Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Jarlsberg: Fear of a Black Baby



It's an old joke: The white woman with a white husband has a Black baby. It's the punchline of a joke that goes way back in time, and it's awful.



In this case, it's used as a sight gag in a Norwegian ad for Jarlsberg cheese, by TRY/APT, Oslo. As Joe La Pompe points out, the overall ad concept is unoriginal, as it is suspiciously similar to a French paper ad that won a Bronze Lion at Cannes just last year.


The French ad used the comparison of "this is inferior to that" in a comical and fairly harmless way. Now let's look at the same gag in the Norwegian spot:

Jarlsberg is to other cheeses as:


  • Football (Soccer) is to Vacuous American Entertainment Shows
  • Proper Funeral Attire is to Inappropriate Party Attire
  • A Formal Caregiver is to a Male Stripper
  • A Nursing Home is to a Mental Hospital


and...

  • A White Husband is to an Affair with a Black Man
See the problem? Well, there is more than one, but the black baby gag is the most objectionable.

Enough with the racist jokes, already. This is the 21st Century. Playing on white fears of Black sexuality is old, and it's harmful.

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