What's with KMart's racist back to school ads?

[ObserverNY]

Originally Posted by L'Artiste

what makes them hoodrat children? because they were rapping?

and all white families appear on tv all the time why is that acceptable? but any hint of diversity is terrible?

you are truly sad

Good grief, I guess you missed my query about "What happened to all of the PC diversity in advertising?" For the past 2-3 decades we have had DIVERSITY and MULTI-CULTURALISM foisted upon us ad nauseum. You can't pick up an elementary textbook without there being an Asian, Hispanic, white, black, boy, girl to demonstrate successful integration. We (white Americans) "get it". We're "ok" with diversity because we believe in equal opportunity.

The KMart ads are NOT diverse!!!!! They are promoting racial divisiveness.

[ObserverNY]

Originally Posted by AnnieA

Because some of my grandkids have had the same problems on the school buses here in Florida. Quite a few of the drivers are black and they will not stand up for a white kid. I take some of the goings on as kids acting up and "full of it" but, I have seen some pretty aggressive black kids, especially girls, on the buses and they really didn't receive any kind of reprimand or punishment for their actions.

Actually, I feel bad for some of these kids that don't seem to have much structure at home. I felt so bad for a young black male (15-16) here in Fl who got into an altercation with a hispanic youth. The black boy wound up killing the hispanic kid and the black boy got an adult prison sentence. He never stood a chance. I dont think he meant to "kill" him. The young black boys parents were not in his life, his grandmother died and his g-pa didn't want him. The courts cut a deal and it came out in the paper that they didn't want to go to court because there was an element of self defense.......he will be a hardened criminal when he comes out and that shouldn't be....he was just a kid.

But, there are many of these kids that have taken things to a whole new level, white and black.

Yeah, I bet that dead Hispanic kid deserved to die because the black kid had anger management issues and a crappy childhood, huh? Get a grip.

[AnnieA]

Originally Posted by ObserverNY

Yeah, I bet that dead Hispanic kid deserved to die because the black kid had anger management issues and a crappy childhood, huh? Get a grip.

No, that wasn't it at all. There were bullying issues that would have come out in court from what I read in a 3 part series in the newspapers after he had been sentenced.

The Hispanic young man was here illegally with his mother and another child. That was not said in the newspaper but was told outside of the news by reliabable sources. He did not deserve to die, not by any stretch of the imagination but, I truly feel the other kid was railroaded because he had no one for support.

According to everything I read, the black kid didn't have anger mgmt issues. most couldn't understand how this happened because he was pretty mild mannered in the past. He had drifted recently, after his g-mother passed away. He was blind in one eye from an untreated eye injury and took some razing from other kids.

[Heartsong]

It's all about he bottom line. I'm sure the market researchers know what they are doing. They are not going to squander their advertising dollars.

[DeannaC]

Originally Posted by Mr. Opinionated

However, The Merriam-Webster definition provides another perspective. And for a business to imply that a particular trait applies arbitrarily to a certain group can incite unfair stereotypes that may actually disrespect the diversity of it's targeted demographic as individuals, which is yes, tatamount to racism.

This is what the OP means I believe. The children of color in the Kmart commercials are being portrayed as little thugs and by proxy, are being horribly disrespectful of the people they're trying to target.

My neighbor (2 houses down) is black. She and I were having coffee at another neighbor's house when the "limo" commercial came on. She spit her coffee out while she tried to catch her breath (we spat our coffee out laughing at her) and declared that she'd never, ever shop at kmart again. She said she was horribly offended to think that her children could possibly be thought of in that capacity.

Children used to be portrayed as loving and childlike, now they're being portrayed as small adults.

I'm not gonna let the commercial slide wherein the 7ish year old white girl is striking poses while considering her day's "fashion"..."is it going to be flirty, sassy? What's my look today?" Grounded in her room with a sad look if she were my kid...flirty and sassy????

[MattOTAlex]

Originally Posted by ObserverNY

Spare me. Guess what? We're not all Trayvon. It's the ATTITUDE of those kids in the ad. Disrespectful and irreverent. Learn to speak proper English, not ghetto Ebonics. It sets a bad example of what's "cool". (Not that I ever thought of KMart or Barack Obama as "cool" but I think you get my point). Personally, I find hip-hop far more boring than an LL Bean catalog.

Ebonics evolved from slave creoles and pidgin English. One would think that U.S. blacks would want to distance themselves as much as possible from dialects originating from that horribly oppressive era. Other countries which were former colonies with slavery, where blacks are the majority in present day, certainly have embraced proper English. (Many non-U.S. blacks scorn black U.S. Ebonics, and are equally repulsed by it.)

As is the case whenever any person [of any color] speaks in an unintelligible and grammatically incorrect dialect, people are repulsed. Indeed, the same repulsion is often observable when people hear redneck English being spoken.



I for one have ensured my kids speak and write in proper English. The K-Mart ads are repulsive. We hit the mute button whenever they come on. I don't think many believe those K-mart commercials cast AAs in the positive light that they should be.