Racist Cartoon?

I first saw this cartoon on a news report a few weeks ago. I was obviously shocked by what I saw. It was posted in the New York Post newspaper February 18, 2009. The fact that something so obviously racist was posted in an American newspaper is completely rediculous, and unbelievable. Historically, African Americans have been referred to as monkeys as a racial attack or slur. It seems that this cartoon is comparing the newly elected president Barack Obama to a monkey. This is proven by the quote above the cartoon "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bil." This obviously is referring to the president since he would be the person that is writing the new stimulus bill. The cartoon is especially offensive since Barack Obama is of African American ethnicity. The fact that this cartoon was allowed to be published and distributed to the american people shows that racist ideas are not completely banned out of society. Although where we live these ideas seem completely rediculous, there are still some people with those racist ideas out there. The New York Post has defended this cartoon and said that the cartoon was a parody of a current news event, referring to the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. Most people are not buying this explaination though. The New York Post should have known that any cartoon that leaves room for interpretation about violence and race is bound to be critcized. Personally I think this cartoon is insulting, racist and flat out wrong.

Banned New Yorker Commercial

I came across this video on YouTube. It's a commercial for a clothing company called New Yorker that was banned from television, for a good reason. The first thing that I noticed about this commercial was the stereotype that many women get as "gold diggers". It shows the woman in the commercial marrying a man that is obviously much older than her. The end of the commercial also shows that her point of marrying him was for him to die, and then her recieve the benefits. This shows that women are greedy, and use their good looks and bodies to get married for the wrong reasons. Another thing that I noticed about the commercial was the scene where she's in the bathroom and the old man is watching her dance around in a bra and underwear. He stares at her for long enough and gets "knocked out" by the way shes dancing and what shes wearing. This shows the woman using her sexuality to get what she wants, which in this case is for the old man to die and for her to get his assests. This commercial was banned because of these sexist stereotypes.

Role Models or Bad Influences?

I was sitting at work one night having a discussion with my manager who has a 3 or 4 year old daughter. Someone left behind a bratz doll at one of my tables, and the discussion got brought up of how she would never let her daughter play with one of these dolls. At first I didnt understand her point of view but after thinking about it these dolls do seem to be horrible influences on little girls. First of all most of their outfits either include short skirts, tight pants, or high heels. I dont think that this is an appropriate, or realistic role model for the age group that these dolls are marketed towards. The average age group that these dolls are marketed towards is 6 to 10 years old. Giving these ideas to a 6 year old puts immense pressure on her at a young age to look a ceratin way. Also all of these dolls obviously have alot of makeup on, and some of the packages even put fake makeup in with the dolls as their accessories. This is showing girls that whats important is high heels and makeup rather than other positive things that could be given out with the dolls. I'm not saying that every single one of the dolls comes with a negative message, but for the most part the images that these dolls portray is over sexualized for 6 year olds to be looking at as role models. Some people see it as "its just a toy". Well I think that these "toys" have more of an influence on children than most parents think. The Campaign for a Commercail-Free Childhood even launched a campaign against them stating that "The market message to younger girls is that sex is power- a commodity." I definitely think it's something to consider next time parents are out shopping with their young girls.