There is an odd transposition an advertising, namely the change in race roles in television commercials. The change came firmly about during race riots in the wake of George Floyd, but it had been brewing for some time.
That advertisers use race as a part of their marketing has been a part of television since the beginning, and for the last half of the 20th century, since the advent of modern market research. But as the trend has gone to new levels, consumers have begun to notice. Somehow we have gone from “let’s make sure we include black consumers” to a move where blacks are now the dominant part of the economy, and not 12 percent of t he population.
To detail the trend, there is now a Twitter X.com account that follows it called White Men Are Stupid in Commercials, at x.com/StupidWhiteAds. It defines itself as a “Parody account, satire account. I show actual commercials with silly white folks. I give very little commentary.”
The posts are not all commercials; there are also clips from network TV shows. Below, a few commercials the feed has highlighted:
- T-Mobile and their “Chubby white lady” commercial:
Chubby White lady had bad internet. pic.twitter.com/N2kW7hO5gB
— White Men Are Stupid In Commercials (@StupidWhiteAds) August 19, 2024
2. National Car Rental, where the only white guy is the one cleaning the car:
“Good, but you need to have at least one White guy”
— White Men Are Stupid In Commercials (@StupidWhiteAds) August 8, 2024
“OK have him cleaning the cars” pic.twitter.com/LY4vvg57xA
3. Mentos, a commercial nicknamed “Where a dude put up a shelf once” in a role reverse of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.
“I put up a shelf once” pic.twitter.com/i7YRoz0Fd3
— White Men Are Stupid In Commercials (@StupidWhiteAds) August 15, 2024
i didn’t know it was actually possible to post photos with the aspect ratio bent out of shape in this day and age … but i guess it is. congratulations.