← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Stuka
Thread ID: 17632 | Posts: 6 | Started: 2005-04-04
2005-04-04 01:57 | User Profile
From Steinlager, a new TV ad: "Know Who You Are"
Synopsis: A young White boxer is shown training for the big fight, jogging along the beach, spending time with his Dad on the farmhouse porch, finding the courage to fight. He finally enters the ring where he hits his opponent--a grimacing, howling, ape-like Negro--square in the face. End of commercial.
[url="http://www.steinlager.com/"]http://www.steinlager.com[/url]
Finally, a tv ad we can be proud of. :thumbsup:
2005-04-04 07:57 | User Profile
Damn, what an awesome ad.
Makes me a bit homesick for New Zealand. The flashback to the fighter as a young boy walking along the beach with his Dad reminds me of when I used to go surfcasting with the old man on the East Coast as a kid. Gave me a bit of a lump in the throat actually. :cry:
The farmhouse porch depicted in the ad is actually something that would be called a "bach" (pronounced "batch") in NZ. Basically a small wooden shed by the beach where the whole family (or just father and son) can go to spend some time taking it easy, fishing and generally trying to block city life out of their minds. Usually pretty basic affairs without electricity or a telephone. As distinct from a "holiday house" or "resort".
Thanks for posting this.
2005-04-04 08:04 | User Profile
[QUOTE=RowdyRoddyPiper]Damn, what an awesome ad.
Makes me a bit homesick for New Zealand. The flashback to the fighter as a young boy walking along the beach with his Dad reminds me of when I used to go surfcasting with the old man on the East Coast as a kid. Gave me a bit of a lump in the throat actually. :cry:
The farmhouse porch depicted in the ad is actually something that would be called a "bach" (pronounced "batch") in NZ. Basically a small wooden shed by the beach where the whole family (or just father and son) can go to spend some time taking it easy, fishing and generally trying to block city life out of their minds. Usually pretty basic affairs without electricity or a telephone. As distinct from a "holiday house" or "resort".
Thanks for posting this.[/QUOTE]
But the vexsome Negro in the spot seems like a Brit or American congoid rather than an Abo or Maori--is the hall meant to be recognizably NZ?
2005-04-04 08:37 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Howard Campbell, Jr.]But the vexsome Negro in the spot seems like a Brit or American congoid rather than an Abo or Maori--is the hall meant to be recognizably NZ?[/QUOTE]
Not sure. It just looks like a generic boxing ring to me. I think the black boxer is probably meant to epitomise the "cocky American" rather than the "rumbunctious Negro", which is probably how they got away with such blatant racial overtones. Well, that would be their excuse anyway :lol:
There were a serious of cheese ads a couple of years ago featuring NZ's last great boxing hope (David Tua, a Western Samoan) where he would pep himself with a massive diet of cheese and then K.O. a generic African-American-looking opponent. So it's the kind of thing that has a precedent. And since the 30-second medium of advertising has to play on stereotypes, the part of "cocksure, in-your-face opponent" is inevitably going to be cast as an American Negro.
I don't recognise the boxer in this clip, btw. I'm pretty sure he's just supposed to be your big-hearted everyman, not a celebrity endorsement.
P.S. It's definitely set in NZ tho. Apparently it's been running on TV there since late last year (just Googled some info about it). And of course, Steinlager is an NZ beer.
2005-04-04 08:55 | User Profile
Heh, looks like someone complained to the NZ Advertising Standards Authority about the ad having racial overtones. However the compaint was dismissed:
[url]http://202.36.205.180/decisions/04/04408.rtf[/url]
Good to see commonsense prevail. Ok, enough outta me about this.
2005-04-04 16:42 | User Profile
Steinlager is good stuff. I will give them some business.