Super Bowl Commercial Draws Controversy

A Coca-Cola ad to air at the Superbowl has taken quite a bit of heat for being racist. The ad features a collection of people, each paying homage to a movie of the past. It has cowboys, vegas showgirls, a few drivers that are reminiscent of Mad Max and what seems to be an Arab character attempting to walk a camel. The claim was that the Arab individual was portrayed in a racist/stereotypical light, although he is seen for barely 20 seconds in the clip. "Viewers of the 60-second spot, launched Jan. 22 on YouTube, are asked to vote for a race winner, but the Arab is not among those on Coca-Cola's online ballot." Drawing one area of criticism from the public, while another is that "the Lawrence of Arabia- style dress -- drew charges of racism from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and Muslim Institute for Interfaith Studies" (Strauss). Although this ad doesn't appear to be intentionally doing so, by drawing on inspiration from previous films, where there were prevalent negative stereotypes, it has lead many people to believe that this is racist. I think this definitely ties into some of the main themes of the course, which include the portrayal these kinds of characters in film of all kinds, and while this is a very short commercial clip, it will be seen by a vast number of people, and seems to have already made an impact. 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/01/31/some-critics-say-coca-cola-super-bowl-ad-racist/1880157/