What a Wicked Thing to Do
I've become more cynical in my viewing of commercials lately, partly because I am becoming increasingly frustrated with materialism of them and of our society, and partly because of my newfound critical thinking. I still enjoy some commercials, like the one where the guy kisses his girlfriend's grandmother twice really long on the lips and says, "Let's Eat!". I also enjoy watching Tim Horton's commercials fluctuate between epicly hilarious and craptacular ("then I ate the bowl" is a classic commercial line, untouchably so).

I've noticed something new though. I don't know if this is a new trend that I've noticed, or something I've finally clued into now. In one commercial, a guy is sitting on a couch holding a Heineken in the hand that is attached to the arm that his girlfriend has fallen asleep on. In the other one a guy an a girl, presumably a couple, are eating their McDonald's meals when the guy unsuccessfully starts looking for his free toy. The merits of these commercials and the quality of their products aside, they have something in common. The couples in these commercials are inter-racial. In marketing, very little of what you see is unintentional. It makes me wonder if corporations have stopped shying away from displaying this portion of society, if they are trying to brand themselves as open and accepting of all, if they are trying to reach specifically to this niche market, or if it's simply coincidental. Help me out here, have there been inter-racial couples on commercials well before this? Am I a bigot for thinking this is a big deal, or am I clearly not a bigot because it took me this long to clue in?

   [ posted by William @ 7:09 PM ]