen as very important to be equal opportunity here. Do I walk down the street and feel conscience of other people's skin color? No. Some people in America still might but it's only due to their ignorance. I've only seen someone oppressed once because of their skin color and it was because I was in Alabama for a wedding and my Indian friend was rubbing someone wrong at a bar.
Why is Turkey having a hard time joining the EU? Hmmmm? One of the reasons cited is fear of mass immigration to the UK or Germany for work. There have already been two waves to Germany that upset the locals.
My work here is dung.
All they had to do was buy one billboard, now everyone in America knows about the racist ad, oh and they know about the white psp too. These guys really know how to get the bang for the buck in advertising.
Jeebus. There are three ads:
* White woman over black woman.
* Black woman over white woman.
* White woman and black woman on equal footing.
Everyone can't stop talking about the first and ignoring the others. And what are they ignoring the most? They're all hot.
>What do you think about this latest in a long line of PSP ads of questionable taste?
I think it worked. We are discussing the PSP now and talking about an ad most people here wouldn't know about if it weren't so 'controversial'.
Success of the ad doesn't hinge on whether or not you like it, but whether it sticks in your head and gets mindshare. Since everyone's going nuts over this one, people are discussing it, and it's propagating virally among blogs and news sites (here included) it's doing an amazingly wonderful job and some ad exec's probably enjoying a hefty bonus.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
One, it isn't in the US. 2 you need to lighten up, sure racism exists, but its a video game advert and guess what, in another on it shows the black person on top of the white... I don't see what the big deal is personally, but I guess that is how I was raised, with quite a few good friends who are of different races. Check out The CAD newspose for an insightful post on the subject, as well as the pictures of the different ones, including prior art for a DS :P
Disclaimer: I am Canadian from a small border town near Niagara Falls.
--Valthan
If the media would stop magnifying everything different between blacks and white, then this crap wouldn't be perpetuated. Black, white, who gives a shit. Just enjoy the ad for what it is... it's cool. I don't believe that the creators want to string up blacks and start slavery. This is just ridiculous. Move on with your lives people.
http://religiousfreaks.com/Have a look at Nintendo's work: http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/images/news/ds_ad .jpg
Seriously though, I think Tim's article on the whole issue covered this pretty well (currently on the front page of CAD).
I'm sure Sony know's what it's doing. Get people talking about the PSP, doesn't it? Besides, how many people aren't going to buy a PSP because they're offended by this? I highly doubt the thin-skinned politically correct crowd is much into gaming anyway. Still, I'm not sure what the appeal of a white handheld is. I'd be much more inclined to buy the black version if it was the same price. I don't know why, but I find black a much more asthetically pleasing color for my hardware than silver or white.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
A US outrage at an advert in Holland is no different to the Muslim outrage at depictions of Mohammed in European newspapers.
Yes, it deliberately uses the contrast of the women's races as a metaphor for the difference between the available colours of the PSP. And yes, the white woman is acting aggressively towards the black woman.
But acknowledging their races, even pointing it out deliberately and using it as a marketing gimmick, is a long way from racism. It's not as if people are supposed to walk away from that ad thinking that the white PSP is better because it's associated with white people. It's not using stereotypes or ridiculing the black woman in any way. It's just saying "hey, here comes the white PSP and it's going to take the world by storm, and here's a picture to grab your attention". With, of course, the added bonus that it gets lots of media attention for causing controversy.
Not everything involving race is racist. Too many people forget this and seem to want to make race a taboo subject. That's ignorant in itself.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
This ties in with a discussion I had with a friend recently (you know a discussion is going to be interesting when it starts with the question "do you have any interest in BDSM?"). Anyway....
I think the racisim here is in the minds of the watchers. Would this be racist if it was a black woman and a white man? Would it then be sexist if it was a white man grabbing a white woman? In a full on dom/sub relationship it makes sense for the sub to do the dishes and house work and other such things, so if the sub is a woman, that fits with the "standard sexist gender roles" right? What about a master slave relationship? Is it somehow bad for a black woman to want to be the slave to a white master?
Whats worst, a black person being a willing slave to a white person, or trying to tell that same black person what they can and can't do in the confines of their life and sexuality?
This is all silly. The knee-jerk racism reaction is ridiculous. Isn't the whole goal of tolerance and antiracism to teach us to see people as people rather than black people and white people? Black people have as much right to be submissive as a white person if thats what they want!
-Steve
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
I thought they were going to be talking about this ad...
Which someone made a parodied animated gif of that has a little more truth in it...
americans are way too sensitive to racism these days
In a world without history, this ad would be meaningless. But we live in the real world, that has a bloody history of slavery, apartheid, jim crow, fascism, and colonialism.
And as such, this ad is incredibly problematic. Anybody who doesn't recognize at least that is ignoring history itself.
... to think this is intentionally racist, you have to imagine a company full of white-sheeted executives, and I'm just not seeing it. There may have been a point when the people putting the ad together should have said "Now... will certain people think this is over the top? Should we maybe think again?" Whether that happened or not, I'm kind of glad we're reaching a point where people are thinking less about it. My first take is that those who say this might be racist are just pot-stirrers.
Dark Reflection
Hmm, I've seen this article on Fark, Joystiq, and now Slashdot. Everybody, on the count of 3, say "Publicity Stunt"
1...2...5
What do you think about this latest in a long line of PSP ads of questionable taste?
I think thousands of people now know PSP is coming in white... mission accomplished. If you don't like the ad, don't talk about it.
Um let's look at this one.... ..... ... ...
Current PSP comes in black only....
New white PSP is coming out....
Sex sells
Attitude sells
Lets mix black, white, sex, and attitude in one commercial
Instant racism. Now that's synergy of ideas working for you.
Am I the only one who thinks the ad is just plain stupid looking? I don't get how that conveys "white PSPs are coming". Mostly it just looks like some bad soft-BDSM.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
It's questionable, however, whether the world is ready to explore themes of race and domination in the context of a videogame console ad.
Yes! We must remember the world is nowhere near as sophisticated as globetrotting ace Guardian video game uberjournalist Keith Stuart! Yeah, I know. Ad hominem. It's Friday.
Although not as wilfully controversial as Benetton's infamous 'United Colours' campaign, many viewers will be unwilling or unable to decode the imagery until it becomes about two different colours of plastic.
Unwilling to decode? What is this? Dr. Phil?
Persoanlly, I decoded it as a hot lesbian domina scene. Yum yum.
Importantly perhaps, the ads are for the European release of the white PSP and are appearing on billboards in Amsterdam rather than in the US where racial tension remains a fraught issue.
I hear the next series of billboards will picture Mohammed holding a PSP.
I'm not saying that this should be censored. It shouldn't.
But this feels like trolling -- deliberately saying or doing something controversial, to draw attention. And trolling is lame.
If they choose to open this door -- to associate an electronic device that has nothing to do with race with all of this ugly history, just to be titilating -- then they deserve whatever they get.
Is it sexist that the don't make a pink version, or is that homophobic today?
...Or is all this a big fuss over nothing, and a lot of free advertising for Sony?
Would it be more or less racist to deny the brown woman her right to choose to be paid to appear in the ad?
Should I be boycotting both versions of the PSP, because I'm a nudist and I fnd the clothing in the ads offensive?
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
Of course, some uptight people will see the ad as racist. But, as has been said, It wasn't for the US market. And even if it was, it's just imagery folks! Just showing the new PSP color being dominant over the boring black PSP color! Some people need to step off, and stop with the uptightness...
Whoo, signature!
DesireCampbell.com
David St. Hubbins: It's such a fine line between stupid, and clever.
Speak as an American for those in Holand. Makes sence. Get over it. This is not Holand's history, so your comment holds little water.
Self proclaimed wannabe geek. You know how it is. Most of us who read this stuff probably fit in that category.
What ever happened to Nintendo when they used the song Black Betty to advertise Mario. According to wikipedia the song drew the same racist overtones that this add is pulling.
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
They are linking the colours of the PSP to race therefore it's technically racist; equally regarding both skin colours involved (see how I got my point across without using the W or B words?).
Sony will obviously be aware of this, which is why they have done it. The simple fact is that I have seen that advert now, which has made me think about a PSP and the fact there must be a white model coming (meaning there must be a black model already out) and I would probably never have seen that advert.
It's called 'marketing'.
There have been numerous lengthy disucssions on this issue on both joystiq and engadget (8 page, 300+ comment type lengthy) and what I've gathered from them is this:
1) This ad, though artistically sound and the concept of contrast is often seen in other industries (especially the fashion industry), is very VERY risque with regards to race relations in the states and parts of Europe. Though this was only meant for Holland, any ad agency for an international company should take into account the affect that social response may have to your advirtisements. Especially when one of your largest markets is not only a country filled with a rich RECENT (as in 40 years ago, your parents or grandparents were alive during this time) history of racism and injustice (which is unarguably still present today). This is, after all, the 21st century. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, that is made public in any part of the world is immune to the massive immediate sharing on the internet. when you're a country as big as Sony, and releasing products to as large of a market as Sony is, whether you like it or not, what you say and do about that product will end up being viewed and commented on by everyone in the world who is interested in said product.
If microsoft released a version of windows in scandanavia tomorrow called Windows Chink Edition or Windows Towel Head Edition, regardless of whether or not chink/towel head is seen as offensive in scandanavia or the asian/arab population is large in scandanavia, I'm sure many asians/arabs would be pissed.
2) Sony is obviously going for controversy. They succeeded. This will probably come back to bite them in the ass (if it hasn't already) and I doubt it will make anyone who isn't already a sony fanboy want to purchase a PSP unless there is a significant price drop. The campaign may be successful in creating buzz, but buzz does not always sell products. Especially when those products are overpriced and their games suck..
3) Sony released an ad campaign that featured animated characters with, what many considered to be, stereotypical latino/mexican accents (some people said they were going for the Cheech and Chong feel.. those were stereotypical mexicans much like amos and andy). Subliminal social messages in the media (tv programming, advirtising, and movies) does indeed happen. Is it happening in this ad? who knows.
I've seen the entire set of pictures that went around this ad. Personally I was offended by the first and last (both with 1 woman in the dominant position) and thought that maybe the 2nd one was the best and illustrated the point of the ad campaign perfectly. Why didn't they choose to go with the 2nd picture of them just facing off?
Oh yes, you're right. Perhaps you'd prefer that white people and black people don't appear in commercials together? Yeah, that's it - segregation is the answer!
Please. Anyone who doesn't recognize this as a metaphor, with a sexual twist, for the available PSP colors is a moron. I'm sorry, but this commercial is only racist if you want it to be.
Slackware
...that a black psp model came out first ...that dark chocolate is more widely available than white chocolate ...that lighter coloured backgrounds became more popular on the web than darker backgrounds ...that we look up to white clouds and walk all over black asphault
People have made race such a hypersensitive issue. In normal society race is only an issue because we make it an issue. Real racism should be squashed, but when people grasp at straws like this and claim racism in the silliest of things, it really hurts the effort of those who are trying to beat real racism out of the few remaining holdout bastards.
Note: I think the post you replied to has got it all wrong but your rebuttal of it is wrong as well.
But this feels like trolling -- deliberately saying or doing something controversial, to draw attention.
Oh, absolutely, this is a troll. All ads try to draw attention; this one tries to do it by shocking the viewer.
The gaming industry probably is due for an explosion of ads. It makes a lot of money, and yet the commercials I see very occasionally are running on kids' shows in the afternoon or something. If Nintendo's really trying to blow the market open and appeal to something beyond the usual gaming market, you'd think they'd want to run some prime time ads.
This is also, like beer, one of the industries that can be free wheeling with its ad strategies. Airlines can't advertise with much humor or self-deprecation without taking a big risk, so you get classy commercials -- "Rhapsody in Blue" and that United livery airliner backlit by the sun, you know? Whereas beer can be funny in offhand, goofy ways and take some risks.
I betcha we get more of this style of ad. This one is past what the U.S. would tolerate, but trolls, as John Dvorak or any sports columnist can tell you, get the eyeballs. They work.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
The dutch began the slave trade in North America. That is Holland's history. The comment holds more than a little water.
Apparently Holand's history lessons are on par with the U.S.'s.
Is the ad potentially racist?
yes.
However racism depends on sevreal factors for recognition, to someone insulated or otherwise un-exposed to a diversity of cultures on a personal and frequent basis such an ad would be unlikely to convey any racist undertones to them.
Racism greatly depends upon historical perspective. Without a history of oppression or ill-will surrounding race semi-fresh in the minds of the viewers it would be very difficult for any given imagery or prose to evoke such a moniker.
However, in the ad we have a white woman all decked out in white mencing a black woman in black, attached with "white is comming" as a slogan. Intentional or not, satire or not, literal or not, product advertising or not... it carries obvious racial unertones.. even if its creators have no recist intentions, it is almost blatantly made in a manner delibratly based upon racial issues or at the minimum a HUGE leap of total ingnorance to the world we live in.
Of course the intentions are all the more obvious by the markets they have decided to place it in, as the non-US release clearly indicates they knew just how the US (with a much more diverse population, and more open race relations issues) would react.
Bottom line is, the ad puts a black person in a position of total infiriority to a white person, with a tag line that emphasizes that aspect.
Its inflamatory at best.
As a note of intrest there are the other two images, which "balence it out"...
* White woman over black woman.
* Black woman over white woman.
* White woman and black woman on equal footing
But of course this is pointless, the other two images have little to no relevancy in the worlds current climate of race relations. (of course if we had a succeeding couple hundred years of black oppression of the masses, and subsequent social revolution... the situation would likely be just as inflamatory in the opposite direction).
The real issue here, is such an advert reinforces negative stereotypes and relationships in our still healing society. While subtle it would serve to influence our children giving them (children of all races) cause to somehow believe just a "tiny" bit more in white supiriority, seeding racists, low self esteem, etc...
Until the rifts between under-represented and marginalized minorities and the power wielding majority (still overwhelmingly white - and largely male) are diminished, such forms of "advertising" will remain bad mojo.
--Idiots, Every single one of YOU, A flaming mass of conglomerated morons, hey wait a second, isnt that how RAID works?
Why is a Japanese company being accused of black/white racism?
The bottom line is that companies have to do their homework to find out what is going to piss people off and where. The US has a history of racism in society and the media, so it goes without saying that somebody out there is going to read into this ad that way. A few years ago, a company somewhere in Southeast Asia (Thailand IIRC?) tried to promote their German engineered washing machines with a cartoonish Hitler mascot, and people abroad got mad. On the other hand, Little Caesar's pizza gets away with their cartoonish Roman mascot because the Roman Empire has been dead for 1600 years. The original name of Netscape Communicator was Netscape Collaborator, until someone figured out that in Europe, a collaborator means someone that collaborated with the Nazis in WWII. There are people that work full time researching this crap.
Then again, part of me wonders if this is deliberate. Because this ad is not physically in the US, people will probably forget about it in short order. But probably not until after a crapload of PSP sales.
>I'm not saying that this should be censored. It shouldn't.
>But this feels like trolling -- deliberately saying or doing something controversial, to draw attention. And trolling is lame.
>If they choose to open this door -- to associate an electronic device that has nothing to do with race with all of this ugly history, just to be titilating -- then they deserve whatever they get.
Advertising is all about attention whoring. You will see very little fairness there. It's not a review, it's an ad.
Heck, even many reviewers are sold out these days to give skewed results in their reviews.
They got the message through that the PSP is coming in white. Missing accomplished. Period.
It's quite simple really, take either 1) a man or 2) a white person, put them taller, beating in a sport, a phb of, or otherwise "better" at something than a 1) woman, 2) any non-white race, 3) animal, plant, dinosaur, and you've got yourself some *ism. Plain and simple. There could be no other reason for making the picture or whatever medium it is.
Recently FX (I think) aired a series where they took a white family and a black family, did them up with makeup as their opposite race so they could feel what it is like being the other. One humorous bit was the black man taking the white man (made up looking like he's black also) out on the town and show him how bad it is, everyone is racist, etc. He was talking to strangers on the sidewalk, asking the time, directions, etc and had no trouble. That got the black guy mad as everywhere he went he only saw racism.
Learning from the past is essential, but no progress will ever be made if everyone is constantly scared that every little thing is going to get them branded some form of racist/sexist/etc. No wonder our commercials are so lame compared to other countries...
Black woman over white woman? RACISM! Oh wait, it's only racism if it's the other way around.
That's because black people haven't used white people as SLAVES. It's not about racism per-se, it's evoking the memory of slavery and humilliation of black people in the past centuries.
The first thing that struck me when I saw this powerful and provocative image was: Whoohoo! Inter-racial girl on girl domination! YES!
In the states, Tolerance is what you have when you promote the 'cultural uniqueness' of a race or class 'in a good way', not controversially .. whereas in Holland, 'tolerance' means putting up with the bad as well as the good and that means accepting the fact that some people may be racist, want to play PSP, and enjoy white.
.. though in that case, I lust for the Black One, with a little 'lektroplankton on the side for sugar..
Me, I just saw it as a way to denigrate the cool "Black and White DS Lite" launch that Nintendo did to the kiddies last month
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Slashdot Karma-whores fight over an racist-could-be advertisment for Sony PSP...
Folks.. Most of you don't even have a clue what black or white women are...
And you jump here on the barricades because some fanboy likes XBox or Nintendo better than Sony...
I must tell the guys on Digg about this...
Seriously. Has anyone seen the PSP commerials with the squirrels? People are thing this new ad is racist? How about the squirrels with the various accents trying to act all thugged out with the various PSP games, some of which contain questionable moral character. Squirrel please.
...have an opinion about this?! It's outrageous, to be sure. We who don't live in AmeriKKKa would never criticize Americans for anything they do or say! Ever!
gee we were just coming up with a clever way to advertise their new color. what? we happened to pick an ad that we can claim isn't meant to be offensive, but happens to draw us into the spotlight for a few days? maybe even make it on /.? well that just happened to work out well, totally didn't mean for it to go that way.
I think it's still fair to be quite unhappy with Sony's ad here. I mean, yeah, the knee-jerk reaction is to shout racism; it was intended to be that way. Granted there is nothing more than a little softcore SM to generate publicity, but Sony played with what is "underneath the underneath," to be cliche.
So everyone is saying racism, Sony made an ad that is most obviously going to be taken as racist; doesn't that still sound like they are exploiting race to promote a product? Granted that on the top level, there is no racism, but it seems to me that Sony wanted us to think racism, therefore, as far as I'm concerned, they're still being a wee bit racist, using the problem to their advantage.
(This is an almost verbatim copy the coment I made over at breakingwindows.com)
Let's start at the beginning. What is that dreaded racism everyone seems to be hollerin' about nowadays? Wikipedia says:
Does that definition apply the the ads? Maybe a bit. But barely. The images (yeah, all three) show the white person either in more positive light and/or in a more powerful position. Even so, it's not that clear-cut. The ad probably isn't racist, although it is very obvious that it could be interpreted that way.
Does it matter whether it's racist "by the definition"? Hell no. Whether the ad or the people who made it are racist doesn't matter one bit. Everyone agrees that it depends on the person looking at it (and no, labelling people "racist" who think the ad is racist is even more absurd and stupid than thinking it is racist in the first place). Lots of people perceive this to be racist - otherwise, we would not be having this discussion.
Sony knew or should have known that people would interpret it like that. They knew or should have known that people would be offended. They ran it anyway, most likely knowing full well that it would cause a huge stir. Even if it isn't racist, it's obvious that it reminds people of a conflict between races, and that it offends a lot of people. Sony knowingly made people angry to promote its crappy little console (and I say that as an owner of a (white!) PSP). They knowingly offended their own customers again just to get them talking about the PSP. Yes, the ad is working very well. That doesn't make Sony's behaviour even one bit better.
So fuck Sony, regardless of whether it's racist or not.
The ads personify the battle inside your head over which color PSP to choose: Black or White.
Any perceived racism was already there, inside your head that is...
It has to do with genetics. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-04/cdr i-bai042505.php
Sorry, I just don't bury my head in the sand. Eugenics will come - it's just a matter of time, and how it happens depends on whether the people with the ability to actually accomplish it have WMDs.
It's not racism...it's realism. And I'm not cream of the crop, so it's not like I'm self-promoting.
those stupid pubes talking with a Mexican accent in their old commercial!
for the PSP Yellow to come out!
"Honestly, look at how racial diversity is crammed into everything. You almost never see an advertisement that doesn't include a black person or an asian person right up there with white people."
i ling.html
Let's see here:
- How many female, non white in congress ?
- Any female or non white President yet ? don't think so.
- How many fortune 500 CEOs are female or nonwhite ?
- How many major metropolitan media are owned by female, nonwhites ?
- How many females in the Supreme court ? or lower court?
- How many nonwhites is anchoring for a major news network?
Stop belly aching - racial attitudes are real and still persists.
They are perhaps not overt, but still present.
Check out the site below for some glass ceiling charts based on EEOC data:
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/glassce
Travel to a country like Brazil where centuries of mixing have
produced a wide range of skin colour and you will feel a very different
attitude. It's not better, just different.
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Now my question is, these people see that ad as offensive, they are seeing a difference in skin color, and they are making a fuss as if it counts for more than just skin color. That in itself sounds like racism to me...
Tim makes some good points as well that I agree with.
I think the backlash from racism in America is doing more harm than good. I don't believe equality means compensate those who never felt oppression until our guilt is satiated.
You might go "What! But we did them so much harm, we can't just ignore what we did! What's wrong with repaying them?" Well we can't, because those who've been under said oppression are gone. We missed our chance.
Those are just my 2 cents, largely from a revelation when I was looking up scholarships online and saw so many minority scholarships that I could not quality for ON THE BASIS OF MY GENDER OR ETHNICITY OR RELIGION. That sounded alot like racism to me. Granted, maybe some of those went to kids who deserved them. But maybe some went to kids who wasted them partying while I'll be stuck next year with a BS in CS (which devalues in my eyes more and more as I get closer to it) and lots of thousands of dollars in debt.
This is terrible. Clearly this PSP thing, whatever it may be, must be banned.
So am I, so am I... :)
There is an old saying "What you do not know is bigger than you are". I'd encourage people that are fed up with intolerance of all kinds to find out why it is still an issue today for so many people.
...instead of just venting.
Based on upvotes, Ageism is the only "-ism" Slashdotters care about and think isn't SJW
"CATFIIIIIGHT!"
Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
Very interesting that everyone comments the colors of the actors in the ads, but noone mind what they are doing. In the white dominates black ad, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/adampeepers /sony_whiteiscoming_web_2.jpg, it looks like one dominating person is about to beat up a frightened woman. To me, a very open-minded Europeian (have to point that out, otherwise people would assume I'm a moralistic American) that is a very disturbing image. I do not like that the ads basically glorify violence. The negative image, a frighetend woman about to be beaten up, is enough to convince me that I really don't want a PSP.
After all, if a console advertises itself like that, can you expect the games to contain anything other than gore and violence? What's the fun in that? Gaming is supposed to be fun, but beating scared people up? WTF?
If the ad is provocative enough that people will talk about it and the product I'd say Sony has succeeded and the rest is semantics.
In South-Africa is legal to call a white Afrikaans speaking person a boer, even though its almost always used in a derogatory manner, whilst when a white person uses the term kaffer, or just about anything including black its regarded as being racist. The argument that we had apartheid and white people deserve the bad treatment and that it takes time for wounds to heal should not even be mentioned, everyone can justify being xenophobic. I can mention several members of my family were killed in hate crimes by black people. Taking it back two generations I can even justify hating the Brits for killing 9/10 of my great grandmother's brothers and sisters. I think everyone should realise that in games black is associated with evil and white with good. It has nothing to do with skin and the black community should *really* start being proud of themselves, right not this obsessive anti-racial behaviour makes me think they have no pride in themselves. I am proud to be white. If I was black I would have been proud of being black.
This is my sig.
No one is offended that the billboard suggests a precursor to violence.
We are desensitized to voilence this is nothing new.
If it had been two white women, one in a white suit, one in a black suit, nobody would say a thing.
Ok, and? Should someone say something?
Furthermore, nobody has said word one about the version of the ad where the black woman is dominating the white woman.
Well, I'd like to be the first then. I think it's racist.
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.
This is the really naive part.
Newsflash son Racism does not have to be about slavery
The fact is, intolerance is a big problem, like it or not. And the reason you keep hearing about it, is because it continues to be.
Which is more reaonable, that millions of minorities are whiners? Or that we are still susceptible to using arbituary characteristics to make social and economic decisions that adversely affect other groups?
Take your time coming up with an answer, this is a tough one.
Based on upvotes, Ageism is the only "-ism" Slashdotters care about and think isn't SJW
That's the problem with western culture these days. Everything is somehow viewed as racist. Maybe we should embrace that people come in different colors instead of screaming whenever someone stops falsely pretending that people are all the same color.
It's not like the black PSP comes with a free can of grape soda, and the white PSP comes with a free loaf of wonderbread.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
I'd say we're doing rather well on the racism front if all we have to complain about are billboards advertising a new colour option on a portable gaming console that's a niche market.
Honestly? I'd say the people crying racism are being FAR more racist than the billboard could ever be interpreted as. Why has white become a dirty word? If they were advertising a black PS2 or a brown one, they wouldn't be attacked for being racist. We've come full circle.
This is the best comment I've seen on this debate so far.
Sony deliberately chose this imagery for it's controversial power to incite what we're seeing now.
Is is really necessary to even vaguely allude to race when pimping their products? Hell no!
We are being pwned by sony.
Has anyone noticed the prominent upside down cross on the white PSP model? Ain't it cute? Is this racist too? Who really cares? In the grand scheme of things do things like race or even religion tell you what to buy and what not to buy as it refers to something like a PSP?
Cmon, let me put it in a simple manner : GET A JOB ! why in the world must everything be seen as racist. Man I own a white IPod why ? because I believe I pods must be white the black ipods suck. does that make a racist out of me ?
Ever seen that black eyed peas videoclip where they kick a bunch of 'nazi like' dudes in the ass ? that is RACIST , do I care ? NO !
Im Portuguese, the portuguese people enslaved black people for centuries, do I feel guilty ? of course not, its not like the black people didnt enslave each other before , and SURPRISE !!! so did white people to white people.
People are diferent, in skin tone, in eye shape , in the ideas, in religion, on everything, respect the diference, DO NOT IGNORE IT !!! or pretend that there is none !
.... This racist crap is going to far... Whats next? Gota stop making white cars because there are more of them than black cars and this shows racist because people rather buy white over black "rolls eyes" Sad thing about it.... They would of never bitched if it was black people going after a white PSP.... Instead of going after stupid crap like racist shit, go after the real dangers in the world, like the 40 year old pedhophiles....
Linux, because a PC is a terrible thing to waste.
VGCats got there first. http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=192
What sound do people on rollercoasters make? Hint: it's not Xbox 360.
This is NOT the first time Sony has stepped right over the line in their PSP advertising.
The sensitivity you think you see is due to most 'priviledged' americans being in _denial_ about racism impacting their lives. They have a kneejerk reaction and then attempt to move on to another subject because they cannot confront the issues. An awareness of history and equity and responsibility are incompatible with an individualistic consumer culture. Unlike the germans, many of whom are deeply aware and cognizant of the holocaust and have reflected on their country's past, most americans avoid the history of racism and continued inequality. How many people go to african american museums? Plantations? Historic ghettos? None. Americans go to Vegas, Times Square, maybe MOMAs, etc--spend and consume--or the go New Orleans or Memphis to see consume some diverse arts and cultures without having to reflect on anything.
American culture is capitalistic and as such americans feel little to no connection or responsibility for discrimination in the past because doing so would force them to recognize their priviledge and the fact that the market is rigged in their favor.
because as much as I do like the pictures, since they seem like a mixture of sex and beauty to me, but the fact is most folks still live with a tribal mindset that screams, "Look, it's racism because my primative preconceptions say so!" Thusly, it will be read as racism rather than an attempt at art meets commercial in advertising. But this is not the only black/white ad I remember coming out of a japanese console maker. I believe there was once a TV ad that had two guys, one dress in a white gi and the other in a black gi fighting in midair, where one was defeated. Usually it was a random rotation between the white gi dude beating the black gi dude, and then vice versa. I don't remember hearing about anyone crying fowl on that commercial.
:)
What has to be understood the colours black and white in the asian culture represent a dichotomy of forces rather than ethicities. So, when a person from the isle of Nihon looks at the picture, they're reminded of old Zennist mythos. Or a person from China proper will be reminded of the stories by Lao Tzu about the Tao and so forth. So, in reality, this is not an intended racist grab, but rather a vast gap, in my evil evil opinion, between cultures. It's sad really, because in our culture, we're still tribal as ever yet claim to be oh so intelligent. I suggest folks consider deprogramming themselves of such preconceptions by atleast getting a wider cultural background (or read Rand's essay on the origin of Racism, which is very intriguing.).
-- Attis
I find this ad to be offensive. There are a MILLION different visual connotations that could have been used that would have garnered the same effect or shock value THAT DONT HAVE TO DO WITH NIGG@Z AND H0NKYS(sorry, white and black folk) seriously, there is enough tension in the world as it is dealing with that particular issue, so now some, as it was described beforestarbucks moccachino-slurping, manhattan ad exec fresh out of his bi-daily 30 minute lunchtime rendezvous with his favorite hooker and coke buddy all of a sudden has the *original idea* of using a racially tense theme to sell his account. And then, quicker than a junky with $100 goes to fix you have some weird, insulting billboard depicting a white woman and a black woman at odds physically with a Sony PSP logo splattered across every major thoroughfareMy problem is with the way this thing is being sold and who is selling it. The Ad house is racist, Sony is racist, and any institution(Sony and locality) that allows this ad to be placed in public places is by all means fundamentally racist. When 50 cent put up his little ad I found it offensive, why? Because he advocates gun violence, an issue that plagues inner city communities to sell his little movie. To me thats like saying your own race should kill itself off in the name of drugs, violence, sex, urban culture, and OMFG paying to go see his shill of a f**kin movie. Of course the white exec(s) that distributed this shite had the final say when his ad eventually got pulled down to...and what you know what really pisses me off? The ones that say, "Get over it, racism is dead!", and, "That all ended with apartheid...", . Just because the "more open-minded" have a problem with accepting racism does not in anyway, shape, or form mean that it does not exist. Are people supposed to force themselves to subscribe to the belief that "Racism is dead" so you can sleep at night?! I am truly pissed off right now, I am actually experiencing racism *as I type* and some weird asshole(s) have the unmitigated gall to sit here and say "Racism is dead" or something of that ilk...where do your kids go to school? what neighborhood do you live in? Sure must be a magical place...
Here's an interesting line of thought that just struck me. Obviously, from what we're seeing here, putting a "black" person and a "white" person together is obvious racism. So we have to separate them! Then we have "Seperate but equal".
Oh wait... I think we tried that already and it didn't work...
To be honest, isn't most of Sony's current PSP Ad Campaign based on racism? Rather, "targeted demographies."
Are you claiming this as evidence of racism? West Germans were worried about supporting East Germans before unification. This had nothing to do with race and everything to do with people wanting to keep their jobs and not wanting an additional financial burden.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Would you have felt as offended if one of the women was Chinese, and the other Japanese? Or one of the women was Mexican and the other Salvadoran? Or one of the women was British and the other French? And yet all these would be offensive to people from other cultures.
Racism isn't acknowledging that people have skin of differing colors, or speak different languages, or live in different countries. It's about making assumptions of people based not on who they are, but on things they cannot easily change.
First thing I noticed about the ad was the white woman's weird hair....
There already is a "white history month", its pretty much the rest of the year. The need for things like black history month isn't to make sure everyone knows the people who did good things were black, but to make sure that people know who did these good things at all.
There are no slave owners, nor former slaves alive at the moment.
Not really true. There are places like Mauritania where Berbers "own" black African slaves outright. In the tens of thousands. That offshoot of the centuries-old Arab slave trade (of African slaves) still hasn't been stamped out. You could also very reasonably consider the young women (girls, really) held by force in the sex trade in eastern Europe and parts of Asia to be slaves.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Hey this is /. and it is a story is about Sony.
...
1. Sony is evil (/. says so)
2. Sony must be racist because they are evil (aren't they Japanese?)
3.
5. Profit!
realkiwi
...because wasn't the first PSP black? Maybe white people should be outraged because white and black weren't released at the same time? Then, Indians and Asians can mourn the fact there isn't a brown or yellow PSP, and American Natives can mourn the lack of a red PSP model. Then, even after that, the Celts can protest the lack of a green PSP (after they cry about the white PSP not being released w/ the black model), and homosexuals can protest that there isn't a rainbow PSP. Fuck sony, and fuck the morons that "brought this to light" for not having better things to do with their lives.
Racism doesn't exist in Holland? News to me!
What was that saying?
Those who live in the past are doomed to repeat it?
Spy vs. Spy with good looking, bra challenged women? How can this be bad, really?
Curiously the same folks who complain about race in this kind of stuff also say entertainment should be more diverse. An angry agenda is basically impossible to placate.
In the town of Elsemere, Delaware, a local politician named John Jaremchuk recently proposed (local ordinance 447) that brown people (specifically, people of hispanic appearance) be required to carry papers proving citizenship, and that anyone (regardless of actual citizenship status) who could not produce such papers would be fined $100.
My daughter looks hispanic (though she's not) and she doesn't even *HAVE* citizenship papers. Neither do I, but I'm pasty white, so I get to go anywhere I want without question.
The proposal was defeated, but Jaremchuk has considerable local support... especially among the police and the anti-hispanic vigilante types who like to cause trouble in the low-end housing where there's a high percentage of illegal aliens... Jaremchuk is a rising star in Elsmere politics, and his entire platform is thinly veiled, weasel-worded white supremacy (he'd probably say "traditional cultural values" and "equality").
Elsmere also has the distinction of having the strongest curfew laws on the East Coast, but the curfew is only enforced on brown kids, as far as I've seen. We live less than ten miles from Elsmere, which is NOT below the Mason Dixon line - this is the industrial northeast of the USA here.
If you think color-line racism isn't alive and growing in America, you are living a very sheltered life. The 9/11 atrocities have proved the perfect wedge to drive racial profiling back into the mainstream of acceptability; in fact Ordinance 447 mentioned 9/11 specifically as justification.
It's a great marketing strategy on the part of Sony. Love it or hate it that's what this whole thing boils down to. Sony and TBWA knew these ads would stir up controversy of some kind and therefor generate mind share. Working for an Advertising agency has it's benefits at times, in this case the ability to spot an obvious marketing ploy.
P.S. No they are not overtly racist ads, they are ads which are product of an agency that knew that playing on peoples hyper sensitivity would generate the press that it has. IE: "I don't care what you write about me, just spell my name right". The only racism in these ads is the racism that exists in the minds of the people who see it.
Should this ad be censored? No, absolutly not. Is it an aweful ad? Yes.
I know a lot of fanboys and apoligists will be talking about how the "black and white is supposed to represent the yin and yang duality, blah, blah, blah". Who cares? This is an ad for a video game system, that doesn't show the video game system, and doesn't show any games, and isn't fun in any way. You could remove the PSP copy and replace it with "Calvin Klein: Domination - A new fragrance for women." and it wouldn't look out of place. It is like they took a stock photo from the "Provocative Advertising Images Collection " and slapped their copy on top.
Seriously, this ad is more for some wanker ad agency creative director to show how "edgy" he is with some subtle race baiting that will cause controversy and "buzz", but has plausible deniability ("I didn't know people would interpret it as racist").
Of course, the idea that the racial connotations are accidental is fantasy. Ad agencies always test those ads with focus groups, and run it through a battery of lawyers and people who's job is to specificly make sure nothing racist or hateful can be interpreted from the ads. They had every intention of making something that some people would find racist. Advertising is an industry - it has nothing at all to do with art or expression.
Look, if your art gallery wants to create a series of provocative images that "challenge the idea of color and race" and want to argue it is art, OK I might buy that. Even if this ad was for something like a clothing designer, or perfume, or something fashion related I might say "OK, sure". But for a consumer electronic device, one that children represent a large portion of the customers, to use race baiting as a blatent attempt to gain publicity is just sleazy and lame!
Brazil is much more racist, and openly so, than the US... Why do you think Caetano Veloso was blacklisted from so many rich venues? Because he looks funny? No, because he played with black musicians and advocates racial equality. I love the white American attitude among the uneducated "faux liberals" (while real liberals, like me, know what the fuck is going on, or at least, a pinch or two more) that ONLY WHITE AMERICANS CAN BE RACIST HURRR. Just because someone has brown skin or darker skin doesn't mean they won't be racist towards people with darker or different skin. Hell, in black societies across America, there's been the attitude that lighter skin is better than dark skin. I remember growing up and hearing my friend's parents tell them to "stay out of the sun or you'll turn tar black". There's a huge sensitive spot of rich or famous black men picking light skinned black women as their wives, or having light skin themselves and looking down on black folk with dark skin.
Racism is far from over, that's very true: it's spread to every society that wants to emulate American ways and the culture of the West.
Ex nihilo nihil fit.
The episode of South Park about the town flag truely comes to mind. If you look for racism you will find it everywhere, because you are using a baised point of view. I'm no fan of Sony, but anyone with an ounce of brain would know an international corporation would have nothing to gain from running a clearly racist ad. I doubt they are trying to penetrate the KKK-Handheld gaming market. Therefore, I can conclude it's just a frikin add and it's the people that view it that are racist.
This racist-baiting story might be appropriate for some 'sensitive' tabloids and lefty web sites. It doesn't belong on slashdot. I really hope this isn't a vanguard of The New Slashdot. If this is what Slashdot is going to become, thousands of readers will disappear. As will advertisers.
Why is nobody upset that this ad is sexist? Why isn't it two men fighting? Is it more sexist because they ARE women? Is it empowering to women? Are PSPs just for women? Or is it just an ad that's being overthought with regard to one particularl aspect?
Granted. I don't think it's a great ad, but it's not like it's saying the White PSP is better and the Black PSP is inferior. And that by proxy all white things are better than all black things. Racism implies some sort of derogatory treatment or belief about an entire racial group. I don't see that here. Just because a person's skin color is awknowledged doesn't make the awknowledgement racist. Being black or being white is what a person is. It is not racist to awknowledge that fact.
Get over it.
I didnt even see the black chick the first time I saw the add... she blended in with the background. I thought the white chick was just making some funky ass ipod pose. zomg? I must be racist as I dismiss black people? People like to bitch if only to hear their own voices. The add isn't racist, its relevant to the damn products. As was said before, and I'll say again: Racism in things such as this, are only visible to the people who already innately see division by colour in the first place.
I know it's immature of me, but Sony doesn't get the benefit of the doubt anymore. Rootkits + PS3 price + PS2 "linux" + no PSP homebrew means no cookie for you.
Am I forgetting anything?
Oh well, doesn't matter, Sony is evil until proven otherwise in my book. This sure as hell isn't helping.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
It's probably all designed purposefully for people to make a fuss and notice the ad(s).
Squirrel, Please!
You cannot be serious in depicting this ad as racist. There are two beautiful models in magnificent poses, worth taking a break to absorb the energy they emit. Why look for a deeper meaning which isn't there in the first place? I'm not from the USA so I didn't grow up in a racist environment, but people who did need to chill out. Stop pointing at things and calling them racist. That's whats making you and those things you call racist racist.
Uhm... First of all, I was not offended. Second, you can't tell French and British people apart just from a picture. Third, we're talking about this ad, not about some hypothetical ad which may hypothetically offend some hypothetical person.
I haven't said anything like that. In fact, I have pointed out explicitly that the ad is probably not racist. What is your point?
Oh, never mind.
Some people are way too sensitive
and have too much time on their hands as well
and get given way too much attention by the press.
This is not a perfect world. There will be bumps, potholes, and insults along the way. Deal with it inside yourself.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Slavery IS STILL been practiced as punishment for crime in USA today.
Under 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, slavery IS STILL legal as a punishment for crime. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_ to_the_United_States_Constitution
This is the legal basis for "forced labor", "chain gang" or other methods of involuntary servitude in USA today.
Having finally seen the ad garnering all of this attention I conclude the only people who see this ad as racist are racists themselves. It would only come to mind to notice race if you evaluate a person based on skin color. The skin colors in this ad were meant to portray the color of the respective game consoles and has nothing to do with race. Looking at the picture from my point of view the domination implied is sexual, not racial. Sex sells and two attractive women in a dominant/submissive relationship sell BIG. Granted my view is tinted by my rather hedonistic views on sex. Think about it though, if you are a person who ignores skin color, can this possibly be seen as racist?
No animals were harmed in the making of this sig.
Well, there was that one puppy, but he is all better now.
when I say what we really would like to see is the white woman going down on the black model, then vice versa, then a 69
I don't have to travel since I am brazilian and I still live here. If you are american/non-brazilian, congratulations. In fact we do have a lot of racism here but it is fundamentally different from yours. It is more social oriented - meaning that black people who somehow managed to ascend in society (i.e., get wealthy) are more tolerated. On the other hand, racism here is much more based on appearance than on "race" itself; someone which is "white enough" may be accepted as a white person even if one has undeniable black (or other ethnics) origins. Third, and this is the most appalling aspect, black people here are usually ashamed of their ethnic origin. While it is commom for afro-american people (can't we just say black?) to reject white people as hard as they themselves are rejected, this kind of behaviour is absent here. Basically african-brazilian people lack an identity - only recently there has been some tiny steps towards achieving one.
This caracteristics lead to interesting facts, like famous and rich brazilian people who would be considered black (or at least non-white) in most countries consider themselves white - soccer player Ronaldo said that "even I, being white, suffer prejudice". Also it leads to a lot of black males which somehow get wealthy to marry almost exclusively white, blonde spouses - they become a sort of a trophy. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against mixed marriages, but the trend is clear.
Where is that guy who'd die defending what I had to say when I need him?
Yeah, it's not like Sony hasn't been doing this for a while. They've been running TV and web ads about cartoon squirrels wanting to fuck the PSP; that failed to generate enough outrage to get free publicity, so they've just turned up the offensiveness a bit.
(Also, is racial sensitivity the reason why Apple make sure the black MacBook is more expensive than the white one?)
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
"Racism is an issue of ignorance" + "Ignorance is bliss" = .... "profit?" ;)
The ad isn't racist, nor are the people looking at it. The ONLY people that seem to be racist are the hyper-sensitive Americans looking at the ad and applying their own screwed up values to it.
I see the ad as potentially racist, while I personally I don't see racism. The ad provides insufficient context, which leaves it to the individual viewer to create context. Those who have experienced racism, or have been consistantly exposed to the images of racism may fill in different context than somebody who has not experienced such things. People in the US can accept the images of a black player hitting a white player, or vice versa, in the sports arena because there is context, ethnic identity is trumped by team identity in the mind of the viewer.
I'm sure the image of a white man standing with his foot on the back of a prone middle eastern man would evoke responses in certain communities.
People in different parts of the world with different histories can look at the same image and interpret it differently.
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
You're joking, right?
It's "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it."
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/2006/07 /05/sony_ad_casues_white_riot.html
And after that it CAUSED an illiteracy riot!
That's because black people haven't used white people as SLAVES. It's not about racism per-se, it's evoking the memory of slavery and humilliation of black people in the past centuries.
That's impossible. None of the black people in the USA have ever been slaves, and none of the white people have ever been slave holders. They can't remember it because all the slaves and slave holders in the USA are long dead.
The reason why it's offensive is because some people want to be offended by it. Feeling angry gives them strength. It's unfortunate that this strength is gained through racism, but if people are taught that they are weak and oppressed all their lives then they're likely to take strength from that which is convenient and socially acceptable.
The belief in separate "races" is the necessary foundation of all racist thought. I believe in one and only one race: the human race!
I don't make the rules. I just make fun of them.
You aren't kidding. Being from around Cleveland, every time I've gone to Cinncinati I've been struck by how it seemed like it was part of the deep south, rather than another city in the same northern state. The differences in racism/racial-tension is increadable.
Being from the Deep South, I often wish that people would understand that:
1. The Deep South isn't nearly as racist as the New York / West Coast media loves to depict it. (It also isn't as inbred, uneducated, violent, redneck, and unsophisticated).
2. There are many places that are NOT in the Deep South which are just as racist as the way the Deep South is depicted, as you have demonstrated here.
I would honestly love to be able to talk about race relations where I live (Atlanta area), because the situation is quite a bit more complex and interesting than most non-Southerners think it is. But I don't think non-Southerners are generally interested in my point of view. In general, I think non-Southerners are quite content to think of me in terms of those horrible stereotypes that I've heard all my life, and a more nuanced discussion is light-years away from their realm of interest.
I don't make the rules. I just make fun of them.
"I have a black PSP and IM GOING TO sit in the front of the bus! Not sir, i wont move. Im going to sit here, and play with my damn black PSP dang it"
//WR
americans are way too sensitive to racism these days
We've been well-trained to be hypersensitive.
To some people, it sinks in the wrong way: the training makes them even more racist.
The training (and, in some, its failure) is independant of skin colo(u)r.
I don't make the rules. I just make fun of them.
I wonder if this is coming from someone who lives in a single color society? (like most of Europe). My wife is not white and when we went across Europe she got more stares and was more uncomfortable than she was in the south where racist still exists to some extent. I heard the argument for years about how we are so behind the french, or the swiss when it comes to being color blind. Now that France has a growing non-white immigrant population, they are dealing with the issues in a very racist way.
I've always found Sony and their products to be of questionable taste.
upset about it and barely anyone else cares. NAACP gave a standard "thats wrong" but other than that it is basically a bunch of white people that probably do not have a single black friend getting upset about this.
Meet some black people before attempting to feel outrage on their behalf.
The phrase "more better" is acceptable English. suck it grammar Nazis
No. Culture is what affects people's view of the world, and skin colour is just one indirect effect in there.
1. Even among people with the same skin colour, different cultures have different view of the world. E.g., if you took an American, a Brit, a French, a German, and a Russian, all 5 of them Caucasian, you may find their views of the world pretty different. Even if you picked them to be somewhat representative of the same category, you'd find that the culture distorts the baseline those categories are measured against.
E.g., if you compared a USA extreme nationalist to a French extreme nationalist to a German extreme nationalist, you'd find for example that the French nationalism would be about language and culture, rather than (mainly) about race or skin colour. To them a black, but French-speaking, African is more "one of us" than a white American is, because in the language and culture department the American is actually more different and more likely to offend.
E.g., the same Caucasian race for example produced an impressive number of female scientists in the Russian culture, at the same time when in the USA they flipped to pretending to be an airhead at puberty.
Heck, you can even see changes inside the same country over time, and there we're not even just talking the same race, but the same genes. We're talking people who acted like X, yet their descendants acted like Y. The communist block is the prime example, as it turned some countries' cultures into something completely different in a mere 40 years or so. But even in the USA, if you looked at the people around you, you wouldn't see the same culture and behaviour as in the people that crossed the ocean and braved the unknown some 200-300 years ago. Race influenced that... how?
How you view the world is, plain and simple, a matter of education, not of skin colour. The same Caucasian or the same Black or the same Asian can view the world massively differently if they grew up in a different culture.
2. Skin colour only affects culture and personal values indirectly. It's stuff like being discriminated against (e.g., because of skin colour) that affects people's behaviour and views, not merely being born with a certain skin colour. The same Black born in a Black country won't think as much (or at all) about his skin colour as one born in the southern USA or in South Africa.
It's also economic differences based on that discrimination that are too easy to mistake or mis-represent as cultural or racial differences. E.g., it's entirely too easy to take an inner-city black from a dirt-poor and discriminated-against family, and compare them to a white guy that grew in a fashionable middle-class home in the suburbs, and pass that off as cultural or racial differences. But it's conveniently skipping the point that it's not an apple to apple comparison. There are plenty of examples where poor whites acted no better, or viceversa.
So basically, oh please... I know culture has become the new substitute for racism, but using it outright as an excuse to be a racist prick is... stupid. And there's something extremely callous in doing it when it's racist discrimination that made those people act differentely in the first place.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
I'm just waiting for the Yellow PSP to become available...
Ouch, I'm rather late on this, but...
Has anyone asked a black person how they feel on this? As far as I know, the only people who get agitated over racism are white. I don't know any black people that would consider this racist (especially since there's two more ads, one with the black over the white, and one with them together).
Although the ad was probably not intended to be racist, Sony has really shot itself in the foot here.
I am a white conservative, and even I am somewhat offended by the ad.
What the hell was Sony smoking when it came up with this?
Microsoft has officially won the console wars.
Take a look at the ropes that woman is wearing under her shirt... so on top of it being racist, it's BDSM too.
then you're looking for it way, way too hard.
Maybe you'all ought to take a cue from people without an axe to grind.
Just really stupid. This ad was poorly thought out for sure (as in I don't exactly want or care about the product), but don't people have anything better to do than try to call it racist? I have a huge problem with overly politically correct points of view. I think this qualifies. Lighten up people.
--Not to be worried, Pitr fix.
If it were a black woman dressed all in black grabbing a white woman, there'd be zero problem. If it truly does have a racist intent of some kind, it would still be okay.
I can never understand why, in this day and age, it's okay to be racist one way but not the other...The same with society's current stance that it's just fine for women to hate men simply because they're men...Or that sexual harassment CBT work made me do, where in *every single example* (there were over 30, all made up), the offender was a man. Maybe it's just that I'm the stereotypical majority.
I can't believe that people are actually getting worked up or bothered by this. People look for every reason they can to be offended these days. Grow up.
Why oh why didn't I take the purple pill?
The ad campaign is not racist, but it is lame. Correlating PSP colors to race is not intelligent, not clever, not original, just lame. Sony got some elite "artsy" guy to come up with this idea, and they all thought it was clever and "edgy". It's just lame. What, if Sony releases red and yellow PSPs, they're going to depict Native Americans and Asians fighting each other? It's stupid. And it's not going to sell PSPs.
-- "I never gave these stories much credence." - HAL 9000
How many of us would have known about the white PSP coming out if it weren't for this highly controversial ad? I wouldn't have. My guess is, this ad is deliberately provocative, just to stir things up. We can sit here and bicker about it all day, but as a result, we've now all seen the ads. From a marketing standpoint, it's quite brilliant.
mirrorshades radio -- darkwave, industrial, futurepop, ebm.
Crap.... after seeing all 3 ads.... I feel the unstoppable urge to go buy both PSP's now... and do things to them that are illegal in some states.
Ok, check this out people... The only thing that Sony has done here is make everyone in America, and in other countries, look at them. Why would they do this? THEY WANT TO SELL YOU STUFF! Shock advertising is just like Shock entertainment, it draws a large crowd. The people who hate it are their to protest it, the people who love it are there to support it, and then there are the middle people who come just to see what its all about. Example, look at Tommy Hilfiger, didn't he say he was racist?? And what did the African American's do? Nothing at all, they bought more. He said that only to get people to buy his products and some just burned them in protest while other wore more. Did he make more profit, Hell yea he did!!! Sony is doing the same thing. Although I will never purchase, nor own anything Sony, I've just never liked the quality of their products. As for others, it's your own opinion, do what you will. It's your right as a HUMAN to do so.
So rather than being racist, I'd say the ads are pro-lesbian.
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
Sure, you might claim that people are only claiming racism out of their insecurities or whatever, but Sony had to have known that this series of ads would stir up controversy.
lol
racism....duh?
older than hell.
next topic please.
Not that anybody is going to notice this or care, but the author of the original BLOG entry that was referenced in this Slashdot story has retracted his original point associating the JAPANESE company Sony running an ad campaign in Europe as having some connection to racial attitudes in the United States:
7 /07/psp_ad_post_a_quick_explanation.html
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/2006/0
"The previous closing paragraph of my post on the PSP ads - where I mentioned the sensitivity of racial themes in the US - has attracted a lot of criticism from readers. I of course, didn't mean to imply that there are no problems with racial tension in Europe - that would be lunacy. However, in the very short space I can lend to such issues in a videogame blog, I was trying to hint at cultural differences in the way such matters are handled.
I realise, however, that the paragraph caused offense for which I apologise - especially to our American readers. It has now been changed."
Is there any country in the world that is more monoracial and lacking in diversity than Japan?
Final 2006 "Proof of Global Warming" US Hurricane Count -> 0
THat the government back then did not understood their own Constitution is damning, no matter how you want to spin it.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Which is a very comfy position to be in.
Slavery created an underpiviledged group of people, it is no coincidence that black people in the US are the most disadvantaged when it comes to any economical and educational indicators.
White people, specially in the South, profitted for generations from the work of black people, all that work went directly to a privileged clas that up to this date can trace their better situation in life to the wealth created by slave labout.
Black people in contrast, once they achieved freedom, were left with nothing, very often they only owed the clothes they were wearing and little else.
And to top it all, for a further 100 years they were forced to live under a defacto apartheid in many US states tha denied them the status of an equal human being.
Only somebody that is a racist, an ingnorant or both would not care about this monumental human tragedy. Any person with any principles should be doing something to redress the balance in favour of the descendents of thos people that were forcibly removed from their homes and brought into forced servitude.
Black people in the US should have preferential treatment in many sitiation for at least as long as they were slaves and they were mistreated under the apartheid years in the US>
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
It is pretty lame to remind us that yes, some white people may have been slaved by black people at some moment in human history.
There are several problems with that, firstly is of course one of scale. Black people were the only group enslaved in a quasi industrial manner, pretty much indistinguishible from dealing with animals. That did not happen to the few white people that may have been slaved through history.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Spare us your tears, you are clearly ignorant about the matter.
Read about apartheid (which is pretty much what was practiced in the US) and imagine for a moment that you are treated like that.
Then, and not before, you will know what racism is all about.
If you faced racial attacks is pretty bad, but all the system was and is still stacked in your favour simpley because you lack melanine in your skin.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Todays black people should just shrug the fact that generation after generation of their ancestors could not build up an inheritance to give them a head start in life.
All that wealth went instead to the exploitative class that became rich and whose descendants (you may be one of them) got a better start in life for the simple fact that they lacked melanin on their skin.
If you can't appreciate how unfair it is to all US black people to ask them just to shrug it of, then you have deeper issues that you need to address.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
You've put it perfectly.
It's not that Brazailians are less racist than Americans.
It's just the the system of expectation and judgements are different.
When one moves from one set to another, then the unspoken rules are
made obvious.
Most (perhaps all) countries around the world are racist to a degree.
Japaneses and Chineses can be among the worst offenders.
That's just the way it is now.
What IS a problem is when people ignore clear evidences and perpetuate
a myth that no such behavior and attitude exist.