Quote:
Originally Posted by 81MC
Ima need some help here.
Without just repeating the ad, what could be offensive? I’m asking, because I seriously can’t see that logic. I mean, unless the argument is any reference, portrayal, or use of cultural, racial, or vocational imagery is automatically appropriation; a notion I vehemently disagree with and think would be a huge step backwards.
Let’s get one thing real clear: Rap music cannot be ‘culturally appropriated’ by some ticky-tack whack advert rhyme.
‘Dressed up as rappers’? I’m assuming you meant to say like a gangster, because rap styles pretty damn diverse and Urban and Street wear is pretty hip these days. Not that the people in the ad in question were dressed up in anything other than regular business clothes.
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The gist of it is that you're taking something cultural and then accentuating the "Japaneseness" of it to get a larf. The stylized letters especially, but also the silly "ninja" moves being portrayed by the guys pictured. It's kind of like saying in a really bad accent "Hey look at me I so Japanese-ee". People have portrayed "ninjas" in a very Hollywood manner with the black costume and red bandana and sword for a long time. But it's just that, a costume we took from another culture to portray it in a way we're comfortable with and get a chuckle from, not in a way that honors the reality of it. And so it's disrespectful. That's cultural appropriation by definition.
So if these guys wore an oversized clock necklace and do-rag with a quote in graffiti script that rhymed something with real estate it would be fairly obviously offensive. They're making fun of, not genuinely representing hip hop culture. This ad may be a little less obvious, but it's the same thing exactly.
It's weird you'd find the term Karen racist but not this.