Thursday, April 02, 2009

The most racist toothpaste commercial ever made.


Poor, sad black man with all those balloons who sleeps on a big uncomfortable toothbrush. Black herbal toothpaste—appearances can be deceiving! Because of course, a black man usually rapes/kills little white (update: Asian, I think) girls. I don't know the guilty ad agency, but this most certainly appears to be a real spot, via Thailand (via). previously in racist advertising: KKKlay-Doh. Intel's Racism Inside. Marriott—Hip without the Hop.

14 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I didn't find it racist, but it sure was probably the most depressing thing I've seen in a while. :(

10:16 PM  
Blogger Ada said...

what the fuck that video

2:12 AM  
Blogger RFB said...

Pole-climbin', sad black man, no less.

8:24 AM  
Blogger llcooljessie said...

"If you don't like our toothpaste, you're a racist." ... I see an Obama ad in this brand's future.

12:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was already thinking "oh, snap!" when he climbed the pole. Then the rest of it unfolded. What were they thinking?

4:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Whelp, I pretty much hated that. Couldn't they have used some mythical, monstery-looking thing? Either way, I'm still not putting anything that looks like tar on my toothbrush.

5:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't know if it's racist, but I'm black and it certainly made me feel...well....bad.

7:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The toothpaste looks like poo. Whose big idea was that?

5:15 PM  
Blogger melissa. said...

i love that the video has been removed due to terms of use violation... fitting.

10:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Does Ikea sell that bed?

10:17 AM  
Anonymous dan depew said...

Backstory...

The Thai agency was playing off the fact that darker complexion (ie. no Chinese heritage) is perceived negatively. Dark-skinned Thais are almost always portrayed as villans in television and film.

The fact that they used someone who is clearly not a dark-skinned Thai is upsetting...

2:33 PM  
Blogger copyranter said...

Thanks for the info, dan.

2:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

the agency responsible for this is "Ongoing" (http://www.ongoing.co.th/) --ex ogilvy bangkok that set up their own shop

Darlie brand toothpaste (Hawley & Hazel) used to be sold as "Darkie" here in Asia...

4:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This toothpaste is in China, too. The basis of the toothpaste is a stereotype of black people having very white teeth.

Regarding the storyline of the commercial...if you were the mom and you saw your 4 year old daughter ALONE just talking to a random 6 feet man trying to give her a present, you would probably drag her away, too. Not to mention this was Thailand.

This was egocentrically ignorant, but not malicious.

11:17 AM  

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