Obama and Advertising
A collateral benefit of the Obama Presidency is in advertising. Black people have begun to take a much more prominent role in advertising, and the nature of their roles has changed (indeed, improved), such that those new roles seem plausible to the American public. For instance, a black woman in a television spot is now more likely to be checking her balance at Chase over her Blackberry than screaming out "You go girl!" Similarly, a black man - and not just a P. Diddy or a Lebron James - is more likely now to be a spokesman for a luxury sedan than a sports beverage.
And of course, as mentioned above, the real test of this is plausibility: after you've seen a black man in the Oval Office, there's nothing that seems unrealistic about blacks in all sorts of successful middle- and upper-class positions. Unlike the slew of ridiculous mid-90s commercials that portrayed some Waspy Chuck and Deborah hanging out with one black guy and one Asian girl, there's nothing about this that rings false.
I see this as an improvement, even if it is, in some respects, a temporary one. There has long existed a substantial black middle class in America, and I see black professionals every day, but these have held neither the attention of the whites nor of the blacks. Even if this new focus on black society is partially just a symptom of whites patting themselves on the back for voting for Obama, I think its effects will be more long-lasting than other manifestations of Obama-phoria, such as Pepsi changing its logo to look like the Obama Campaign logo.
During the campaign, I heard John McWhorter, a notable conservative black social scholar, participate in a panel discussion on Race & Class in America. He explained that he was voting for Obama (I expect then that abortion was a non-issue for him) because of the psychological effect it will have on the nation. He explained that Obama will do a lot of things during his presidency, but one of the things Obama will do every single day is be black. There he is, a black man, signing a bill into law. There he is, a black man, boarding Air Force One. There he is, a black man, giving the State of the Union address. Long-term, this will erode both the belief of blacks that their hopes are forever suppressed, that they cannot possibly succeed, and it will erode the belief of whites that blacks cannot compete on the same level. No matter what blunders and evils Obama may execute during his term, I cannot deny that this is at least one upside.
And of course, as mentioned above, the real test of this is plausibility: after you've seen a black man in the Oval Office, there's nothing that seems unrealistic about blacks in all sorts of successful middle- and upper-class positions. Unlike the slew of ridiculous mid-90s commercials that portrayed some Waspy Chuck and Deborah hanging out with one black guy and one Asian girl, there's nothing about this that rings false.
I see this as an improvement, even if it is, in some respects, a temporary one. There has long existed a substantial black middle class in America, and I see black professionals every day, but these have held neither the attention of the whites nor of the blacks. Even if this new focus on black society is partially just a symptom of whites patting themselves on the back for voting for Obama, I think its effects will be more long-lasting than other manifestations of Obama-phoria, such as Pepsi changing its logo to look like the Obama Campaign logo.
During the campaign, I heard John McWhorter, a notable conservative black social scholar, participate in a panel discussion on Race & Class in America. He explained that he was voting for Obama (I expect then that abortion was a non-issue for him) because of the psychological effect it will have on the nation. He explained that Obama will do a lot of things during his presidency, but one of the things Obama will do every single day is be black. There he is, a black man, signing a bill into law. There he is, a black man, boarding Air Force One. There he is, a black man, giving the State of the Union address. Long-term, this will erode both the belief of blacks that their hopes are forever suppressed, that they cannot possibly succeed, and it will erode the belief of whites that blacks cannot compete on the same level. No matter what blunders and evils Obama may execute during his term, I cannot deny that this is at least one upside.
posted by Lincoln Davis at 9:11 AM
3 Comments:
Dude, i hate to burst your bubble. But Obama will be like Ricky Martin. Hot for a while, then when he jacks something up and someone else is elected, he will be thrown back wherever he came from. The only reason you might think what you think is 2fold. 1 you are in new york and there is a lot of media present there, and media loves obama and i have read articles how the media states that the view of all black people being poor and uneducated will now be gone because of obama. And 2 because you are in newyork you dont see life through the rest of the country's eyes. Newyork,chicago,LA, etc.. all have way different outlooks than the rest of the country. City people believe it or not are a totally different calibur of people. They are mostly liberal wankers. Birds of a feather flock together. So all the rest of the country, joe the plumber, plant workers, etc,, who live all across the midwest, south, and northwest, arent affected by these ideas at all. They are either still super racist in the south, moderately racist in the northwest, and probably more case by case in the midwest. Most of these people live in the black stereotypes and see obama as an anomile. Not to mention, most of those people arent stupid and think that he isnt anymore black than he is white. So when people say hes the first black president, most racist, or people who dont live in these liberal towns all say, the guy was raised white, is half white, has no connection to the black culture, hes not making any racial ground in their eyes. If anything people are getting sick of reading and hearing things about "get your own innaguration video, and see history made, with our first black president". "buy your obama doll that says hope peace dreams yes we can!" I think liberals and the media will say "we love you obama till he leaves office" and everyone else will just wait begrudgingly. Remember, it was low income voters and minorites that got obama into office. Not celebs and media and upperclassmen that did. 60% of low income below 20k a year voted obama,90+ percent of all minority races voted him in. That is where your acceptance of him is, where black acceptance always was.
I think you're right that a lot of this is just a fad, but I also think that a good portion of the trend will endure past Obama's time, and will affect the whole of the nation. Again, the reason I'm speaking about advertising right now is that these advertisers aren't stupid: they've done market research, and they know what sells. Right now, black people sell, and to the middle class, and to the country at large, which is why you now see them FEATURED, not just included in these TV spots.
The success of notable blacks in America has done a lot more for the decline of racism than we perhaps admit. Just like the integration of baseball allowed whites to see that blacks could beat them at the sport, and thus to give them some respect, having Obama as president shows whites that there's nothing stopping a black man - whether African-American or more just African - from taking the highest office in the land. I think we'd be foolish to say that this won't have some substantial long-term effects.
I dont know obviously. But my guess is, everyone who voted, voted because hey, this has never happened before, lets give this a try. After his presidency it will go back to old white men. maybe a woman. who knows. I dont think blacks integrated into sports helps racism. I think its just this thing that is accepted in and of its own. As like a separate thing. Sports are at a distance from people, as a president is. They might accept michaeljordan not because hes black, but because he made the bulls win decades of championships. I think you are right that some long term effects are in play, being that the presidential office's racial virginity is no more. But i dont think it will move out from there much at all. When people see a gay commercial, the dont become tolerant, they just put up with it because there is nothing they can do.
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