Tylenol does a beautiful ad that says nothing about Tylenol #HowWeFamily

Sometimes, my industry makes me too cynical. I completely understand why brands want to associate themselves with progressive social issues. The inevitable blowback, from reactionary groups such as One Million Moms, get them oodles of positive earned media. But is it really moving product? Let's have a look:

Beautiful piece. It could have been produced by any one of dozens of human rights groups, if only they had the money. And there's a campaign microsite (of course) for online engagement.

But it's not a human rights PSA. It is an ad for a pain medicine. And the branding is stuck on so bluntly that it seems like more of a sponsored short film than an ad.

Don't get me wrong. I like the video and I agree with its sentiment. But at what point do we question whether consumer brands are manipulating us by piggy-backing on the important social issues of our day? And is that OK with us anyway?

I think it is, but only if we consume the media (and product) with the open-eyed awareness that we are being advertised to. Johnson &Johnson aren't just being nice. They're following a plotted brand strategy, after testing the market last Christmas with a similar ad.

Ad Age quotes Manoj Raghunandanan, senior director-marketing of J&J's McNeil Consumer Healthcare, saying that research conducted after the December campaign "brought significant improvement in brand-equity scores on such survey questions as 'this is a brand that understands me'," which translated into greater sales and market share for Tylenol, "despite the brand putting no other advertising support behind its Extra Strength Tylenol flagship products during that period."

Nothing about the product's efficacy, nor its price, nor even its safety. Just family-focussed branding that builds trust and positive associations.

Perhaps this is the future for brand advertising, and to be honest it feels pretty good. Just don't forget that you are always a customer.

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.

French design agency advertises job for someone who is "if possible not Jewish"

Via BBC

The BBC posted this screencap of a Graphic-Jobs.com job ad from a French design agency that included the line "Si possible pas juif(ve)" ("If possible not Jewish").

Yeah. It was soon removed.

NSL Studio says it must have been hacked and that the company "distances itself totally from all racist or anti-Semitic acts or statements".  Graphic-Jobs.com distanced itself, stating "we strongly condemn the nature of the content published by the agency NSL Studio."

 The damage is done, however. Racial discrimination is illegal in France, and SOS Racisme is apparently taking legal action.

Joke, troll or genuine hate, it's a sad comment in a country already rife with religious and ethnic violence.

These racists need a lesson in Copywriting

I'd probably be really upset at this billboard if I could figure out what it's trying to say. I get the "diversity means" setup, but the jump from that to "Chasing down the last white person" leaves me scratching my head.

I'll take a wild guess that the advertiser, League of the South, is trying to tell people that the real objective of a diverse society is to eliminate its majority population. But that doesn't seem to make much sense, does it? That's like saying the purpose of putting sugar in your coffee is to remove all traces of java in your cup.

Anyway, I suppose putting two sentences together to communicate a coherent thought is too much to ask of people who don't know how hashtags work.

Image via Gawker

Dumb e-cig ad is a throwback to a more racist era

This ad, from Belfast, is kind of shocking in its cluelessness. Taboo love between a mature white woman and a young black man! The scandal!

Fortunately, according to campaign, the Northern Irish didn't like it much either. The Advertising Standards Authority received several complaints, and ruled that "consumers viewing the ad would believe it was presenting a relationship between an older and younger individual, particularly an older woman and a younger man, and a couple of different races, as something that was unusual or socially unacceptable."

The ad has been ordered removed, which is always a touchy subject. I far prefer when brands willingly remove ads because it's in their best interests not to piss off customers by pretending it's still the 1950s.

Malaysian bank ad offends with goofy Filipina maid stereotype

Oddly, South China Post is calling this an example of "blackface":



Nonetheless, it is pretty racist. In a comedy bit that would be at home in the west in the 1960s, the unnamed Chinese actor plays both himself and his bumbling Filipina maid. It's an ad promoting advertisement "domestic helper insurance" from Malaysia’s Hong Leong Bank.

The ad, which ran in Hong Kong, was harshly criticized by advocates for migrant domestic workers:

“You are making comedy out of someone, out of a community,” said Eni Lestari, spokeswoman for the Asian Migrants’ Coordinating Body. “For [Hongkongers] it’s funny, but what they don’t realise is what’s funny is actually racist.”

The bank, in turn, issued the standard non-apology:

“We regret that our recent advertisement … resulted in comments about the advertisement being racist,” said spokeswoman Norlina Yunus. “At no time did Hong Leong … intend to offend any person or be to any extent discriminatory on grounds of race, sex or otherwise.” 

No, maybe they didn't "intend" to, but insensitivity is not always an intentional offence. That said, it wouldn't hurt to say, "We are sorry for being so insensitive to the dignity of Filipinos, as well as to domestic workers of any ethnicity. We are taking steps to ensure that all of our advertising is more carefully reviewed against our corporate values, and a gesture we are contributing X to a fund to help make this right."

St. Hubert stereotypes Chinese Canadians, issues non-apology

St. Hubert, Quebec's popular greasy chicken chain, hit a sour note with many viewers as they poked fun at Chinese-Canadians in a recent ad:



Being tone-deaf when it comes to stereotypes is one thing. It just shows marketers being out of touch with modern multiculturalism. When this happens, you learn from it. You acknowledge fault, offer a sincere apology, and move on having learned an important lesson.

What you do not do is issue a defensive non-apology (via CBC):

“We truly apologize if this television advertisement has offended or insulted you. At no time did we want to portray the Chinese community in a negative way, and we don't believe that we have done so. 

We simply wanted to show the impact that our new offer has on the competition. We chose a Chinese restaurant because there are hundreds in Quebec. This is not a question of stereotyping as it is in fact, a reality. 

Furthermore, the actors who played in the advertisement agreed to do so good-heartedly and knowingly, without ever feeling exploited, insulted or ridiculed. 

Thank you for your understanding and again, we are sorry you felt that this advertisement was demeaning to the Asian community.”

This was in response to Montreal citizen Cathy Wong, who sent a complaint letter to St. Hub, and later articulated her position to the local media:

“The ad irritates me because the storyline is based on a false competition between Chinese restaurants and local product, and uses stereotypes from a minority group to brand St-Hubert’s products as cool and funny... “It is not a negative stereotype, but because the fact that there are so [few] Chinese on TV and every time that they go on TV, we see them in cliché roles, and those stereotypes are extremely lazy or reductive and they’re repeated constantly. They’re so deeply rooted in popular culture that we actually use them as punchlines to sell, and that’s exactly what bothers me about this publicity.”

In other words, it's lazy creative that is insulting to both the Chinese-Canadian community and to our collective intelligence as a modern, diverse society.

The Chinese Canadian National Council and the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations plan to submit a formal complaint to St-Hubert,asking the company to pull the ad and issue a real apology.

Meanwhile, we ad people can hang our heads in shame over the thought of how little social progress we've made as an industry:

Toronto Yellow Pages billboard celebrates multiculturalism by negating it

Facebook friend Audra Williams shared this photo of a Yellow Pages billboard in Toronto.

Funny, eh?

If you just answered "yes" I want you to look in the mirror. Are you a white person? A man? Of "generic" (primarily British or Northern European) ethnicity? Are you from the 1950s? Do you live in a goddamn bubble?

Because let me tell you, I'm pretty sure the creative team who thought this up, and anyone who approved it, were at least two of those things.

This billboard, posted publicly in one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, is a problem for me. It reads as a conversation between one white guy like me and another, and in doing so it casts everyone who grew up with Vietnamese, Cuban or Central/South American food into the category of "others".

In rattling off a joke about multiculturalism, the ad actually negates the very people who make Toronto multicultural: "Vietnamese restauranteur, we love your exotic soup, but you're not really one of us."

I have no doubt that the agency team meant well, or at least thought they did. They were just so out-of-touch with the reality of Canada that they thought is was OK to have a major brand jokingly exclude a large number of the people who walk by its billboard, just because they didn't grow up on peanut butter sandwiches.

I won't even get into the sexist implications of "mom" making all the food, because it's just a lazy cliché.

UPDATE: Audra got them to agree to pull it

Fishing lodge asks that you not give booze to the "Native Guides"

My Brother-In-Law, David Finkle, is a musician and traditional craftsperson here in Ottawa. He is also a part of Canada's First Nations communities. He sent me this bit of old-timey racism that is circulating from the guidebook of a Manitoba fishing lodge:

The backlash has been swift and severe.

Chief Arlen Dumas, of the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation (the "Indian guides" referenced) told the CBC, “The statements are so outrageous. Not only does he offend the very people that provide him his livelihood … he insults all indigenous people in North America.”

Chief Dumas wrote an open letter to the owners of the lodge, which operates on traditional Mathias Colomb Cree territory. They have yet to respond.

Meanwhile the lodge's Facebook page has become the target of a massive (and justified) airing of grievances:

"Unbelievable that in this day and age there exists such ignorance and overt racism. I grew up in the times of 'no dogs or Indians allowed' signs and thought it was at least fading, but this shows that sadly, it is not," wrote Robin Maracle. 

"Bravo, you have completely alienated your workforce, your community and an entire nation," wrote Cynthia Mandeville. 

"The best thing to do would be to turn this into an opportunity to educate yourself. Everyone makes mistakes. The right thing to do is to apologize and move toward making things better," wrote Karen SC.

Many cited a post by âpihtawikosisân, a Montreal Métis blogger who addressed the "drunken Indian" stereotype and myths with stats and references. It's worth a read.

Islamophobic ad featuring Hitler says "stop racism"

Oh, that's rich.

This is just the latest PR stunt by "The American Freedom Defense Initiative" a rabidly anti-Islam group that insists every single Muslim is a radical bent on genocide.

This ad, according to the Washington Post, features Adolf Hitler talking to Haj Amin al-Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem who supported the Holocaust.

AFDI claim their ads are a response to "the vicious Jew-hating ads … unleashed on Washington DC Metro buses last month.” by American Muslims for Palestine:

The AMP ad, reminding Americans that some of their tax money goes to Israeli aid, it certainly politically charged. But it just doesn't seem quite as over-the-top as the response.

Perhaps all sides of religious conflicts should make an agreement not to judge each other by the acts of their worst zealots, or the bloodthirsty and weird writings of their ancestors. We can debate US foreign policy until we're red, white, and blue in the face, but the only sure way to lose the argument is to succumb to Godwin's Law.

Black is evil, white is good in Malaysian whiteout ads

"Black and White Dualism" is well-established in the West, as well, but you would be unlikely to see these ads in the more multicultural parts. 

If we lived in a world without racism (or rather, ignorant of it) we could look at this as simply the product whiting out mistakes made in black ink. But since we don't live in that world, these portrayals by TBWA, Kuala Lumpur, are an irresponsible reinforcement of the myth of human colour and "goodness".

Source: Ads Of The World

Selling artifacts of genocide? (h/t @anishinaboy)

Former APTN reporter and Ojibway factotum Tim Fontaine Tweeted this item from a high-end auction brochure from Waddington's in Toronto.

The item description reads:

NORTHERN PLAINS INDIAN

CHILD’S TUNIC, EARLY 19TH

CENTURY

fringed and with beaded collar, showing

signs of central bullet trauma, cased, 23”

x 31” — 58.4 x 78.7 cm

That's right. It's a child's shirt. From the time when Americans were pushing westward through the Great Plains of the continent, slaughtering bison — and often, human beings —in the name of Manifest Destiny.

This artifact is one among dozens that belonged to anthropological collector Billy Jamieson, who died a few years ago.  The auction house says it was purchased originally from Tom Hampton in Santa Fe, New Mexico. How Mr. Hampton came upon it is not mentioned. But it is valued at $2-3,000.

Mr. Fontaine updates that the post is no longer on the Waddington's site. (He complained via e-mail.) 

The page on the Waddington's site with the dead child's shirt is down. Took a grab from the catalogue: pic.twitter.com/IZgWR2qB2y
— Tim Fontaine (@anishinaboy) April 28, 2014

So, why is this a problem? After all, we have no idea who shot this child. It could have been anyone, even another Native American.

No matter what the original provenance of the tunic, it is evidence of a historical murder of a child, within the context of what many consider an era of attempted genocide of Native Americans by European settlers.

It's not a historical curiosity. It is a symbol of horror. And I hope it will be repatriated soon to the unfortunate child's people for proper respect, rather than becoming a conversation piece in another rich guy's parlour.

The auction is tomorrow. Waddington's contact info is here.

Update:

Looks like the shirt has been removed from the auction: http://t.co/h4hlswtsHW (thanks to @kimpweaver for pointing this out)
— Tim Fontaine (@anishinaboy) April 28, 2014

The other two items removed were "FOUR PAIRS OF NORTHEAST WOODLANDS INDIAN
MOCCASINS, 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY" and "THREE PAIRS NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE INDIAN MOCCASINS, 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES"

You can still see the original catalogue here.

UPDATE: The issue has been picked up by mainstream media.

Dumbest car ads ever appear in Slovakia

This bizarrely ill-conceived "Ford" campaign was submitted to Ads of The World by JANDL, in Bratislava, Slovakia. The comments immediately questioned whether a venerable old brand like Ford would ever approve such weird and offensive creative.

They didn't. According to JANDL's site, the campaign was signed off by "Bratislava Summit Motors, Ford distributor in Slovakia." I don't imagine the brand mothership will be pleased.

Especially since one of them is blatantly racist:

There is also video:

Native Americans call themselves many things, but not "Redskins"

Via Osocio

Recently, I was interviewed (twice) by Adweek's David Gianatasio about the highly-problematic sports brand, The Washington Redskins. I received quite a bit of blowback from diehard fans on Twitter about my contention that the name is a racist anachronism that simply has to go away.

Interestingly, here in Ottawa, a local youth league football club who had named themselves after Washington's NFL franchise have just recently changed their name to the Eagles following a formal human rights complaint by Ojibway musician Ian Campeau from A Tribe Called Red.

Mr. Campeau spent two years campaigning against the Nepean Redskins name,  and he says it taught him a lot about the continuing racism against Aboriginal peoples. "The backlash that this whole campaign has received to me tells me this is more than just football," he said. "It's about the entitlement of being able to label an oppressed people, to call somebody they have no ties to... that word."

Meanwhile, Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder says he will never change the name of his team. But Native Americans and their allies are gaining force. The Oneida Indian Nation was first to speak out. Now National Congress of American Indians has joined in the opposition, backed by leaders from seven different groups:  Cathy Abramson, Councilmember, Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians; Al Goozmer, President, Tyonek Native Village of Alaska; Brian Cladoosby, Chairman, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and President, NCAI; Edwina Butler Wolfe, Governor, Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Leander McDonald, Tribal Chairman, Spirit Lake Tribe; Dennis Welsh, Chairman, Colorado River Indian Tribes; Candace Bossard, Councilmember, Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. Even President Obama has weighed in.

In my opinion, this is a human rights issue, not matter of "how many people" support the NFL or other regulators taking action to force a name change. But as we have seen with other human rights issues, such as equal marriage, it doesn't hurt to get public opinion on your side.

That's where this PSA comes in. My blogging colleague Marc just posted it on Osocio:



Simple, powerful and truthful, this video released by the Oneida — right before this weekend's Super Bowl — is the "hearts and minds" campaign the cause needs, exactly when it needs it.

You, too, can take action at changethemascot.org.

Hotels4U ad brings up issues of old-world regional prejudice

Via The Mail

It's not just the old world. Here in Canada, Newfie jokes used to be as common as donuts. And in the States, Southern, Appalachian and even Midwestern accents and attitudes have often been fodder for satire.

But there's something especially interesting about the longstanding prejudices and modern hurt feelings brought on by regional stereotypes within the modern nations of Europe. When I lived in Italy, the Milanese told me they thought the Genoese were cheap, and the Sicilians criminal. The Sicilians said they thought the Milanese (and other northerners) were stuck up and avaricious. The whole North vs. South conflict is actually what brought Berlusconi, a northern nationalist, to power years ago.

My own ethnic homeland of England and the British Isles has similar cultural stereotypes and conflicts. Unlike the new world, the regions of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland have centuries of separate political, cultural, and linguistic history. Just a few hundred years ago, dialects of "English" were mutually unintelligible in regions a day's journey apart.

Today, regional differences are still a source of pride among those who have not moved far from ancestral lands. Which might explain the controversy over this goofy little ad by Hotels4U:



First of all, could you understand what he was saying? I couldn't. It's apparently the campaign tagline, "Anything for you, cupcake," in a thick Birmingham accent.

The Daily Mail says that "Brummies" (another thing I learned today) are furious over the portrayal of their distinctive way of speaking, especially in the mouths of such tacky characters.

Here are some representative Tweets:

As a Brummie I honestly want an atomic bomb to land directly on that blokes head from the #hotels4u advert
— Kaine Able Barr (@kainebarr) January 28, 2014

Hotels4U please fuck off with your fake Brummie accent on your advert. No one talks like that here.
— Sophia ⚓ (@SophiaShikari) January 20, 2014

As a brummie who doesnt speak like the people in the Hotels4u ad I am offended by it. I consider it to be racist
— BamafanUK (@Bronxzoo10) January 28, 2014

"Racist"? Let that sink in for a minute. It reminds me of times when I have heard my fellow Canadians, who speak French, talk about language conflict in Canada as "racism". It really shows you how unscientific, and therefore universally useless the term "race" really is.

The Mail reveals that the actor playing the Birmingham husband, Craig Painting, is actually from the city.

Mike Hoban, marketing director for Hotels4u, stated: "We wanted to create a popular duo that people would warm to. That’s why we cast a Birmingham born and bred actor as our lead character. We wanted to use a friendly accent from one of the great UK regions to help create a distinctive character so that people remember how easy it is to save money on hotel bookings"

Distinctive? Certainly. And memorable. It could even be effective over the long term, as long as they don't end up getting boycotted by an entire offended region.

But is it right to use regional accents and stereotypes as ad fodder? Is it "racist"? Classist? Just plain rude?

Comments welcomed below.

Teen who posted "Blacks for Sale" ad is "not racist"

An ad posted on a popular Brazilian online marketplace, offering "Black for diverse uses" for 1 Real (41¢ USD), has been traced to an angry 15-year-old.

The ad suggested that the human beings for purchase could "serve as carpenters, masons, cooks, security guards, nightclub bouncers, janitors, garbage collectors or housekeepers."

According to NDTV, the ad, which was pulled from Mercado Livre after massive online protest, was tracked by police to a teen living in "a northern Rio slum."

Rio police said it had been posted by a 15-year-old who was frustrated because he felt he had been shut out of a computer course by a quota system set up to encourage black students.  

Local daily O Dia quoted Police Inspector Gilson Perdigao as saying the boy had been held for questioning for two hours but would not be charged as he had no previous history of racist aggression. 

The youth's mother, a 43-year-old teacher, told the paper: "He regrets what he did. My son is not racist and asks black people for forgiveness. 

"This was a thoughtless act because he failed the first phase of the exam," she added.

First of all: yes, you're racist. Second, what is a teacher doing living in a "slum"?

In Brazil, this is more than a case of insensitivity. It's criminal.

Veja (Portuguese, translated by Google) cites The National Ombudsman of Racial Equality,
Carlos Alberto Silva Júnior, who explains that Article 20 of Law No. 7.716/1989,  provides for imprisonment from two to five years and fines for people convicted of practicing, inducing or inciting discrimination or prejudice based on race, color, ethnicity, religion or national origin.

Apparently, those who share the offensive material in blogs or social networks with intent to denigrate or discriminate can answer the same crimes. (Yikes!)

NDTV adds that in 2012, Brazil enacted a law that reserves 50% of university placements to students from public schools, with priority given to black, mixed race and indigenous people.

This case is an important reminder of how racism often manifests itself as the anger and frustration of one socioeconomically disadvantaged population against another, who they believe are receiving unfair privilege.

What happens when white people are the ones being stereotyped?

Japanese airline ANA (All Nippon Airways) recently ran an ad that features two Japanese pilots discussing how to make their brand more appealing to foreigners.

The answer, apparently, is to "westernize" the brand by adopting Euro-American displays of physical affection and donning "whiteface" — in the form of a blond wig and an elongated artificial nose:

 

According to the Japan Times, the ad caused a flurry of social media outrage among English-language viewers in Japan.

Here's one:

If you are a foreigner and have planned to come to #Japan do not chose an openly racist airline like #ANA ! Watch their Japanese commercial!
— Sibylle Ito (@sibylleito) January 20, 2014

The airline has apparently semi-apologized for the offence, and plans to re-edit the ad:

ANA spokesman Ryosei Nomura said the carrier wanted to express the importance of the upcoming international flights at Haneda and to urge Japanese to go out and see the world. 

“But we have received opinions different from the message that we wished to convey. We will modify part of the advertisement and will release the second version soon,” he said.

While stereotyping is stereotyping, no matter who does it,  this is an opportunity for people like me to feel some of the emotions that are felt by other groups of people (including the Japanese) who are constantly caricatured in western media. I qualify this with "some of" because of course we are not a group that suffers from historical or institutionalized racism. In other words, no white people were actually harmed by this ad.

This isn't the first time that Japanese advertising stereotypes of westerners have made the news, and it probably won't be the last. Here are some other examples:

This week, Japanese restaurant chain Gusto started running a new series of commercials. It features the above woman, a "handsome foreign man" as the chain's website says, and two comedians. So, what's the problem? 

The two Japanese comedians in the commercial, Ungirls, can be funny—at times. For this spot, they are "disguised". This is a Japanese pun: "Ungirls" is written as "Angaaruzu" (アンガールズ) in Japanese, and they are disguised as "Italiangirls", or "Itariangaaruzu" (イタリアンガールズ) in the original Japanese. 

In the commercial, the foreign woman sings a little jingle, asking with whom she is going to eat some Caponata. She picks the handsome foreign dude, instead of either member of the comedy group Ungirls. Part of the comedic schtick of Ungirls is that they are creepy and not popular with the ladies. That's the gag. Apparently.

- kotaku.com, 2013

Screenshot (Video has been removed)

The ad for “SuiDanPa”, [Toshiba]’s newest rice maker that can also make bread, shows two business women talking about their love for bread and/or rice. They are the two featured characters in a series of spots for Toshiba, but this time around, one of the women dons a blond wig, wears a fake big nose and speaks in a heavy Japanese accent and with her words subtitled in katakana. This is the normal stereotype in Japan of what Westerners, particularly white people, look and talk like. And while some have said that the ad is trying to be ironic, maybe they should look up what the word actually means, because it seems to perpetuate and even exploit that particular stereotype.
- Japan Daily Press, 2013

Racism by peakfloods

A commercial for Choya umeshu mocks the physical appearance of non-Japanese. 

- Japan Probe, 2011

The white guy in the photo above is Mr. James, the mascot for 4 new burgers of McDonald’s “Nippon All-Stars” series. Residents of Japan who have been riding JR trains or passing by McDonald’s restaurants have probably already seen his face on advertisements. In his TV commercials, Mr. James speaks annoying foreigner Japanese (not unlike the wacky foreigner who spoke NIPPONGO in a recent Sony Commercial). Print advertisements convey his goofy gaijin Japanese by rendering everything he says in katakana [a syllabary is primarily used for transcription of foreign language words into Japanese and the writing of loan words].

- Japan Probe, 2009 

California gubernatorial candidate's testicles endorsed by Cuban performer

That's probably the lowlight of this lengthy and bizarre campaign video, in which California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly tells voters he will put a gun in every household and scrap government regulations on business.



According to Think Progress, Mr. Donnelly is a Tea Party faithful who is a founder of anti-immigrant vigilante group, the Minuteman. However, his cunning plan to get Hispanic voters to forget about that includes having the size of his balls endorsed by Cuban-born Venezuelan singer and actress María Conchita Alonso — who is not his "sexy" wife.

Gap makes love out of hate

Via HuffPo

A Gap ad, featuring American actor and jewelry designer Waris Ahluwalia, was recently defaced by some racist in the NYC subway:

Via Arsalan Iftikhar (Twitter)

Gap actually responded quite well to the notification. First, they asked to know where the defaced ad was spotted (presumably to have it fixed without delay). Then they made their support of the Sikh community even more visible, placing the ad their feature image on both Twitter and Facebook.

The response has been phenomenal. A grassroots "Thank You, Gap" campaign has sprung up on Facebook and Twitter. Mr. Ahluwalia himself posted this pic on his own account:

Love wins, this time, on the social media battlefield.

Thanksgiving tanning ad thanks Native Americans for their "sexy color"

I'm almost speechless. Almost.

The Daily Mail quotes David Arnett, Marketing Director at Alabama tanning salon Club Sun Color Studios"

"We are all Americans no matter what color we are. Just because we promote a nice tan doesn't mean we are racist. 

This was an in house ad that was never intended to be taken as racist or insensitive. We were merely trying to compliment the beautiful skin "color" of Native Americans."

Mr. Arnett also claims to be Native American, which seems to have become the new "I have black friends" or "my uncle is Jewish" of refusing to apologize for casual racism.

The promotional image is no longer on their site.