Demented Arby's Commercial?
- Daniel_Bingamon
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Demented Arby's Commercial?
So what does everyone think of the Arby's Commerical with the Monkeys doing Irish line dancing?
Does anyone think it's racist or is just outright hillarious.
In case you missed it, here's an extended version on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44Y-_JAjAwE
Does anyone think it's racist or is just outright hillarious.
In case you missed it, here's an extended version on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44Y-_JAjAwE
- Steamwalker
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Not sure how it could be interpreted as racist unless some paranoid person thinks it implies that the Irish are akin to chimpanzees which I doubt anyone would find the commercial to mean. I, on the other hand, found the commercial more freaky and bizarre than anything else, the legs don't seem to mesh up with the rest of the bodies!
- WyoBadger
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- WyoBadger
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- Tell us something.: "Tell us something" hits me a bit like someone asking me to tell a joke. I can always think of a hundred of them until someone asks me for one. You know how it is. Right now, I can't think of "something" to tell you. But I have to use at least 100 characters to inform you of that.
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- anniemcu
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anniemcu
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- djm
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It's been done.WyoBadger wrote:But do they have souls?
djm
Last edited by djm on Sun Oct 07, 2007 6:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I'd rather be atop the foothills than beneath them.
In the middle of the 19th century English newspaper cartoons often depicted the Irish as chimpanzees in their attempt to portray the country as being made up of savages.Steamwalker wrote:Not sure how it could be interpreted as racist unless some paranoid person thinks it implies that the Irish are akin to chimpanzees.....
I don't think that was the intention here. I found the river-dancing chimpanzees to be amusing in the same vein as the old Mac dancing baby.
- FJohnSharp
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I have not made a conscious effort to dislike any commercials where animals are made to act like people, especially those where computers make them 'talk, but that hasn't stopped me from having an extreme bias toward them nonetheless.
I also hate commercials/movies/shows where they make old people do things like cartwheels and breakdancing after sipping a Pepsi or something.
I also hate commercials/movies/shows where they make old people do things like cartwheels and breakdancing after sipping a Pepsi or something.
- Cynth
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I agree with alurker. I came across a reference to the Irish as monkeys in something from 19th c. England I read---can't remember what it was. I believe the person really thought the Irish were monkeys---the person did not think they were human beings.
I have not come across racial slurs in my lifetime in the US, or in American literature I've read that refered to the Irish as monkeys or simian beings---just my experience. The slurs against the Irish I've come across have taken other forms.
I think it is reasonable to wonder if the video is racist because of the history of refering to the Irish as being some sort of simian beings in Britain in the 19th c. (I really don't know much about it, maybe other centuries too), but since the video is, presumably, for an American audience I don't think it is. I don't think many Americans are familiar at all with how the Irish were refered to in England in the 19th c. I think it is just capitalizing on the popularity of that Riverdance stuff.
It didn't really tickle my funny bone, but the Youtube video wasn't very clear. I don't know, you might just have to be in the mood.
I have not come across racial slurs in my lifetime in the US, or in American literature I've read that refered to the Irish as monkeys or simian beings---just my experience. The slurs against the Irish I've come across have taken other forms.
I think it is reasonable to wonder if the video is racist because of the history of refering to the Irish as being some sort of simian beings in Britain in the 19th c. (I really don't know much about it, maybe other centuries too), but since the video is, presumably, for an American audience I don't think it is. I don't think many Americans are familiar at all with how the Irish were refered to in England in the 19th c. I think it is just capitalizing on the popularity of that Riverdance stuff.
It didn't really tickle my funny bone, but the Youtube video wasn't very clear. I don't know, you might just have to be in the mood.
Diligentia maximum etiam mediocris ingeni subsidium. ~ Diligence is a very great help even to a mediocre intelligence.----Seneca
- anniemcu
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I guess I took it as saying that even the chimps want to get in on the River Dance rollercoaster... I didn't think it was commenting on the Irish, but on the American propensity for bastardizing... er... I mean... adopting anything that seems cool.
hmmm... so... is 'Bush' an Irish name?
Wait... no... I didn't say that... not on this board... nope.
hmmm... so... is 'Bush' an Irish name?
Wait... no... I didn't say that... not on this board... nope.
anniemcu
---
"You are what you do, not what you claim to believe." -Gene A. Statler
---
"Olé to you, none-the-less!" - Elizabeth Gilbert
---
http://www.sassafrassgrove.com
---
"You are what you do, not what you claim to believe." -Gene A. Statler
---
"Olé to you, none-the-less!" - Elizabeth Gilbert
---
http://www.sassafrassgrove.com
- swizzlestick
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This particular link is to a remix and that's why the music is not in sync with the steps and kicks. It's not the original music. Kinda fuzzy too. Wonder why they bothered since the original is much better.
My daughter has been step dancing for years, so, as you can imagine, I have been indirectly involved for years too. We have yet to find any dancer, young or old, that did not find this ad at least a little funny.
As for racism, I can't imagine there was any malicious intent. I just don't understand this hypersensitivity when it come to race. I have a multicultural, multiracial background and I grew up in the south when racism was commonplace. There's plenty of racism in the world without looking for it.
My daughter has been step dancing for years, so, as you can imagine, I have been indirectly involved for years too. We have yet to find any dancer, young or old, that did not find this ad at least a little funny.
As for racism, I can't imagine there was any malicious intent. I just don't understand this hypersensitivity when it come to race. I have a multicultural, multiracial background and I grew up in the south when racism was commonplace. There's plenty of racism in the world without looking for it.
All of us contain Music & Truth, but most of us can't get it out. -- Mark Twain