Office Max "Rubberband Man" Commercial...

[Earth_First]

I had a rather interesting discussion with a close acquaintance of mine this afternoon over lunch concerning this commercial. She seems to think that this commercial is "racist"

I cannot possibly fathom how this commercial could be racist. Is there a propensity in this country to be overly "pc" these days...?

Your thoughts?

[Taverner]

1. YES I FELT THE SAME WAY!!!!!

Black man shuffles around, dancing to the music serving white office workers, happy in his role at the bottom as supply person....


I don't think it's a PC thing at all, when I first saw this I totally thought it was a subtle racist statement....not overt but subtle.

[Earth_First]

3. How so...

I'd like to hear another opinion...

[Taverner]

10. Like i said, subtle not overt

It wasn't Jude Suess or Birth of a Nation...

But you have the only black person in the commercial, he dances along, smiling... shuffling really. Very much like the Amos and Andy type caricatures. Now anyone in the office world will tell you the supply person is on the bottom of the office food chain. He or she will make minimum wage, tops.

Then we have the office workers, all white. Being good and subserviant, the black supply person serves the workers with a smile - shuffling the whole way.

I might not have pegged this as racist either, but after seeing Spike Lee's "Bamboozled" it really opens your eyes to subtle (and not so subtle) racism in the media.

Personally, I think Bamboozled was Spike Lee's best, and should be required viewing for any white person so they can *get it.*

[Earth_First]

12. Wouldn't caucasian be more aptly suited than "white person"

;)

[SheepyMcSheepster]

2. I am not one who gets on the PC bandwagon much, but....

the thought of racism does cross my mind when i see that commercial. The "dancing low level employee with an afro and a supply cart 'pimped' out with various car accessories" does kind of make you wonder. i don't know that i think it is meant to be racist, the commercial just seems a little weird. i am curious to see what others think as well.

on the flipside, what is wrong with showing a black man having a little fun doing his job?

what if say the carless paper cutting employee was black or whar if the guy having copier problems was black. would we be asking if the commercial was racist because it would show them in an unfavorable light? the careless black man, the stupid can't work a copier blackman, the unorganized-needs-some-organiztion-product black man?

is the commercial sexist because it has a woman who has a messy desk, our all women unorganized?

[SmileyBoy]

4. Not ONCE did racism cross my mind when I saw the commercial.

Geez, some of you really need to jump off the PC Wagon.

[unblock]

6. aha! that just shows how insidious the racism is!

actually, i've never seen the commercial. mrs. unblock is a living tivo, so i rarely see commercials....

[ArkDem]

7. How about those NBA commercials that feature

black athletes? Stereotyping to the extreme!

[blondeatlast]

5. I found it disturbing, to say the least.

Not so very far from Stepin Fetchit, really.

Now if he were the CEO delivering bonuses, that would be quite another issue.

Edit: I don't think it's deliberate, but it carries more baggage than can be easily accomodated in 30 seconds.

[roguevalley]

8. I can see both sides. I loved the guy because he's so elegant and

fabulous in his moves too.

[TheDonkey]

9. I wouldn't boycott OffMax but the commercial is fishy

It seems at first glance the classic "mambo" image of a happy dancing black man with nappy hair excited to do anything.

It might be stretching cause the racism was not overt but there are definte links as to why the person who created should have had second thoughts.

[Taverner]

18. Send a letter, yes, boycott no

I don't think the creator of this commercial intended the racism - I think it just ended up there and he didn't catch it because, like a lot of us, he didn't *get it.*

Sterotyping is a very grey area, and there are no black and white (no pun intended) answers...that was one of the greatest messages that came through in Spike Lee's "Bamboozled"

Honestly, I really think all of us here should check that film out. In a perfect world, it would have picked up best screenplay that year...

[Another Bill C.]

11. The problem with using a white guy

is that there's nothing more ridiculous than a white guy trying to dance.

[LadeJarl]

13. I don't feel it is, but

I'm white so I may not see it the way blacks do and I'd love to hear what my black friends think about it.

The guys is just fabulous, he is offering solutions to all these bewildered white workers who all seems to be totally lost and the only one with a cool, level head is the rubberbandman. I see it completly different than others I guess.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

16. i can agree with that view as well.

it is interesting how differently things get interpreted.

[filmmaker]

14. Think of it this way

At least the black actor got paid for the commercial instead of a white one!

Personally, I loved this commercial. And I HATE commercials.

[Catherine Vincent]

20. The office workers in the background got paid too.

I don't feel it's racist but it's a stupid commercial, imo.

[filmmaker]

24. But not nearly as much!

I think it's a mistake to see this commercial as racist. He's the most competent dude in the company, as the lower level workers sometimes are. THat doesn't mean he doesn't have a GREAT FUTURE ahead of him!

[Earth_First]

15. Truthout time...

how many people have Rubberband Man stuck in their head as a result of this thread...?

[Kadie]

19. Me

I love the song, never paid too much attention to the commercial.

[Beware the Beast Man]

17. I really don't see it that way.

I see him as an entry-level office drone trying to make the best of a shit job.
This reminds me of a similar controversy a couple of years back with that K-Mart commercial for Joe Boxer, where the guy is dancing around in his underwear & grinning like an idiot. Remember that one? A lot of people thought that the commercial had racist implications.

[molly]

21. I love that commercial

and it never occurred to me to consider it racist.

[blondeatlast]

29. Me either, and I am disturbed byt the OD commercial.

[LSdemocrat]

22. From the commercial, he looked like the only competent employee

All the other people were screwing things up, while the black guy was in the right place at the right time with the right stuff. I really don't see how this commercial was racist. If anything it made me want to be that black guy.

[Alpharetta]

23. as a white guy, i saw the danger in the commercial

I knew they were treading on dangerous ground. I bet THEY KNEW they were too.

personally, I saw it mostly as just a cute funny commercial. loved the guy w/ the paper slicer.

[Taverner]

25. You may have a point...

"I knew they were treading on dangerous ground. I bet THEY KNEW they were too."

They probably did, and chose this riding the edge on purpose. It's kind of along the same theory that hanging a picture slightly crooked gets one to look at it.

Of course treading this thin line can backfire, if it offends more than it just catches unaware, it can have the negative effect. But chances are they took this into account. They looked at the numbers and their targeted demographic, and realized that this group might be sensitive to the medium, it wouldn't necesarrily be offended by the medium.

[VeniceBeat]

26. Examine the Actor Extras Next Time

instead of watching the Lead.

I thought the same thing about the commercial the first time I saw it-- a bit of a Minstrel Show aspect to it definitely.

I doubted whether the ad agency was dim enough not to see the danger so I examined the people Rubber Band Man comes in contact with on his way through the office.

He does come into contact with People of Color who are a rung or two above him on the corporate ladder and some Goofy White Guy stereotypes, too. That put me more at ease and I was able to enjoy a timelessly great song and an appealing Lead Actor.

The commercial is so striking and humorous it could be a long running gig for the actor.

All in all a more hopeful than demeaning.

Would it have been as effective with an Asian American or European American, et.al. actor?

That song was aching to be used for an office supply company ad.

Of course, I believe this commercial comes out of BBDO Atlanta so maybe I'm giving the creators too much of the benefit of the doubt and it's the re-introduction of the Stepin Fetchit ethos to America.

:crazy:

[VeniceBeat]

28. Whoops! Ofiice Max NOT Office Depot!

So I have no idea who the ad agency is.

[VeniceBeat]

27. More Discussion Here:

http://intellectualize.org/archives/003779.html