Sony under fire for "racist" advertising

[Won '08]

http://desktops.engadget.com/2006/07/06/sony-under-fire-for-racist-advertising/

So...Is Sony being a racist mega-corporation or just a misguided one...or do you think people are just...taking it out of context? Discuss. Or not....

The image, I will admit is pretty under-toned but beyond that I fail to see a direct relation to racism. But thats just me, what do you guys think?

 

[November Rain]

well if it was the other way round, there wouldn't even be anything to discuss....

 

[Kaleb]

I dont get it whats so racist about that waite does this make me racist for not seen the rasism in this .

 

[black_dust]

wasn`t the Ps1 grey? haha

 

[November Rain]

I dont get it whats so racist about that waite does this make me racist for not seen the rasism in this .

the whole white is coming and the white lady holding the black man's face like she's about to take a dump in his favourite cereal

 

[wolfsfang]

They are just advertising the fact that the new PSP is white in color not that it is only for us white people. Which they hope will outsell their last model which was black in color.

Racism exists and yes it is a terrible thing but I wish people would stop seeing it everywhere.

 

[black_dust]

the whole white is coming and the white lady holding the black man's face like she's about to take a dump in his favourite cereal

I thought that was 2 women...

 

[November Rain]

if it is, i wouldn't like bump into the black one in a dark alley.....(pun intended)....

 

[Calvin]

Whether it's intentional or not, it's pretty damn stupid on several levels. That anyone wouldn't realize it could appear racist in this day and age is dumb, for one. Also, it's an incredibly dumb concept for advertising a new color. Why is the new color of the same system fighting the old color? Any recognition is good recognition they say, but not if you're a huge company that everyone already knows. The only thing this accomplishes is putting a negative tint on your product. Terrible advertising.

 

[Won '08]

the whole white is coming and the white lady holding the black man's face like she's about to take a dump in his favourite cereal

They're both female models. And you say if it were the other way around....

Are you so sure?

 

[logansoldcigar]

personally I dont see the issue there.
strikes me as one of those situations where if one looks hard enough, one can find a racial overtone simply because of the fact the product is available in Black and White.

"ohh, the white one is newer, so they are saying that white is newer, and therefore better, than black"

 

[Kaleb]

ok just how is the white one ganna be better than the black one?

 

[Won '08]

Racism exists and yes it is a terrible thing but I wish people would stop seeing it everywhere.

 

[black_dust]

ok just how is the white one ganna be better than the black one?

Because its hand held so it will get dirty faster and then people will buy a second one to replace the dirty one

 

[Won '08]

ok just how is the white one ganna be better than the black one?

The White one is made of Ceramic, and costs about 100 bucks more

 

[Axid]

Either way the PSP is an overpriced piece of ****

 

[Kaleb]

ok ok then

 

[logansoldcigar]

ok just how is the white one ganna be better than the black one?

Im not saying that it is. cos it isnt.as far as i know Its identical apart from the colour of the plastic. what Im sayiong is, that if some one wanted to read that into it, they could, simply based on the fact that some of the time some newer is a new and improved model

 

[November Rain]

They're both female models. And you say if it were the other way around....

Are you so sure?

well if it were to happen it would probably be only from a smaller more extreme group of people.

i'm taking this from the whole wesley snipes, passenger 57 'always bet on black line', which was fairly tongue in cheek and they managed to get away with it at probably a (barely) more sensitive time to race issues as there are now...

personally with forms of art, i think if one is looking to see an issue, there are likely to find it out there somewhere. I don't think it's racist because that's not its intention of races rather than the colour of their products, it just so happens these colours are both white and black.

all in all areas of black supremecy in media i think get given the benefit of the doubt where in this case people can read into it being more than it actually is.

 

[Won '08]

Either way the PSP is an overpriced piece of ****

Sounds like you're mad you couldn't get one.

 

[November Rain]

ok just how is the white one ganna be better than the black one?

it's not, but they have to persuade people to fork out an extra 20 bucks to think it is....



marketing play this kinda crap all the time.

 

[Axid]

Sounds like you're mad you couldn't get one.

I got rid of it in less than 2 months

 

[Kaleb]

well the black one looks better to me

 

[wolfsfang]

This is just as daft as a few years ago when I heard a rumor that they wanted to rename Blackpool (a coastal city here in England for those who don't know) because it was racist.

 

[Won '08]

The white one is made of CERAMIC people. CERAMIC. Thats why it costs more.

Same with the new Ceramic Red and White controllers coming out for ps2.