Sunday, February 20, 2011

Open Debate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y09z8lwOEYA

I do not think Pepsi intended for this commercial to be offensive. I can see a few ways in which society may deem it as offensive - one pertaining race, the other pertaining to gender.

The race issue comes out at the end of the commercial. The African American woman attempts to hit her husband with a Pepsi can because he looked at a white female “interestingly.” The can ends up hitting the white female and the couple flees the scene. Some might say that the commercial is capturing what African Americans commonly commit hit-and-run crimes or that African American men are more attracted to white females.

This brings me to the next point of examination, gender. The African American wife constantly treats her husband cruelly. Females may think that this commercial is saying they are hostile towards their husbands. It could also be interpreted that females are becoming more dominant in households to the point that they are oppressing men.

A classmate of ours, to me, stated it correctly – this commercial can be offensive if people want it to be. Though there are some possibilities that it was meant to be offensive, the overall humor and advertisement of the product suggests it was not meant to be. The commercial is titled “Love Hurt,” and, the way I see it, the couple is only happy together when they are drinking a Pepsi Max at the same time. But, the commercial ends with the couple leaving together after the white female is struck in the head by a Pepsi can. So, like my classmate said, the commercial can be offensive if the viewer wants it to be.

No comments:

Post a Comment