Racist VW advert

[Esceptico]

Saw this piece in the paper

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/21/v...

This is bizarre. Had to check it wasn’t 1st April. Hard to believe that no-one involved in the advert didn’t realise how this would be perceived. In fact the racism even seems deliberate rather than accidental (although there wasn’t a link to to the advert so can’t see it all) if it is as described. What were they thinking?

[vdn]

I’m sure I read that the ad was social media only and in some South American country ... I might be wrong. In other words, it could have slipped the radar of the head honcho’s and been a very localised / specific to its market, ad. Doesn’t make it any better.

[amusingduck]

Here's the ad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c07W46sT99c

I don't get it. What's the ad supposed to be about? Why does the hand push and then flick a black guy into a shop called 'the little settler/colonist'?

It's literally the whole advert! wtf

gruaniad said:

German television noted that the hand could be interpreted as making a “white power” gesture

That's literally a 4chan hoax

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/...

gruaniad said:

while letters that appear on the screen afterwards briefly spell out a racist slur in German.

I can't see it. Can anyone else? Do you have to re-arrange the letters or something?

[Ian Geary]

It reminds me of one of those "Harry and Paul" ads for "le car" (canal 5)

Ie a spoof.

Having said that, it is best never to underestimate the offence that can be caused to one group by seemingly innocent actions of another. It isn't the 70s any more.

Hopefully corporate vw can deliver an arse kicking quick enough to get past this.

[GroundZero]

What is a "white power gesture" by the way?
Never heard of this.

[Glassman]

It's a hand flicking away a man.

[Mr_Megalomaniac]

amusingduck said:

I can't see it. Can anyone else? Do you have to re-arrange the letters or something?

Yeah I'm still not seeing it either.
I'm also not seeing the supposed racism in the ad. Does it have to with the hand manipulating the character?
Additionally, would it be racist if the colours were swapped (the only true test of prejudice).
To be honest, I think this is one of those cases with hyper-sensitive infantile minds seeking something to be offended about...

[Mr_Megalomaniac]

GroundZero said:

What is a "white power gesture" by the way?
Never heard of this.

A fairly comical 4chan prank showing how easily people can be swayed by inane and stupid BS without thinking for themselves. The whole idea was to turn an innocent symbol into something controversial to show how mindless and easily manipulated people are and the current state of the media.
Needless to say it worked better than hoped.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_gesture#White_pow...

[CallThatMusic]

VW head of marketing in Germany claiming that advert made by external agency.
Seems to imply that they don’t employ people to make adverts anymore or indeed bother to look at them before they run them.
Not buyin* this rubbish.

[2xChevrons]

GroundZero said:

What is a "white power gesture" by the way?
Never heard of this.

Mr_Megalomaniac said:

Yeah I'm still not seeing it either.
I'm also not seeing the supposed racism in the ad. Does it have to with the hand manipulating the character?
Additionally, would it be racist if the colours were swapped (the only true test of prejudice).
To be honest, I think this is one of those cases with hyper-sensitive infantile minds seeking something to be offended about...

The dodgy bit is the hand flicking away the person making the white-supremacist version of the OK symbol as it does so (with the middle, ring and little fingers splayed slightly) so it looks like a 'W'.

As amusingduck's link explains, it began as a stupid but innocent hoax on 4chan (innocent by 4chan standards, anyway...) to trick the 'liberal normies' into believing that the OK gesture was white-supremacist symbol. Then, 4chan being populated mostly by regressive alt-right basement dwellers, it was actually adopted by the genuine far-right as an actual white-supremacist symbol.

So now the hoax continues to work, because in 99% of cases it's just an OK symbol (or, in this case, flicking an object away with a coiled index finger, and the other fingers just lying as they naturally would when you make that gesture) and 1% of the time you'll find that the director of the advert, the editor or the actor whose fingers those are are actually far-right white-supremacist stheads who are making secret symbols to their scummy friends so they can brag about how they totally got one over on the degenerate lamestream media and whatever.

It's a case of something that does actually exists, but only really exists in bits of the internet and social media populated by the terminally online, but it occasionally bleeds through. There are people and groups who do good work tracking and tracing neo-Nazis and their ilk by finding these tells and symbols, and lots of others who (through stupidity or well-intentioned overzealousness) think that anything with the OK sign in it is now inherently racist because they've lost their perspective and that (fortunately!) the vast, vast majority of people in the world don't know, let alone care, about alt-right dweebs on 4chan.

The problem is that far-right morons deliberately choose common, benign and subtle symbol to hijack as tells within themselves. It means that the symbols are only obvious to those already in the know, it gives them plausible deniability and it makes accusers/explainers look, as I do right now, like deranged conspiracy theorists who probably have a room with walls covered in newspaper clippings, polaroids and internet forum screenshots connected by bits of string. It lets them go "see, these liberals see offence in everything! Now they even think the OK sign is racist!" So not only do those criticising it look like paranoid over-sensitive killjoys, but it means that in the rare cases where it's genuine it's easier to refute or deny because 'they' were wrong all the other times.

Is a VW advert with a giant hand flicking away a person inherently racist? No. Is that hand making a shape/gesture that is also used by dweeby fascit-wannabes on the internet? Yes. Do you have to wonder about that gesture when it's a white hand flicking away a black person into a shop called 'Petit Colon'? Yes. Could it still be innocent? Yes.

Is a 13-year old girl in a family holiday snap making the OK sign actually a Nazi? No. Is a photo of a group of 20-something noodle-armed pasty-faced dorks with anime T-shirts standing in a park all making the OK sign with the fingers splayed not just an innocent photo of a group of friends but your local white supremacist outing? Probably.

Edited by 2xChevrons on Thursday 21st May 10:12

[Sarmo]

Mr_Megalomaniac said:

Yeah I'm still not seeing it either.
I'm also not seeing the supposed racism in the ad. Does it have to with the hand manipulating the character?
Additionally, would it be racist if the colours were swapped (the only true test of prejudice).
To be honest, I think this is one of those cases with hyper-sensitive infantile minds seeking something to be offended about...

What a bizarre test. Its true some people are sensitive, but it's equally true some people refuse to see racism anywhere unless it's as blatant as using a racial slur.

[JagLover]

vdn said:

I’m sure I read that the ad was social media only and in some South American country ... I might be wrong. In other words, it could have slipped the radar of the head honcho’s and been a very localised / specific to its market, ad. Doesn’t make it any better.

Yes advertising very different around the world and some of the things acceptable in other countries would be very shocking here.

Saw on YouTube once a Chinese ad for a washing machine/washing powder. A black guy is putting the moves on a Chinese girl and she isn't having any of it. She puts him in the washing machine and when he emerges again he is Han Chinese.

[dudleybloke]

Petit Colon could mean small ahole if you're looking for offence.

[Mr_Megalomaniac]

Sarmo said:

What a bizarre test. Its true some people are sensitive, but it's equally true some people refuse to see racism anywhere unless it's as blatant as using a racial slur.

How is it bizarre?
It's a simple application of principle. If the principle applies - it applies. If it does not, then it does not. Let me make it simpler for you with a real world example:
If I said you cannot work for the government if you're black, or own more than 50% of a business with a turnover higher than £230k per annum, at the risk being fined 100% of revenue - and additionally I'll add that you cannot study certain courses at university (e.g. Medicine) - would you say that's racist? I would. I would think that's very racist.
Now lets apply the same principle, if I say you cannot do the above points if you're White - is that racist?
Obviously yes.

Now - go ask your liberal friends if they think the South African government is racist for doing precisely what I just described (against Whites) and watch them defend the government's system racist actions against a 4% minority population.

[768]

Should've just used white actors, racism solved.

[dudleybloke]

768 said:

Should've just used white actors, racism solved.

[FourWheelDrift]

Glassman said:

It's a hand flicking away a man.

That's just a certain kind of adult entertainment film surely.

[anonymous-user]

VW ism't really an ethical company is it though, so not surprising.

[RB Will]

Blimey I'm not as good at spotting racism as I thought. I watched the advert and just saw someone moving someone out of the way so they still had a nice view of the car.

I had to read the article to see what was possibly racist about it.

[Sarmo]

Mr_Megalomaniac said:

How is it bizarre?
It's a simple application of principle. If the principle applies - it applies. If it does not, then it does not. Let me make it simpler for you with a real world example:
If I said you cannot work for the government if you're black, or own more than 50% of a business with a turnover higher than £230k per annum, at the risk being fined 100% of revenue - and additionally I'll add that you cannot study certain courses at university (e.g. Medicine) - would you say that's racist? I would. I would think that's very racist.
Now lets apply the same principle, if I say you cannot do the above points if you're White - is that racist?
Obviously yes.

Now - go ask your liberal friends if they think the South African government is racist for doing precisely what I just described (against Whites) and watch them defend the government's system racist actions against a 4% minority population.

Care to link me to something which explains said racism by the SA government? Because I've done some googling and can't find anything which shows what you're suggesting.

If it's actually real, my first guess is it's to try and redress the balance of power in a majority black country which was ruled by said 4% minority.