Grocery Store Cluck Up
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Jim Crow Tastes Like Chicken
Advertisers are feeling torn lately: do they jump on the patriotic bandwagon and risk vilification for capitalizing on a horrific event, or do they continue to run their flag-waving-free campaigns and risk vilification for failing to pay homage to the victims of that horrific event?
As usual, advertisers are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
This time it's The Giant Food Stores company that got burnt. The company's Union Deposit store in Dauphin County, PA advertised a sale offer on fried chicken. And when they advertised the special as being "In honor of Black History Month," the feathers flew.
According to a 2/6 MyCFnow.com story, the NAACP has come to the rescue of easily offended store customers like Lance Sellers who claims he "was shocked by the sign, but said when he approached the store manager, the manager asked why it was offensive."
The NAACP's Paula Harris made sure the manager and countless others understand precisely why the offer was offensive. She stresses, "Not all African Americans eat fried chicken, greens and chitlins. We like salad, roast beef, low-fat chicken, just like everybody else.''
Perhaps instead of the fried chicken deal, the NAACP would have preferred that Giant Food Stores offer a discount on pacifiers or diapers.
Hear me out: granted, the fried-chicken offer was a pretty stupid move on Giant Food's part, but by blowing it out of proportion, the NAACP has done more to continue the stereotype than had they simply let it be. The fried-chicken and chitlins-eatin' Step and Fetchit stereotype is so antiquated, at this point it seems the only people perpetuating it are uptight members of organizations like the NAACP. Chances are, the folks involved in the promotion didn't have a clue that the promotion would offend anyone. Think about it: why would store managers want to drive away customers?
The face of America is changing everyday. The more people who immigrate here, the less who will be cognizant of the ethnic stereotypes harbored by the Archie Bunkers of the past. Still, it looks as though we can count on the NAACP to continue to reinforce black stereotypes.
What I don't understand is, what's the harm in pairing people of a particular group with their food-related customs anyway? Of course not all blacks eat fried chicken, greens and chitlins, but so what? There are plenty of Irish people who don't eat corned beef and cabbage or drink alcohol, but you don't see them getting up-in-arms over grocery store sales on corned beef or drink specials at bars in honor of St. Patrick's Day (In NYC, they've got more threatening things to worry about, like gay people giving their traditionally beer-fueled, fight-ridden parade a bad name). How many cries of protest do you hear from Chinese-Americans when supermarkets have frozen egg rolls and canned lo mein on special in honor of Chinese New Year, or from Mexicans when Corona and taco fixins are marked down to celebrate Cinco de Mayo?
The same logic can be applied to Giant Food's Black History Month offer. After all, fried chicken is a classic soul food dish which, besides being enjoyed by many non-blacks, is still lovingly embraced by African Americans. Some may consider this line of thinking racist, but if it's OK for a specific group of people to identify themselves with certain foods, it ought to be OK for others outside of that group to do the same.
You can't have your fried chicken and eat it, too.
Potent Quotables
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Doritos Brand Dain Bramage
It's the goal of all marketers to make an impression. They want their target audience to not only recognize their brand, but to think about it even when the product is not physically present. Achieving that sort of mind saturation is quite a feat. Still, to some, even brand recognition doesn't cut it. They won't stop until their brand permanently occupies the brains of consumers.
C'mon, this must be an exaggeration, right? Ask Cammie Dunaway, Frito-Lay's VP-general manager for kids and teens marketing. According to a 1/21 AdAge report, she and her business associates "want to make sure teens are talking about and thinking about Doritos all the time…." Now that's what I call a lofty goal.
Imagine a world in which kids and teens constantly thought about and discussed Doritos. We'd have one brilliant crop of future adults, wouldn't we? Think of the struggles they'd have with schoolwork:
In math class, little Lucas would insist on determining the hypotenuse of that Dorito-shaped thing.
While studying Shakespeare in English class, young Wyatt would recite the commonly known phrase, "Cool Ranch, or Original, -- that is the question."
And in history class, Taylor would insist that when Neil Armstrong first stepped foot on the lunar surface, he proclaimed, "That's one small step for man, one giant crunch for mankind."
Well, if anything, at least a Doritos preoccupation could predispose kids towards learning Spanish.
Ain't Got Time for Love
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Roses are Red, Violets Are Allowed
Last week I saw a TV spot prompting me to check out all the great Valentine's Day gifts available at Radio Shack. "Sure," I thought, "The next time I decide to buy my man a remote controlled robot that plays Love Me Tender I'll know where to go."
It really is amazing what marketers will do to equate their product or service with le jour de l'amour. Hell, I recently read about the American Dairy Association trying to promote cheese as a Valentine's Day treat through a find "America's Greatest Cheese Lover" contest. And the other day I spotted a New York City cab sporting a digital sign that read something like, "Sallie K., Be My Valentine. Love, Paul C." Apparently it's all part of some goofy "Valentine's Day Taxicard" promotion devised by Adapt Media. But then, what do I know about this mushy stuff? I'm the freak who would actually rather be given a household appliance than some garish diamond for Valentine's Day.
No matter what you got your petit choux for V Day, and no matter how annoyed you may be that every month there seems to be yet another commercial onslaught reminding you to buy something for somebody, be thankful. Be thankful you don't live in Saudi Arabia where selling Valentine's Day related items is banned.
A 2/8 Yahoo News article provides a rundown of affectionate no-no's, the prohibition of which is enforced by the muttawa (religious police) as part of a strict interpretation of Islam. In Saudi Arabia, as the doomed day of endearment nears, everything red is relegated to "the black market, where its price triples and quadruples." No legitimate proprietor will sell you a cuddly "Love Me" teddy bear or heart-shaped trinket. He could end up in jail for days if he does. Forget wearing a red ribbon to school or lighting a red candle at a restaurant. Red roses are out, too. (Hmmm…call me crazy, but if it weren't for the 'strictly enforced' part, all this anti-hearts, flowers and puppies stuff doesn't sound half bad to me.)
If that ain't ridiculous enough, would you believe that music is banned around Valentine's Day, too? Now, I'll admit, that just ain't right. You'd think even these muttawa meanies could make an exception for a little Barry White on V Day.
No worries…Saudi shopkeepers still manage to capitalize on their customers' contrived compulsion to captivate. They simply start selling chocolates, hearts and teddy bears weeks ahead of February 14. They say that love conquers all, but perhaps the store owners' fierce defiance of the lonely hearts club lockdown changes all that. In this case, capitalism conquers all.
I've never been a big fan of the Valentine's Day sham, but this just plain sucks. Still, it's too bad these Muslim fundamentalists can't ban the one red thing that could cause a real change for the betterment of society: bloodshed.
Rage Against the Motorist
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Aussies Share Common Bond with Sammy Hagar
When I was in college, my parents were kind enough to purchase a used Chevy Cavalier Hatchback for me. At night I'd cruise around the neighborhood, with the windows rolled down, blaring loud rock 'n' roll. I plastered the thing with an embarrassing amount of band-related bumper stickers. I carted friends to and from school, the grocery store, parties, what have you. Keanu Reeves grinned his vapid grin up at me from a photo taped to the dash. I loved that damn car. Then came the fateful day when my dad decided to replace my beloved Cavalier with my Grandmother's ugly, white, old-lady sedan: a Ford Tempo. Yuck! I couldn't stand the thing; it was completely devoid of personality. It's no wonder I put a dent in it within hours of picking it up from my Grandma's house.
As this little auto anecdote demonstrates, the majority of car-owners see their vehicles not only as mini-homes away from home, but as outward extensions of their personalities. Car brand managers are well aware of this. That's why car ads rarely focus on the boring, utilitarian aspects of the vehicle alone. Rather, they aim to make emotional connections with viewers, appealing to their senses of adventure, individuality, security or freedom.
One convention of car ads is the focus on speed. Scenes featuring fast cars invoke feelings of excitement, indulgence and liberation. Now, some folks want to curb car manufacturers' lead-footed promotions. As featured in a 2/4 editorial in Aussie paper, The Age, lately car makers have had to navigate several detours put up by concerned organizations in response to ads that rely on speed appeal. Citizen complaints prompted Alfa Romeo to drop its "Festival of Speed" campaign last year. Other concerned groups managed to impound a TV spot for "Toyota Corolla featuring fast and aggressive driving on a country road," according to the story.
And now the Australian Federal Government is flashing car advertisers a yellow light. According to the story, Ford Australia is worried that the government may pass a code restricting advertisers from promoting the fast-moving capabilities of their vehicles.
The Age editorial opines that the increase in drivers exceeding the speed limit in Victoria, Australia stems "not only from the driving seat but also from those who put vehicles on the road and persuade us to buy them." It goes on to demand, "A code of practice for vehicle advertising is long overdue, and it should be up to the government, not the car industry, to establish and regulate it."
This is silly. People who drive fast drive fast -- period. Contrary to popular belief, all human action is not inspired by commercial messages alone. And in the case of speeding, it's more of a primal impulse than anything else. Besides being dangerous, putting that good ol' pedal to the metal gives a driver (and his passengers) an adrenalin rush. It's fun, it's daring, and it's got nothing to do with some stupid ad. Hey, if my Grandmother's dowdy Ford Tempo had any pick up, I would have driven that too fast, too.
Leave it to the safety brigade to sap everything, even our car ads, of spirit and aggressiveness. Truthfully, I don't really care what becomes of car commercials; however, there's no doubt that when it comes to unsafe driving habits, the onus is on the driver, not the car manufacturer or advertiser. For chrissakes, is there no such thing as personal responsibility anymore? Then again, without citizens groups and government, who would protect us from ourselves?
On second thought, these car makers are the same people who promote ridiculous notions like "Drive=Love," continue to enable the public presence of Paul Hogan, and commandeer some of the coolest songs ever, like The Who's Bargain and The Buzzcocks' What Do I Get? to accompany their grandiose displays of disingenuous driving excitement. So screw 'em.
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