Civil rights group slams Sony ad
And takes a pop at LocoRoco.
US civil rights group the NAACP has slammed an advert for the new white PSP which some observers have accused of being racist.
In a statement issued by the San Jose branch of the NAACP, chapter president Rick Callender also appeared to refer to recent allegations that PSP game LocoRoco also has racist overtones, stating: "The days of blacks being portrayed in minstrel shows are long gone, and with good reason. The minstrel show was an awful chapter in history and this ad smacks of that age and time.
"It is even further unacceptable that some corporations still think it is okay to use racially charged media images," Callender continued.
"The latest Sony ad conjures up bad memories of when stereotypical and offensive images of people of colour were accepted means of selling a product. Sony should immediately apologise and discontinue these archaic advertising tactics."
Callender's comments were echoed by California Assembly Speaker Leland Yee, who added: "I am deeply disappointed in Sony's senseless decision to publish this racially-charged advertisement.
"I can't begin to determine Sony's motivation but I believe this marketing strategy is unnecessary and is clearly offensive to many in our community."
Sony has previously defended the ad, which is only running in the Netherlands, stating that it is merely designed to show the contrast in colours of the two PSP models and has "no other message or purpose."
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Comments (54) Latest comment 6 years ago
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Sony really didn't think this one through. Still, it's never going to be seen on a US billboard, right?
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So 60+ replies are guaranteed.
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*Wonders if should make a team america world police reference. Decides against it, it's been done to death...*
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I think the phrase 'people of colour' could be seen as offensive.
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First the Rootkit palava, the payola scandal on american radio, the fake movie reviews, the general lament of the PS3 and now a shit storm that could only get worse if Ken Kutaragi blacked up and started singing 'Hello Mammeeee'...
I know people go on about how fashionable it is to knock sony, but they do make it criminally easy.
I heard bernard manning is working on a sony gag as we speak........
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The ad has worked really well in my opinion. Only shown in Holland but everyone everywhere seems to be talking about it! Any publicity is good publicity right? Quite clever.
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For generating awareness and discussion, this has probably their most successful ad campaign for a very long time.
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Perhaps they should invade Japan and put a stop to .... oh, er.. they already did.
Lets hope Sony decide to produce one in Guantanamo Orange
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Like that guy from the civil rights group says, the time when "stereotypical and offensive images of people of colour were accepted means of selling a product" is long gone. Today people in general know better and therefore should also be able to distinguish between something that in fact is stereotypical and offensive and what not. In my view, Sony had no racist intentions with the ad. It's a metaphore for a battle between 'colours', not races.
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Shame the 'White' PSP is just an attempt to copy Ninty .. who copied Apple and want to make that utterly dire hand held look 'Cool'
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Err, sorry? Blacks? Don't you mean African? Not that I really care, but concidering the organisation that you work for...
I understand the sentiments but I really think that all this fuss is over the edge. I mean, non of my 'non white' (...) friends seem to give a toss. If they posted an advert with an african doing the same to a 'white' guy, I wouldn't give a toss either.
As for that game; Tjees, seriously. They are really looking for things now imo. I mean, it is a great little game with absolutely no harm intended. I could find better examples to call racist.
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That's one of the most overused clichés there is, and it's wrong. There is such a thing as BAD publicity. Everyone may be talking about the ads but they're not saying "boy I'd love a PSP", they're saying "how fucking stupid are Sony to have put an advert like that into the public domain!"...
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I dunno, that birth and death ad from Microsoft was good, its a shame it was canned. The ad that ripped off Spaced was good too but that was never shown on TV.
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They have - in another advert the black woman is dominating the white woman.
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Hmm, looks better than it sounds. ;p
And the best advert ever; renting the building across the street of the PSP launch event and sticking a huge 360 advert on it. Pure genius.
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They have - in another advert the black woman is dominating the white woman.
So, what is all the fuss about? The thought goes both ways yet I never read about that. Or is it oke to be a 'racist' towards 'white' ppl?
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Yeah, just look at Gary Glitter's album sales...
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Actually, the best advert ever was a similar incident, where Commodore UK managed to buy an advert on a single billboard right next to Sega HQ shortly before Christmas with a picture of the Amiga CD32 and the slogan "To be this good will take Sega ages"
Sadly, it was a last gasp desperate effort by Commodore to get the CD32 some much-needed publicity, but Commodore International went bankrupt a few months later and it was all over. Still I remember reading about that advert and laughing out loud for a good few minutes. Clearly Microsoft were taking notes...
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That's all race conflicts have boiled down to in history, though - colors
Err, sorry? Blacks? Don't you mean African? Not that I really care, but concidering the organisation that you work for...
No, blacks. By the time minstrel shows were popular, many of the blacks in America were simply descendents from Africans and not the original generation themselves.
If they posted an advert with an african doing the same to a 'white' guy, I wouldn't give a toss either.
Yes, but have caucasians had a history of being oppressed by blacks on such a massive scale? Once again, it's not just about the image but about the references that some people find in them.
If anything, I just hope Sony stops making dumb ads, be them racially charged or not.
And this isn't targeted to either of the people I quoted, but I think all of the NAACP hyperbole is just about as bad as some of the comments made here that there's nothing amiss with the advertisement.
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if there was a ' i can't believe its not butter' ad depicting Japenese skin in contrast to butter on a billboard in Jap, would that be offensive ?
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The only think black and white was skin color. Hmmm, what does that signify...
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Is it that fucking hard to understand?
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The thing is, the people at Sony must surely have seen this coming? they can only blame themselves for any bad publicity they get. And no, the "all publicity is good publicity" talk is just bs.
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Politically agressive lobby groups trying to gain standing by being loudest about every imagined slight only serve to drive people away from any reasonable accomodations or behaviour modifications they might otherwise make.
If you want to know why political correctness really has gone mad you should listen to just how loudly and confidently many people I have to mix with will make racist jokes where in years gone by they would have barely dared whisper them.
/me gets off soap box
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Well, ordinarily I'd agree with that redesign statement...
But I think anyone who has gone from DS to DS Lite (Myself included) can tell you it's a really very f**king good redesign. Nintendo hit the right note with DS Lite. It is a much cooler, more fashionable design and yes, there smacks a little bit of Apple to it all. But at the very least, it worked for Nintendo. And people like that kind of thing.
Sony can't say the same with PSP. It's "another colour". Meh. Big deal. Nintendo can boast they improved their design... and in launching the white version and this subsequent advertising, they unleashed a mini-backlash.
I once would have agreed with the "No publicity is bad publicity" line. But it isn't true. Once the media has you in their sights these days, it's like being chased by a rabid Rottweiler. Defending the ad and trying to play dumb isn't going to shake this puppy. Sony could do the decent thing and say, "We did not initially realise that this ad would offend people, and would like to apologise for any offence we may have caused, and we will remove the offending material with haste".
I agree with them though that it is a stunning image. It is, actually, rather beautiful and could also be construed as perhaps rather "naughty" in the nicest sense possible (Just needs some slightly more... interesting clothing). It would be a stunning ad, if it were not for the fact that the contrast being used in the ad is skin colour. This is the problem. Not least the stereotype of a very dark-skinned woman. It can so easily and so clearly be seen as having a racist tone to it, whether they intended it or not. The message is there, and there is still an issue of racial equality in some countries as well, more so in this day and age than ever before...
It's a stunning image, yes... just... not the correct image to use...
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What's next? "New antivirus software" depicting Jewish refugees as virii and SS soldiers as Norton's new psp functionality?
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If you look for rasicm, you can, and will find it any anything whether it was intended or not.
Also, I find the term "people of colour" offensive - why do these people come up with such a term and then complain when they are treated differently??? (not that they have been in my opinion). If you want to be like everyone else, stop referring to yourself as though you are different!!!!!!
Can we talk about something else now please?
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A lot of you folks on here don't seem to understand what the problem with this advert is. I believe Talha and many others have clearly and succintly stated what the problem is.
Sony could try: Nazi vs Jews, Japanese vs Chinese, Indonesians vs Ethnic Chinese.
Those'll do just fine for creating controversy, right? Does that mean they should go and do it? I don't think so! They are an international company and one couls assume Sony have more brains and sensitivity to know that one, the internet would help spread this advert, two, that it would stir up bad feelings and three, they should find another way of promoting their new white PSP. Oh, wait, they got what they wanted right? Publicity!
Hoooray for Sony!
Why don't y'all try getting over a few centuries of slavery, the belief of European (white) superiority to the "inferior" people of color, that still exists in some places and has now been used as an advert in the Netherlands; even after seeing the other version of this ad, it really doesn't change my initial feeling -- It produces a feeling of strife, racial strife.
I can't get across to you how strongly some people feel about this advert. It really sucks people, especially knowing the history, for y'all to trivialize this is insane.
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That was one of the most pathetic & racist things I've ever had the hilarious pleasure to read. You bleat on about racism, yet you yourself fling about the "white people do this, white people do that" generalizations as intently as anyone else.
Let me assure you that there is no such thing as racism against white people.
How can you know that? DON'T YOU DARE TELL US HOW TO FEEL, etc.
Why is this so hard for white people who by default become self proclaimed experts on the issue of race and racism when it was their foremothers and fathers who constructed this evil and delivered it to our world as a legacy of slavery
This epitomizes your idiocy. Check the name of this site again, let it seep through the mist in your chronic-addled, car-stereo stealing, drug dealing, hip-hop poisoned, bitchNho smackin' mind & then hopefully you'll realize that this is a European-based website, with a Euro-centric viewpoint. You're babbling on, all whilst referencing historical events that mean absolutely nothing to us Europeans. Should I, as a white Irish person therefore feel guilt over your "trauma" even though neither I nor my ancestors had anything to do with it? Should I therefore view EVERY SINGLE CONCEIVABLE THING through the prism of racial division, as you've chosen to? If anything, racism lives on through the whiney oppression-complexes of uppity bleeding heart fools like yourself; you do nothing but serve the needs of your "Aryan masters" when you respond as reflexively as you do, and you're too much of a useful idiot to even realize it.
Now how about a few bars of "Maaaaammy", y'know, just to kill off all this nasty tension..? Sweet.
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I was going to go into a big meaningful rant about the repeated posts of Myrab but i dont see the point. linfknitz said enough. I will however, say that double standards played a huge role in the creation of racism and feel Myrab should bare this in mind before mouthing off (was his rant in bad tate anyone?)
Also, the add was in bad taste and a bit more thought should have been put into it.