I remember seeing this commercial late last year and it made me think about "Race (ethnicity) as technology". The commercial is straightforward and makes a clear and blunt point. If you notice, the person that they (Macy's) uses as the "technological replacement" for the black male is "Asian/Native (Latina)-American" (because you can't discern her ethnicity completely) with a European-American male supervising the transition. I think it is a Native-American female due to the "Ugly Betty" red framed glasses, but I cannot make that assumption.
The African-American male is juxtaposed to the "New/Model Minority" and European-American male while standing proudly next to his overtly antiquated robotic invention, seemingly oblivious to the technological advances made over the last decade. This opens the opportunity for the "replacement/upgrade" perfected in the "model minority female" (because our ethnicity-driven society is based on people seeing your ethnicity before they see anything else) to berate and point out the "outdated limitations" of him and his just finished, poorly produced, product (it sputters and sparks!).
Notice the use of the word "useful" with an cut to the man-of-color standing beside the automaton. It (the robot) AND the man of color physically react to the word. The reaction gives the impression that the robot and he, are BOTH being spoken about in a round-about way (the robot reacts by turning red and frowning when she says the word). Then to add injury to insult the robot, who is outdated, seems to "short-out/overload" and becomes hyper-sexual. This is shown through the "robot" advancing after an invisible, intangible, "app" application in the model-minority's smartphone trying to extract affection from it. The "model minority" and architect/overseer/scientist (European-American) slowly step back from it.
Check out the commercial at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoo6cD-g1cQ
This again shows how even in advancements by people of color that men-of color, especially those of recent direct-African ancestry, supercede their wealth of knowledge (and opportunity for employment advancement) over the attainment of instantaneous physical pleasure (he couldn't make a modern technology, but he can give it amourous emotions... so much talent wasted!). He is ignorant of modern technologies, amenities and applications, but he knows how to make something sexual. This fits perfectly into the dehumanizing of males of color, they are ultimately beasts that, if given the chance, will create technology in their image (through European-American guise) which is this: slow, lazy and sexual.
After this commercial they have made a couple of other commercials with the anomalous "Asian/Latina-American" hybrid, along with the European-American male. The African-American male, like his automaton invention, have not been seen since. I guess the rule is that there can only be one other ethnicity besides European on the screen at one time.
This proves the point they were trying to make all too clear. The time, in the opinion of the Macy's company, of courting the African-American market has come to a close. The company has went above and beyond trying to get new, more "model-minority" markets that cater to the other people-of color, so long as they go along with the premise that African-Americans are outdated and deserved to be sub-served in the new world order (with people-of-color being divided and stratified, with African-Americans at the bottom of the order).
This was quite stunning to me at the time. Then the holidays (Thanksgiving and X-mas) came around and things changed, slightly.
A semi-famous African-American male actor named Rob Brown (he starred alongside Sean Connery in the film "Finding Forrester" by Gus Van Sant and now is in an HBO series called "Treme" about the "new" New Orleans, post-Katrina hurricane) was arrested, handcuffed and paraded around (by the NYPD) inside the store under the accusation of theft in Macy's. He has now filed suit. Check out what he went through just because he purchased a watch for his mother.:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/black-actor-alleges-nationwide-pattern-profiling-2nd-suit/story?id=20880469
They have now changed their marketing tune, ever-so-slightly, by bring back in African-American non-speaking models into their advertisements alongside European-Americans. This is being done because they want to show that they aren't the ethnicists (i.e. racists) that they really are. By not showing fault they have entrenched themselves deeper in their own ideologies (African-Americans are good enough to be seen, but allowed to speak.). The reason being their bottom line (money) has been affected during the most prosperous time of their year.
The reason I brought these points up are to point out the blatant alignment of their marketing and actual treatment of African-American males within Macy's. They are not valued in the company as employees, and they are not wanted as customers either. If their company can arrest an African-American male actor who is well known (and paid) and accuse him of not being who he is and not being able to afford to buy something expensive without apologizing, they will do that to anyone who looks like him. It is a sad, but true fact.
With all of our discussions about "race as technology" I also thought this was a great example showing the full extent of European-American views placed in a "ethnic accepting/annexing marketing" visual campaign. If "other" people of color (Native (Latino)/Asian-Americans) accept this cutting away of African-Americans from the shopping pool (therefore having no visibility) and African-Americans don't protest their annexing too much they could start the stratifying paradigm without too much resistance.
Then the same thing that they had been denying that they had been practicing (i.e. economic-ethnic discrimination) happened again at Barney's to another African-American male.
Nothing has been said since.
Technology is a Muthaf@#$%^&!
DeCarlo
The African-American male is juxtaposed to the "New/Model Minority" and European-American male while standing proudly next to his overtly antiquated robotic invention, seemingly oblivious to the technological advances made over the last decade. This opens the opportunity for the "replacement/upgrade" perfected in the "model minority female" (because our ethnicity-driven society is based on people seeing your ethnicity before they see anything else) to berate and point out the "outdated limitations" of him and his just finished, poorly produced, product (it sputters and sparks!).
Notice the use of the word "useful" with an cut to the man-of-color standing beside the automaton. It (the robot) AND the man of color physically react to the word. The reaction gives the impression that the robot and he, are BOTH being spoken about in a round-about way (the robot reacts by turning red and frowning when she says the word). Then to add injury to insult the robot, who is outdated, seems to "short-out/overload" and becomes hyper-sexual. This is shown through the "robot" advancing after an invisible, intangible, "app" application in the model-minority's smartphone trying to extract affection from it. The "model minority" and architect/overseer/scientist (European-American) slowly step back from it.
Check out the commercial at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoo6cD-g1cQ
This again shows how even in advancements by people of color that men-of color, especially those of recent direct-African ancestry, supercede their wealth of knowledge (and opportunity for employment advancement) over the attainment of instantaneous physical pleasure (he couldn't make a modern technology, but he can give it amourous emotions... so much talent wasted!). He is ignorant of modern technologies, amenities and applications, but he knows how to make something sexual. This fits perfectly into the dehumanizing of males of color, they are ultimately beasts that, if given the chance, will create technology in their image (through European-American guise) which is this: slow, lazy and sexual.
After this commercial they have made a couple of other commercials with the anomalous "Asian/Latina-American" hybrid, along with the European-American male. The African-American male, like his automaton invention, have not been seen since. I guess the rule is that there can only be one other ethnicity besides European on the screen at one time.
This proves the point they were trying to make all too clear. The time, in the opinion of the Macy's company, of courting the African-American market has come to a close. The company has went above and beyond trying to get new, more "model-minority" markets that cater to the other people-of color, so long as they go along with the premise that African-Americans are outdated and deserved to be sub-served in the new world order (with people-of-color being divided and stratified, with African-Americans at the bottom of the order).
This was quite stunning to me at the time. Then the holidays (Thanksgiving and X-mas) came around and things changed, slightly.
A semi-famous African-American male actor named Rob Brown (he starred alongside Sean Connery in the film "Finding Forrester" by Gus Van Sant and now is in an HBO series called "Treme" about the "new" New Orleans, post-Katrina hurricane) was arrested, handcuffed and paraded around (by the NYPD) inside the store under the accusation of theft in Macy's. He has now filed suit. Check out what he went through just because he purchased a watch for his mother.:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/black-actor-alleges-nationwide-pattern-profiling-2nd-suit/story?id=20880469
They have now changed their marketing tune, ever-so-slightly, by bring back in African-American non-speaking models into their advertisements alongside European-Americans. This is being done because they want to show that they aren't the ethnicists (i.e. racists) that they really are. By not showing fault they have entrenched themselves deeper in their own ideologies (African-Americans are good enough to be seen, but allowed to speak.). The reason being their bottom line (money) has been affected during the most prosperous time of their year.
The reason I brought these points up are to point out the blatant alignment of their marketing and actual treatment of African-American males within Macy's. They are not valued in the company as employees, and they are not wanted as customers either. If their company can arrest an African-American male actor who is well known (and paid) and accuse him of not being who he is and not being able to afford to buy something expensive without apologizing, they will do that to anyone who looks like him. It is a sad, but true fact.
With all of our discussions about "race as technology" I also thought this was a great example showing the full extent of European-American views placed in a "ethnic accepting/annexing marketing" visual campaign. If "other" people of color (Native (Latino)/Asian-Americans) accept this cutting away of African-Americans from the shopping pool (therefore having no visibility) and African-Americans don't protest their annexing too much they could start the stratifying paradigm without too much resistance.
Then the same thing that they had been denying that they had been practicing (i.e. economic-ethnic discrimination) happened again at Barney's to another African-American male.
Nothing has been said since.
Technology is a Muthaf@#$%^&!
DeCarlo