Dillon’s pick this week is the ad above for “Confederate Family Insurance.
It was so offensive, that we realized it couldn’t possibly be true.  Indeed, it is from Spike Lee’s faux documentary “Confederate States of America,” that looks at the US as thought the South had won the Civil War.
It’s extreme representations, however, provide perfect fodder for [...]

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There’s so much fodder just looking at stereotypes and unconscious bias in US advertising, that there’s not much time to take a look at ads in other countries, but this ad (thanks to Larry Kolb in Rgober Ebert’s Journal) is a fun peek into advertising appearances by Hollywood stars in Japan.
Having been asked at a park in Japan to [...]

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Multilingal (20 languages!) Robot a la C3PO
RATS!  Looks like the government is moving yet closer to solving issues for multilingual, real-time translation, with the launch of Robust Automatic Translation of Speech  (this link is to the RFP to build the program–reminds me a little of hearing about a contest for 5th graders to come up with [...]

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This Super Bowl Commercial for Snapshot of America could be a snapshot of unconscious bias in the American workforce.  The bosses are white, male and older and all people of color (or those with alternative style) are in supporting positions and/or marginalized.  It’s so steretypical that it’s funny, and I”m not sure if that’s “odd” funny [...]

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Thanks to Intercultural Talk contributer Dillon, age 8, who is learning to recognize great multicultural advertising. 
“I chose it because it showed that in English culture it’s polite to finish everything, but in Chinese culture they think you want more if you finish everything,” said Dillon.
Look at the fun (depending on your perspective) that ensues when two cultures [...]

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When I first caught a glimpse of an ad on TV of Mother Nature trying to wake up someone who was sleeping, I thought it type-cast women with an out of date image:  Women can’t do anything when their “little gift” comes each month.
Seeing the vibrant Serena Williams, who is African-American, perfect as a dynamic, young [...]

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Chris Guillebeau on his “Art of Non-Conformity” blog suggests promoting someone else when you’re facing inertia about your own work.
That’s easy to do in referring to Adweek’s blog, Adfreak, always a fantastic source for insights and samples of ads around the world, and a great playground for multiculturalists fascinated by the construction and representation of culture from [...]

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My problem with representations of women in advertising is not that they’re beautiful, nor, given my delight with this ad, that they’re scantily clad.  Apparently it’s more of a “boys against girls” mentality.
I like this ad because, basically, the girl “wins.” She’s smarter, stronger, slyer, and ‘wins,’ while teaching the boys a thing or two [...]

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As someone not as connected to the spiritual side of Christmas (is Santa connected to the spiritual side of Christmas?), this ad for “Boost Mobile”  is funny, definitely a good visual image to convey the message of “wrongness”, although I hope it doesn’t run during Saturday morning cartoons!
How does this, or does it, fit into the “War [...]

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As someone who can get a little too much caught up in a ‘true confessions’ trap when looking at unconscious bias, I always admire someone who can talk about stereotypes and prejudice in a way that is humorous, but makes a point.  That would be Maz Jobrani, an Iranian-American stand-up comedian who “is breaking down [...]

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