Mary Voelz Chandler writes in her "Hot Topic" column in the Rocky Mountain News (3-17-2007), "We could use a laugh." The gist of her column seems to be we need to lighten up. Television commercials poking fun at certain groups, she maintains, are harmless.
Ms. Chandler goes on to cite certain commercials. The one of
Kevin Federline for Super Bowl in which he appears to work at a fast food restaurant received significant flack, as did the Super Bowl commercial featuring two men munching opposite ends of a candy bar horrified when their lips eventually touch. Washington Mutual ran, until recently, a series of commercials in which a man taunts in a variety of ways a group of captive men in suits labeled "bankers". One notable aspect of those commercials was the taunter was one race and the tauntees another.
Though Ms. Chandler seems to maintain we have collectively become too sensitive, and some might agree, methinks she is very much missing the point.
Now, I know what many might ask. Who is harmed by something as benign as blonde jokes? What is wrong with laughing at people in certain professions? How can depicting two men terrified of appearing gay possibly hurt? Isn't it all in the spirit of good fun?
No. Any systematic method of poking fun at or putting down a particular group, whether through a series of television commercials or widespread jokes, is risky. The promotion of stereotypes is always counterproductive and often hurtful. Promoting stereotypes can take vague, unfounded suspicions or fears and confirm them. Offering up cheap humor for some at the expense of others is, well, cheap.
Some argue within stereotypes are often grains of truth. Maybe. I'd never argue that cultures exist among us and not all cultures are the same. That is, in fact, what makes a culture a culture. I'd further argue every culture includes some good and some not so good. But, for us to assume certain things about people within a certain culture, good or bad, takes us to a danger zone we need desperately to avoid. Promoting stereotypes through advertising sets a stage for way too much misunderstanding, even hate.
The litmus test for advertisers and for us all should be this. Ask if what you are about to say promotes the idea that a certain group of people can be expected to behave in a certain way. If the answer is yes, recognize the public disservice. Advertisers share the social responsibility, in my opinion, you and I share; the responsibility to quash prejudice.
Many of us are guilty of promoting stereotypes of our own culture. I am a white, Anglo-Saxon protestant and there's plenty funny about us. But the next time I start to poke fun at some of our oddball ways, I hope to stop.
Oh, I've heard the jokes. I've laughed at a few. You have to admit the one about the foreman yelling "green side up!" over and over because he hired blondes to lay sod is pretty darn funny. But, wouldn't the joke be just as funny if we deleted "blondes" and inserted "morons"? Blondes aren't necessarily morons. The good news is, people from all walks of life, all professions, all races and all cultures can be morons. Sometimes tellers of bad jokes and writers of bad commercials prove it.