You can’t see a television show, streaming series, commercial, or nearly any cultural event without noticing how overtly everyone is trying to make up for their own racism.
You can’t swing a dead cat without seeing an over-representation of black people in nearly everything you see in media. Movies. Television shows. Tik Tok clips. Award shows. Hallmark specials. Commercials. Advertising. No matter where you turn, you’d think America was 75% black people, based on current casting practices.
Which is fine. If the content of the story or the successful sale is the point, who cares whether it’s a man, woman, black, white, asian, or gay person/couple? It’s just that everyone is trying so hard, you can’t help but notice it. Everyone is pandering to black people right now.
But why? What is the real message here?
From what I can tell, I guess black people won’t use a bank, drink a beer, buy a car, watch a movie, identify with a character, understand a plot, enjoy a sport, or listen to music unless it was portrayed or produced by another black person.
I’m confident that’s not actually true, but isn’t the notion that it is a bit racist? Do we really think black people can’t pay attention or understand unless another black person is communicating directly to them?
I understand that marketing has always thought we needed people like us talking to us for us to identify with that person and their message. But being a housewife, for example, is a life circumstance or choice, and the experience that goes with it has certain aspects that ring true for nearly all housewives.
But skin color is fairly irrelevant. There are poor black people, rich black people, funny black people, serious black people, happy black people, and sad black people. In fact, it’s almost as if they’re just… well, people.
I’m not sure where there was more racism, the overt overcompensation toward the black community, or what we were doing before we all decided we are all racists.
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