NationStates Jolt Archive

Has anyone else seen these crudely animated commercials for the Sony PSP? I'm not exactly sure what genius they've got for marketing over there, but they're some of the most blatantly racist commercials I've seen in quite some time.

First there's the stereotyped squirrels, who could theoretically be of any race, but (to me) are implied as being black by their speech, composed of mostly ebonics and street slang.

Then there's my favorite...the "Mexican Dirt Balls" They not only use actual dirt balls as cartoon characters, but give them the most over-the-top Mexican accent possible...as though to stress the "Mexican Dirt Ball" theme.

Honesty...I can't imagine this was intentional, especially in todays age of political correctness, but it surprises me that I haven't heard someone out there (besides myself I suppose) wondering about the wisdom of this ad campaign.

I can't say I'll be giving Sony any of my dollars any time soon. What say you? Have you seen these commercials, and if so, do you agree with what I've said?

seen some of them.... but the commercial did it's trick.

the real purpose of the commercial is not to convince you to buy the product, but to get you to think about it. The more you think about it, the more familiar it becomes in your mind untill that cruical moment when you're in the store looking to spend some money and you wonder... "what do I want to buy."

at that point, the average consumer won't think about the crappy commercials... the retarded slogans.... nor about the insipid jingles, but they will remember the product name... PSP.

and that is what will get the product bought.

The more memerable the commercial (good or bad) the more memerable the product name.

Hey ... they have portable carpet, you know.

Incidently, if this were the "Age of Political Correctness", then people like Dave Chapelle and Carlos Mencia wouldn't be allowed on television.

Who cares?

I haven't seen those ones but I have seen a massive billboard ad for the PSP that simply says '24 Hour Garage Here' in large red capitals on a plain white background (small PSP logo in the corner)

WTF does it mean? How is a PSP like a 24 Hour Garage?

I haven't seen those ones but I have seen a massive billboard ad for the PSP that simply says '24 Hour Garage Here' in large red capitals on a plain white background (small PSP logo in the corner)

WTF does it mean? How is a PSP like a 24 Hour Garage?

Yeah, I noticed that too; there's stuff like "Contains explicit scenes of sex and violence", :confused:

Has anyone else seen these crudely animated commercials for the Sony PSP? I'm not exactly sure what genius they've got for marketing over there, but they're some of the most blatantly racist commercials I've seen in quite some time.

...so, to be honest I really don't care or know of anyone who does.

Hey ... they have portable carpet, you know.

Incidently, if this were the "Age of Political Correctness", then people like Dave Chapelle and Carlos Mencia wouldn't be allowed on television.

There's a big difference between a show that you can choose to watch or not watch and a commercial that can pop up in the course of nearly any program.

Who cares?
Indeed.

*snip*
You do, of course, realise that Sony is Japanese, and therefore if it practised racism intentionally it would likely make itself a target for racism in the West, don't you?

You do, of course, realise that Sony is Japanese, and therefore if it practised racism intentionally it would likely make itself a target for racism in the West, don't you?

Theoretically...except that nobody seems to care, as can be demonstrated by many of the posts in this thread.

Theoretically...except that nobody seems to care, as can be demonstrated by many of the posts in this thread.

Well ... are you black or hispanic?

If so, and are offended, then I suggest contacting your local chapter of whichever activist league would best suit your purposes. NAACP or LULAC or whatever. You won't get much reponse here.

If not, and wish to stand in solidarity, tape the commercials and give copies to the NAACP and LULAC and whomever and see what they plan on doing about it. If they don't care, neither should you.