Racial Overtones In The Celeb Ad?

6:30 pm EST July 31st, 2008 | News | 10 Comments


Oscar 2008, Seal and Heidi Klum, originally uploaded by Pulicciano.

I have to confess, I don’t think the overtones in the Paris Hilton/Britney Spears ad from McCain was about race. I think some on my side of the aisle are reading too much into this – the McCain people just aren’t smart enough to be that subtle.

The reaction from Democrats brings to mind an abused wife who now thinks of many/most men as abusive, without any evidence saying that. Dems have rolled over so much for aggressive Dems that the left is very sensitive to it. Then again, I’m okay with a more aggressive reaction to the very passive way Dems handled these things in the past.

And no, not the Hitler thing either.

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10 Responses to “Racial Overtones In The Celeb Ad?”

  1. Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle says:
    July 31, 2008 at 6:54 pm

    Oliver:
    It doesn’t bother you that McCain employs the same guy that created the infamous Harold Ford ad? As someone elsewhere said, what is Paris and Britney famous for? Their sexuality.

  2. Quaker in a Basement says:
    July 31, 2008 at 7:00 pm

    I’m with you, OW.

    I think the McCain team was going for a Dowd shot–comparing Obama to vapid, preening, so-yesterday, girlie-girls.

    They missed, though. What they succeeded in doing is reminding us that people actually want to hear what McCain’s opponent has to say.

  3. Oliver Willis says:
    July 31, 2008 at 7:05 pm

    Of course it bothers me, and I expect race-baiting ads to come from the right. But this ad isn’t one of them.

  4. WWB says:
    July 31, 2008 at 8:27 pm

    Oliver, I think I agree with you. Each and every sentence, perhaps. Doesn’t happen often, but I appreciate the clear-headed take. More intellectually honest than than Marshall or Perlstein, to start.

  5. jerry says:
    July 31, 2008 at 10:13 pm

    I agree Oliver. I also think that if there is racism in the campaign, there will be a pattern of it, and at this point, with this one ad, it doesn’t quite make a pattern yet. When we see that pattern it will be one thing to include this ad as the start. But right now, it’s a stupid ad, but I don’t see the racism.

    I worry that calling it out will backfire as the Boy Who Cried Wolf.

    And worse, I think it cheapens what has happened to real victims of racism and sexism and anti-semitism and any other ism. People getting beaten up and maimed and murdered and lynched are very much not a politician being compared to some dumb celebrities.

    And that’s actually my real beef with this. I don’t mind bring guns to a knife fight, but I consider valid accusations of bigotry of any sort basically a reason to go to drop a person off a cliff. I take them very seriously which is why I dislike seeing it trotted out without a very solid case. Right now, I am not seeing racism, I see a group of Democratic political operatives playing republican games and ignoring the collateral.

    Much more importantly, what happened to Seal’s head? Is it possible my head would look like that if I shaved it? If I shaved it, and made my head look like that, could I get Klum’s sister?

  6. PTCruiser says:
    August 1, 2008 at 9:05 am

    I lifted the following from Spin Cycle published online at Newsday.com:

    “We just got off a conference call with Camp McCain, defending their new ad comparing Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.

    “They said they thought the ad was legitimate because Obama is a big celebrity (which happens to be what John McCain was, too, when he came home from Vietnam and started to build his political career), and Britney and Paris were Number 2 and 3.

    “The problem: Anyone with even a vague sense of pop culture knows that Britney and Paris are yesterday’s news. Here’s a link to Forbes’ Celebrity 100. Paris and Britney don’t even make the list any more.

    “Instead, the top 10, in order: Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Angelina Jolie, Beyonce Knowles, David Beckham, Johnny Depp, Jay-Z, The Police, JK Rowling, Brad Pitt.

    “So, they didn’t pick other big celebrities, who were either men, or black, or married.

    “What they picked was two sexually available white women.

    “But it must have been a coincidence, because we know John McCain wants to run an elevated campaign focusing on the serious issues that America faces.”

    My own view is that the ad was not just about race but it was, in part, about race.

  7. SpiderJ says:
    August 1, 2008 at 10:07 am

    Interesting take, but I don’t think it’s as important they were young white women as they are two of the most vapid and worthy-of-ridicule celebrities on the scene at the moment. You can dislike Oprah’s politics or business practice, but you can’t say she’s stupid (building a media empire takes brains). In that list of ten, you can’t as easily skewer any of them as you can Britney or Paris–the prototypical rich dumb blondes.

    It’s not about race, it’s about trying to say that with Obama there’s no “there” there.

  8. Parthenon says:
    August 1, 2008 at 10:42 am

    It’s not about race, it’s about trying to say that with Obama there’s no “there” there.

    Exactly. ‘He’s an empty suit, like these two empty skirts.’ Even had they wanted to use a useless black celebrity, they couldn’t have found a media walking joke on the level of Britney and Paris.

    I repeat, imagine a world where these ads talked about, you know, government.

  9. revenantive says:
    August 1, 2008 at 11:00 am

    Jon Stewart laid the smack down on The Daily Show last night.

    Apparently the Hilton’s had already doled out $4600 to the McCain campaign before this commercial hit the air.

    Nothing like biting the hand that feeds you…

    John McCain’s campaign is just trolling the pond for anything at this point. I hope his negative attacks continue because I believe it just strengthens Barck Obama’s position.

    McCain started going heavy negative in his ads a couple of weeks ago, and he’s lost a percentage point or two in the polls…coincidence?

  10. Duros62 says:
    August 4, 2008 at 4:54 pm

    It doesn’t bother you that McCain employs the same guy that created the infamous Harold Ford ad?

    You know, I thought it had a familiar smell. However I agree with Oliver. Ain’t no “there” there, either.