Hate With Pickles

Lately, the campus has been flooded by accusations and characterizations of racism. At the same time, one subtle but pervasive form of the social evil has remained unchallenged: racism in advertising.

The most surprising form of racism in advertising goes beyond malt liquor commercials on television and cigarette advertisements in the print media. The fast food industry, purveyors of a far less ominous product, employ advertising tactics that focus more on race than most would find tasteful.

Take the example of McDonald's "What You Want Is What You Get" campaign of the past few years. Several of these television commercials feature all-Black casts; others are completely white. While the commercials usually have some themes in common--McDonald's family setting, their low prices, their oh-so-appetizing foods--the language and pretenses in both types of commercials constitute stereotypical parodies of normal life.

One commercial uses the setting of a talk show. The host, guests and audience are all Black. After a bit of inane dialogue, the host guides the guests' chat around to admitting that "what you want is what you get at McDonald's today." While the message doesn't present a problem, the means of communication do. All of the actors utilize an extreme dialect and mode of speaking that no person I know, white or black, has ever used except in jest.

Another commercial follows the path of McDonald's food as it travels through the air vents in an apartment building, all of whose occupants are Black. Unlike many of the white-casted commercials in the series, this and other all-Black ads stress value as a reason to come to McDonald's. The median family income for Blacks may be lower than that for whites, but this race-based economic targeting only reinforces stereotypes.

In stark contrast, Wendy's commercials almost always portray characters with a wide diversity of backgrounds. One shows Dave Thomas, the corporation's portly white owner, chatting with an elderly Black man and white woman about his search for interesting foods. Thomas is a real person, and the other two seem like--who would have guessed?--real people in both conversation and manner. Even with the ridiculous dialogue to undermine the effect, the people appear completely genuine.

Both McDonald's and Wendy's use their staffs, or at least actors who play them, in their commercials. But McDonald's seems to have segregated its staff, since the ads show only all-Black or all-white franchise operators. Wendy's on the other hand, displays a range of ages and races in their employees in each separate commercial.

McDonald's could claim that advertising using actors of one race helps it to reach particular audiences in particular areas. Often, diversity in a commercial doesn't reflect the true makeup of population in its targeted area. Nevertheless, commercials can at least present the example of a harmonious, integrated society as something to pursue.

These advertising campaigns don't exactly mirror the discrimination perpetrated against Blacks at Denny's restaurants, but they do represent a divisive force that society doesn't need. All the televisions in the nation and many in other nations receive commercials paid for by fast food corporations. It's time for this hidden racism to end.

Daniel Altman's column appears on alternate Mondays