Wassup With Your Chalupa, Sad Indian? 7 Vaguely Racist Commercials

Posted at 9:00 AM Oct 13, 2008

By Greg Volk

It’s not hard for commercials to offend people (just see a recent NSDCUV article on aggravating ad mascots). For me, it’s as simple as a talking baby. For others, it might be the inclusion of an oversized sombrero or a bastardized hip-hop phrase. You feel me? By far, the spots most likely to offend are ones involving race. Recent non-existent studies have shown that 76 percent of the Internet is devoted to anonymous and circular discussions of racism. (In other words, too much.) Certainly, we desperately need honest and informed discussions on the topic, but that’s a different blog.

Here, we’re concerned with commercials that are just kind of, sort of, maybe racist if you squint at the TV just right. Or invoke a cultural response that feels racist in its reductive quality (thank you, Budweiser "Wassup" ads). They’re kind of like an old Mel Brooks movie; they may be painfully unfunny or boring in parts, but they’re not painfully offensive. Just kind of offensive.

7. Budweiser "Wassup" Guys
A brief timeline of this commercial:

December 20, 1999. 9:13 p.m. The “Wassup?” guys debut during a Monday Night Football game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers. Millions laugh. It’s annoying at first, but everyone admits it’s kind of funny at the same time.

11:17 p.m. Minnesota fans call their friends to gloat about the 20-24 win. While on the phone, their friends say “Wassup.” It is mildly funny.

December 21, 1999. 9:03 a.m. Co-workers everywhere gather around the office water cooler to reenact the commercial. It is almost funny.

December 21, 1999. 12:00 p.m. Yet another reenactment. No longer funny, it is mildly annoying.

12:23 p.m. Reenactments pass from mildly annoying to levels of annoyance previously reserved only for Carrot Top. Psychological association and conditioning begins to take effect.

12:24 p.m. to present. Every time anyone hears what is now the most annoying commercial in TV history, it incites anger. And the ad happens to feature black people. Therefore, to some white people named Bubba, black people become annoying. Everyone thanks God YouTube wasn’t around then.

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6. “Crying Indian” PSA
Once upon a time in a small town in Louisiana in 1904, there was a boy born Espera DeConti to two Sicilian immigrants. In 1924, the young man moved to Hollywood, where work was scarce (much like the buffalo his grandfathers did not hunt). After changing his name to “Iron Eyes Cody” and beginning to claim he was part Cherokee, he started to get Native American roles in Westerns. He took a quick detour in 1959 by portraying “Eskimo #1” in the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. Fast forward to 1971, and Iron Eyes makes his debut in the “Keep America Beautiful” PSA as the Crying Indian. And with one famous single tear, the list of things stolen by the “white man” got one acting job longer.

5. KFC's “Famous Bowls”
This is just one in a series of ads for KFC’s “Famous Bowls” or, as Patton Oswalt calls them, “failure piles in sadness bowls.” With its gratuitious closeups of several types of foods no one should really eat, it’s quite similar to most of the fast-good giant's campaigns. The only difference comes in its soundtrack, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Southern anthem “Sweet Home Alabama." After all, the cover for the "Alabama" single did feature a Confederate flag. This of course raises a litany of eternally debatable questions: Were Skynyrd racist for glorifying the controversial history of the Confederacy? Is its flag a racist symbol or one of historical pride? And, most importantly, is this what racism tastes like?

4. Quizno’s “More Meat For $5” Campaign
We’re not sure whether the generically Asian woman in this commercial can speak English, but it’s because she isn’t given a chance to. Sure, it’s a stereotype to put an old Asian lady in a cleaners, but haven’t we all always wondered what those dollar bills are doing on the walls and, moreover, what it would be like to eat one? I’ll take this lady over Jared any day of the week.

3. MasterCard's “My Favorite Things”
Sure, these are just one woman’s “favorite things,” but claiming any of these activities for a hobby would be grounds for suspicion of douchebaggery. If you ever have to tell a friend “that’s not a fencing sword. It’s an épée,” you might be a (really) white person. And it’s all set to a tune from the world’s whitest musical (prior to Mamma Mia!), The Sound Of Music. Vintage hot-rodding helmet: $125; riding boots: $600; zero-gravity flight: $3700; using your MasterCard like a porcelain asshole: priceless.

2. "Yo Quiero Taco Bell"
Advertising agencies seem to think anthropomorphizing animals gives them a blank slate. Just try and argue with a dog. Go ahead, smart guy. It can’t even talk. Except in this instance, in which a chihuahua apparently willed himself to learn Spanish so he could articulate his love for chalupas and other Tex-Mex fare. Indulging this line of reason further, it follows that the dog wants Taco Bell, and therefore, Taco Bell is dog food. In the grand scheme of Mexican/Latino stereotypes, this is pretty tame. If only they’d put one of those Che Guevara T-shirts on him, then maybe we’d have something.

1. McDonald's “Art Store Break”
Though this ad begins with on-screen text reading “Art Store Break,” what it should say is “Totally Real Authentic African Art Straight from Africa! Store Break” The “art” in question consists of a variety of carved animal figurines and tribal masks seemingly left over from the abandoned live-action version of The Lion King. What’s disappointing is that this spot wasn’t paired with a McGazelle burger campaign. Get one now with a free mini djembe!