Every few commercials, a white male is offended.

 

Take a look at these videos:

 

 Glade-Sense and Spray

 

At&t Special Burger Commercial

 

                                                   Discover Card TV Spot, 'It Card: Husbands'

Men In Kitchen - Funny Commercial

 

  Departmental Budget Meeting with Bud Light Advert, Ad Super Bowl

               One thing you will notice about the commercials above is that the typical people in these ads are white men.  Like a silent epidemic, negative stereotypes are shown of European American men in the media; primarily in commercials. How many times have you noticed in a funny commercial where a white male is portrayed as being idiotic, lazy, and unclean? Yet, there are no picket signs or complaints being made when commercials offend, insult and ridicule white men. Why is it acceptable to showcase white males in such a negative way? Why does the media find it okay to use them as for comedic purposes by using stereotypes, when with a female or another race it is considered racist, sexist and demeaning.

 

                We all know that in the production of a commercial, a lot of time and money goes into making the little details as much as the big ones attract viewers. Why is it, media does not find it offensive to pick a white male and display him as the butt of the joke. Evermore so, almost all commercials made with someone shown as the joke, or there is an insulting stereotype, it is the white male who is chosen to be shown in this negative light. Even, if someone of another race is present in the commercial, the commercial ensures that the white male is in most cases shown in a demeaning way that supports a stereotype. This is because, media has continued to feed up this perception we shouldn't stereotype races, qualities and cultures; and if it does happen, it should be addressed and stopped. This is not the same for in the case of European American males. This perception has become so strong that the dominant discourse is that this offensive act is not a big deal, and it continues to go unnoticed.

                If you were to ask a person who is non-white about a white male's favourite drink, it would typically be beer and soda. How is a white fathers parenting?  They are completely helpless without their wife's, just as irresponsible as their kids, and lack the basic skills of parenting.  If you ask what the common belief of white males' intelligence is, the answer would be their dumb, and the only reason why any are successful is because of the oppression of other races and females.  These stereotypes are created because in almost every funny commercial with a white male, he is shown as being dumb, lazy, irresponsible, lacking parenting skills, cannot dance, unable to do simple tasks successfully, sex crazed, guided by their eyes not their mind (primarily towards females), only good at doing physical activities, terrible at anything related to being feminine (in society), and unable to cook. Furthermore,  others are, white males  are unproductive, racist, only like people of their ethnicity, unclean, love beer and hot women, and so on. What's even worse than these stereotypes is the fact society only brings attention to females, and those of minorities, like Asians that are offended by stereotypes through commercials. Like for instance, the recent Mountain Dew commercial with the black criminals and a goat. Which as soon as it was released, people petitioned and talked about its' offensive content until it was removed by the company. In a commercial that shows a black person eating a bucket of chicken and watermelon or showing a stereotype related to a minority group, the commercial is considered racists. Additionally, if the negative stereotypes of females being weak and only good for household duties were being made fun of in a commercial, this would cause up roar and backlash. But the same is not done when every single day, a commercial showing a stereotypical white male it's just deemed acceptable. So though society strives to stop and break stereotypes and become neutral; in truth, what's become neutral is using white males and their stereotypes in media text.

 

               You might say, but white males are the majority in Western society, white privileges, white males don't face a lot of adversities, and this is a male dominated world. Nothing should be an excuse in this day and age, when society says it's striving for everyone to be accepted and presented in an inoffensive civilized manner. So the typical white male should not be overlooked when the dominant discourse media (explicitly tries) and society feeds of race and gender is equality, and to break stereotypes.

 

Questions to think about:

1. Why has the offensive use of European Americans in commercials gone unnoticed?

2. Did you even notice this silent epidemic? What do you think about the matter?

3. What are the common stereotypes of whites?  Have commercials helped to influence these stereotypes, or produce some?

4. Should the majorities in our society (specifically white males) be allowed to be made fun of their stereotypes? Why or why not. Why does the medium of commercials get away with it?