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or maybe they’re holding companies and us accountable for once
I read “holding companies” and immediately became offended.
People have been made to feel inadequate and have been offended by ads for decades. Women and POCs have felt like their voices didn’t matter in this industry for just as long.
It may seem to some that these complaints are coming out of nowhere, but they aren’t. We finally just have the platforms to have our voices heard.
@CD2, absolutely spot on insight.
"I'm making different mouth shapes and vibrating my vocal cords to express multiple layers of removed thought so everyone knows how woke I am."
Actually people are sick and tired of being offended by all media forms — and they are sick and tired of being stereotyped, marginalized, dehumanized, stigmatized, ignored, misrepresented, tokenized and they do know the difference between being laughed at and laughed with. Advertising has consequences and social impact and plays an enormous role in socialization, and like it or not people have the right to push back when brands get it wrong.
Advertising is not art, or some noble form of free expression that deserves to be treated as sacred. It is an intrusive enabler of commerce that people are forced to sit through or pass by in order to connect to their news, entertainment, games, information, friends or even physical destinations. It does influence people’s beliefs and sense of the world and their place in it. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t exist. So why shouldn’t people hold brands accountable for toxic advertising along with other toxic business practices like pollution, price gouging, false claims, labor exploitation and others. It’s easy to tell people they are too sensitive when what is happening to them isn’t happening to you.
Sad that people who work in an industry are not aware of it’s impact, and when so advised laugh it off or dismiss with sarcasm. Contempt prior to investigation is a form of voluntary ignorance, and in this case, trivializing the potential harm speaks for itself. Just say you don’t give a damn if your work can cause harm (unintended or otherwise), and that you choose not to try to do what’s right. It’s a choice to be thoughtful and inquisitive. Or to push those creative boundaries for the sake of your own self-fulfillment? Creative expression? Freedom to...what?
To personalize this, it’s not just about my offense about something an ad says about me. What about the other thousands or millions of people who are exposed to what you have to say about me?
I noticed there’s a lot of offense appropriation. For example, Cartoon Network pulled Speedy Gonzales cartoons because the character was deemed ethnically offensive. Then a Latin American group petitioned Cartoon Network to bring it back, because it turned out that actual Mexicans loved Speedy.
Ok. As a Cuban I wouldn’t see it the same as a Mexican. Did not mean to offend you two. Lo siento. But that petition really happened, apparently signed by many Mexicans. But again, my point is people are offended on our (Latin Americans) behalf. Sometimes it’s good (as in, I’m glad when blatant prejudice and injustice is considered offensive), but other times, it seems like they’re acting like a “savior.” Which irks me. I dunno. Maybe it’s pent up thing passed down from generations past.
It’s a “yes, and...” deal. Some people are speaking up and pushing back against lazy and hurtful stereotypes and tropes. My Boomer parents told me about how “eenie meenie minnie moe” used to go and I was admittedly shocked. Suffice it to say, the range of acceptable expression changes over time and there’s friction in the transitions.
ALSO, there’s a ton of faux, performative offendedness used as a proxy for moral authority, groupthink and sanctimony out there
He laughs... sigh.
I’ve heard this bit and it’s never funny.
It’s a balance. There’s more space for offenders these days thus more people being offended.
Nothing wrong with consciousness raising as long as it doesn’t become dogma. Similarly, people have to learn to take a joke.
Not sure ads have anything to do with it
The sooner you realize it’s just to keep everyone fighting and clicking, the sooner you’ll be free
THIS 500%
‘Moral indignation is the technique used to endow the idiot with dignity. - Marshall McLuhan
What an amazing (and true) quote.
Huge swaths of the population have had to sit and look pretty while feeling offended or worse for long periods of time. If white men have to play that role for a few years I’m ok with that. You sound like the type of person who thinks Mad Men represented the good ole days
No. I just find that most ads that give offense are also crap. Too many ads take the cheap and easy path to humor and sophomoric stereotypes, the result of lazy thinking and true consumer insight. These ads are usually crafted by those who never attempt to leave the bubble of their own lives
Nailed it
or maybe right now peoples rights are being taken away so people are a little more sensitive to light hearted “jokes"
true, but i think we’ve advanced as a society and our bar for what’s funny has risen. you need to be clever enough to be funny without being offensive. some people are just bitter they aren’t clever enough for todays standards! 😉
Social Justice cannot exist without something to attack. Social Justice is now many people’s sad hobby and media’s booming BUSINESS, so if you think they’re EVER gonna run out of stuff to find or “justice” will ever be achieved, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
Yes. If you’re looking for problems you will surely find them.
HOW DARE YOU ASK ME THIS QUESTION
Ya think
Particularly on behalf of other people
The instinct to censor and control is ever present. There are always groups who believe that censoring media will make the world better. Whether it’s ‘married with children’ in the 90’s or YA novels today, there are always groups that want to exercise control over content, people who believe they can make a better world by filtering what the majority see.
It never works though, because people and ideas want to be free and individuals aren’t are defined by media as some suspect. And today especially, there are just to many ways to connect for any sort of effective control.
Or perhaps that they’ve always been offended and we’ve never cared to hear them before. Either way, we have things to learn. I say this as a man who has made unintentional mistakes and changed my ways vs. assuming “they” are wrong.