Cruising 7th Ave in Manhattan a few weekends ago, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Intrigued via the cool graphics, I definitely did a double take. Yet am I the only person that believes this ad made a mockery out of black culture? ---Ha, obviously not because guess what!? In the time that it has taken me to write this article, this billboard along with all other web promotion on "Black Russia" has since been removed from welovevodka.com. It appears that the 'Black Russian' has been put to sleep. Hmmm, I wonder why?
Mockery. Exploitation. Capitalization. Categorization. Bullshit.
-Here's what the Wodka people said on their website:
"BLACK RUSSIAN WÓDKA™ Vodka
Coffee Liqueur
We've never seen a Black Russian but Blacks created cool and Russians are badass - whoever named this one must have been one hip hop lovin' Commie. Mix WÓDKA™ and Coffee Liqueur; put about half as much coffee liqueur as WÓDKA™ in a small glass over ice. Hold your drink high, know you're cool and enjoy feeling like a badass."
I"ll give it to em', they've got some invigorating ad's going on. Spotting this billboard on 34th and 7th had me thinking all weekend. The thugged-out black dude(esp when their name rhymes with rapper Woka Flaka) with the city of Russia tapered across his shoulder atleast made me wanna Goggle the folks and find out who they were. Yet after reading their description above, it kind of angers me that America's acceptance(if that's what you wanna call it) of black culture still has huge deals of mockery, exploitation, capitalization, and categorization. Based upon their Black Russian "theme" their number one fuck-up was mocking the black race and stereotyping the hell out of the culture. I see it as another part of institutionalized racism where America's trend hungry ass suddenly decides when something is "cool" and then exploits the hell out of it. This is exactly the same way that slavery was started(for those of you who forgot it even existed). Some 16th century money hungry *extremely-profuse-curseword* discovered the unique, undeniably strong traits of the African race and decided to capitalize off of their unique strengths without any regard to how they felt about it. *Shaking my head*.
As for the cross reference(Black Russian), it's all good, I've heard this one before. Besides, I'm all about visually identifying all races with all cultures- that's how the world should be by now. But whats up with the stereotype? I do get the fact that 'thug' nature is commonly referenced to blacks, yes. However! Note to advertisers: REAL thugs actually still do exist in America, so please do not glorify their ignorance any more then it is already being done by their own community's. And why even capitalize off of such a negativity? Hasn't the black race been stereotyped enough? Why couldn't this image have been that of the quintessential black male, well suited and carrying a brief case? You know, the types we always see on Black Enterprise and profiled in Ebony magazine. With the comic mischief style of this Wodka Vodka brand, this just goes to show how much America still doesn't take black people serious. Or, are they showing us that we are actually "cool" enough to fit in just the way we are?
I hope this Vodka taste just as good as their advertising efforts, causing I'm not buying it. These folks could've been a lot more clear with their message. Trust me, I get consumer marketing and I sure enough condone capitalism, but controversial boundary's need never to be crossed. And before y'all start howling about how black folks are always taking offense to something, please, just really sit and think about it. How often do marketing projects offensively hail highlight on a specific cultural characteristic just to make a buck? Take a look at what I found here.
Just think about it,
Triumph
1 comment:
The Black Russian is an actual drink - one of the drinks we celebrate on our site. You will notice other billboard of other drinks up around NYC.
The Black Russian was not taken down for the reason you are speculating - its actually being redone with new imagery - soon you will see a female Black Russian.
The Black Russian is actually a celebration of what we think are two of the coolest cultures out there in fact the website's copy explained that "while we've never seen a Black Russian, but black created cool and Russians are badass so..."
The hip hop culture depicted in the image is simply a part of Black culture we believe to be cool and thus, we used this image as an icon, not as a stereotype.
You will see the new version of the Black Russian soon. We appreciate the dialogue and are always open to honest debate and discussion about any of our marketing.
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