In the commercial a monkey is dressed up in a suit and stands behind a podium. The crowd around the monkey holds up signs with just the word "Change" on them. It's an obvious play on Obama's popularity in Japan.
Here's the kicker. Even though it is the year 2008 and racism is supposed to be close to gone. Which, let's be real, it's not in some parts of the world. This ad was deemed racist by a group in Japan that consisted mainly of African-Americans.
As I've heard it said before, "If your mind is open to racism then don't you think your a little racist yourself?" Every person that is alive is a little racist but that's an entirely different subject all together.
As one of the complainants said, "People's minds should be more open as global citizens." So... everyone in the world should know about everything bad that has ever happened anywhere at anytime within this global world. Stupid. Listen buddy, you live in their world. Your the visitor so deal with it.
Granted, if this ad pisses you off then it pisses you off. There's nothing that can be done about that. But I don't see why. Perhaps I'm cold or not in touch with any particular "breed" of humans.
Part of me really thinks this is all just getting blown up as most things like this do. The monkey is the company's mascot. It's been used in numerous situations and I will guarantee you 100% that if that same monkey was portraying a white politician no one would give a shit. But white men and monkeys haven't been correlated together throughout history. Ok... What if it was a white man dressed in Colonial garb carrying a whip? Would it get as much attention from CNN? Or perhaps a monkey dressed in a sleeveless red flannel, a trucker hat, cigarette hanging from it's lip and speaking horribly broken redneck jargon? Would that be racist or would that be funny? After all, not all white people are rednecks or were slave owners.
Every politician that has ever ran for the Presidential Office has promised change. So how do these people that are complaining even know who the monkey is supposed to be imitating? Well, it is kind of obvious. After all, Obama is running now and "Change" is a big platform in his ploys. The monkey portrays a politician, Obama is a popular politician.
Damn good thing they didn't give the monkey fake glasses and a cigar. George Burns family might be really pissed off about that.
So is it really a bad thing that a company decided to use their mascot - which has been in many other commercials and represents them - to represent a human (not just a black man) that they believe is powerful and well liked? What if the mascot was a giraffe or a hyena? Would it then be a problem because a giraffe represents thinking in the clouds? A hyena would be bad because hyenas are known for their bark that sounds like a laugh and scavenging dead bodies for nourishment. However, monkeys in the Japanese culture are a very high ranking and honorable animal.
Did anyone else notice how this article faded away from the racism based complaints and became more focused on the monkey and the politician?
You did? Good. Maybe you also noticed how a simple commercial that was trying to project a powerful and respectful image got turned around into being racist just due to a small handful of people's thoughts.
Life doesn't change until people's thoughts start to change. If your constantly looking for any excuse to turn something good into something bad then life will never change.
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