In reading Pericles excellent diary on racism, which is so truthful and spot on (except that the jokes I told were actually funnier, and my dad really was a racist, but I never thought of my self as such) I realized that there's still more racism out there...
Different parts of our culture and our behavior were wildly out of step with each other. But to us it all seemed normal.
This is the line that triggered it. Different parts of our culture and behavior are still wildly out of step. Case in point:
Everytime I see those Geico ads that say "So Easy a Caveman Could Do It!" I think of a thought I had a few months ago: these Geico ads are supposed to be racist without offending any ethnic or religious group.
Ha ha ha! They really meant "So easy a {insert race or group you want to insult here} could do it!" but they didn't, see?
In case you didn't get it...
Here the issue is more blatant: the ad is in fact ridiculing the notion of prejudice and discrimination; it is subtlely implying that groups of "others" claims against suffering at the hands of the majority and history is somehow to be joked about so you can buy insurance.
Frankly, I liked the gekko better.
But Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway owns Geico should be ashamed of these ads. Worst of all, they're not even funny.
Update: But wait. There's more...
The news this weekend is that the Geico Cavemen car insurance advertising campaign has been picked up by ABC for a pilot, an opportunity to see if the public really enjoy seeing the unfairly treated cavemen on TV. ABC announced on Friday March 2, 2007, that Martin Agency copywriter/art director Joe Lawson has been asked to write the script for ‘Cavemen’, developing plots around three prehistoric men who battle prejudice as they attempt to live as normal 30-somethings in modern day Atlanta. Will Speck and Josh Gordon, who recently directed the Will Farrell feature Blades of Glory, will direct the pilot episode via Touchstone Television.
You can't make this up...