Has anyone noticed the new Burger King ad? It's part of the promotion of their new breakfast line, which may only be regional I'm not sure. The ad is similar to their television commercial with the lumberjack, but in this case its on a construction site, a man is riveting bolts into a steel beam high in the sky. On the opposite side he hears someone else working at 5x his pace. He peeks to the side as the King character does the same. The construction worker, who was perplexed smiles and the comercial goes to a discussion and scenes of the new breakfast menu.
Ok here is a difference already. With the lumberjack, the woodsman cuts down a tree and on the other side to his surprise is the King character with something behind his back. He reveals his hand to award the Lumberjack a breakfast sandwich. Then as above is a cut to the new breakfast menu.
Did you notice the difference in the commercials already? With the lumberjack, he is doing his job and is rewarded. In the construction worker the 'King' does his work for him at a better pace and confronts him. While some may say this is too subtle to draw an inference, I disagree.
Teams of advertising personnel work on every aspect of each commercial and pitch them to the client. They may or may not explain every detail but they are aware of the demographic response they will get. Like the stupid jean commercials for Jordache in the 80's (I think it was them with Brooke Sheilds in them) which were made inane on purpose. But if someone can give me a good reason, why one person doing their job is rewarded and another doing a seemingly half assed job is not and it not implying something about those individuals, please let me know.
The television commercial continues with the white lumberjack and the 'King' on a log rolling it in the middle of a river/stream/lake that is calm and unobstructed. That seems like a hearty approval to me. But in the Construction worker (and this really is the part that irks me) the "King" is standing on the girder beside the worker and hits/shoves the black/african american man hard enough to shift his balance forward and make him wiggle as if he might fall before he regains his balance. The worker looks concerned as he rights himself, the 'King' gives a shrug (as if to say - Just playing!) and the worker smiles and stands straight up.
That is not a fun time in my mind. Perhaps there are steel girder construction workers out there who can tell me different, but I imagine that if someone shoved me and nearly made me fall X stories to the ground - a shrug and "Just Joking" isn't going to get me to smile. More likely I would deck the guy.
Are these television commercials equivalent? NO. Do they show the the same sense of comeraderie? No. Do they imply that a hard working white lumberjack or hard working 'King' deserve a special breakfast? YES. Does it imply that a slacker worker should be ridiculed and/or persecuted? Seems so.
How can I be sure of this. My ultimate test when viewing commercials I think are badly portraying ANY minority is to view them as being white and everything happening exactly the same. Would that commercial ever be run? Would that commercial have the same meaning? If not, what is that commercial actually saying?
Not every television commercial has the problems the Burger King construction worker has. But when they are that bad, and in my view blatant, then they should be addressed as such and people should pay attention and say something about them. Why, because the meaning is being told to children, visitors from other countries and cultures, and sometimes broadcast in those other countries around the world. And because of that and other visuals of similar nature the assumption is made that "X group should be treated in X manner, because that's how they are treated in America. If they weren't then this television commercial wouldn't exist."
What do you think?
1 comment:
I have to say, originally I thought I knew what commercial you were talking about. I thought you were thinking a little too much into the commercial, but just last week I finally saw the commercial you're talking about and I found myself thinking, "Wow, that Burger King guy is a dick."
Now I don't know if I would have taken it as a race issue if I had not previously read your blog but I do think I still would have thought the King was an ass.
I do have a correction for you though. The commercial you were talking about was for their new super strong coffee not the breakfast sandwich, which makes a direct comparison between the two commercials a little harder to make. In addition the beginning sequence makes a little more sense. While I do believe that you may have a point, I don't know if that commercial was the best example. I think talking about the sudden movement for McDonald's commercials to move from "My McDonald's" in the white suburbs to "Mickey D's" in urban areas may be a little more relevant.
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