The only thing I really don't like about the ad is that all the attention is drawn to paltrow herself, and the point of the ad is fine print at the bottom. That shouldn't be blamed on her, but on the ad campaign itself. Stars don't really have a choice in the matter of things like the layout of the ad. She knew she was doing a service for the aids campaign, she wasn't just getting pictures taken with the cultural symbols for her head shots or something.
Yeah, but she doesn't really have control over that. She signed on to do ads raising aids awareness, and the subject of the shot doesn't usually have approval over it's use. I guess what they're trying to do here is promote a global relationship so people will stop saying the aids issues in africa don't matter because it's not like it affects us in any way.
i wouldnt say she had no control. at anytime they (a person wieth that much star power) can approve or not approve any ad that they are contibuting to, especially if its done for charity.
as for the ad, hmm. are they trying to reference the idea we all came from africa? i've heard that used before in awareness campaigns, and wouldn't consider that to be cultural appropriation, but more a way to get people to think/remember that we are more closely related than it seems.
but it also kind of looks stupid. would they make an ad saying "i am from canada" and show an igloo and dog sleds? (not that we actually have those in most parts, eh). or "i am from the united states" and show a white person with a cross around their neck with a badana with the stars and stripes on it? pulling out that one part of what africa might be about and putting on, then saying "i am african" while looking as stereotypically "african" as possible while being the whitest white girl around kind of makes me feel uneasy.
I think the "shock value" was part of the point. Maybe what they're trying to say is that whoever we are, we're really all the same inside, and we should care what's happening. They could have done it a little less stereotypically, I guess, but they probably just read National Geographic or something and took cues from that without realizing that the continent of Africa probably has like a million different cultures.
I wonder what people who are African think of this ad? Wouldn't they (the target of the potential appropriation) be the final judges of whether this is apropriating or not? I know when I first saw the ad, I thought whoa, isnt this kind of offensive? I mean she's wearing native dress and then it says in huge letters "I am African" when she is oviously a white woman.. I'm curious as to whether they do or do not find this offensive.
i know that alot of africa is white people, but NOT WHITE PEOPLE LIKE GWENETH NEVER EVER FEELING THE EFFECTS OF UTTER POVERTY. the add would of been more effective to me seeing a young child of african decent
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isnt it South Africa that has a sizeable white population.. and are they native or is it a result of whites from Europe settling there centuries ago?
I may be way off, but when I think about all the pictures of impoverished Africans in AIDS ravaged villages that I've seen they are all POC. Also, I've never seen African natives in tribal dress that are PWOC..
They could have done it a little less stereotypically, I guess, but they probably just read National Geographic or something and took cues from that without realizing that the continent of Africa probably has like a million different cultures.
i'm sorry, but are you being serious? or is this sarcasm? i honestly can't tell if you meant that for real or not.
keep in mind who is behind an ad campaign big enough to include an a list celebrity and is published in highly read areas. these people know what they are doing, who have lots of other people from various backgrounds working for them, who are all together part of the wonderfully fucked up world of marketing. they are no confused youngins who accidentally messed up on an art project for school or something.
and in all my years of being subscribed to the national geographic (a little known dork fact about yours truly, indeed), i have never seen the publishers of that awesome magazine post a picture of a person with colour and say "this is an african - note the beads, yo." and leave it at that. just to like, clarify.
that is, if you were serious. maybe you were being sarcastic - it would have made a lot more sense.
i just showed my friend this poster, and she's at the world AIDS conference in toronto for the next couple weeks, and she thinks that maybe there will be some discussion about it, I'll let you know if i hear anything.
Kaya, I was being serious, but I think you might have misunderstood anyway. I mean they have pictures in there of REAL people in Africa in REAL traditional dress, and the people who created the ad may have taken SOME ELEMENTS from those pictures or one particular African culture and tried to recreate them in the ad. Keep in mind, Africa isn't a country, it's a continent, and every country will have its own culture. I think they chose Gwyneth (as odd a choice as that is) because everybody knows who she is. If it were just some random white chick, nobody would care. The fact that she is so obviously not of that culture is the whole point. They're saying that at heart, we're all the same, and what is affecting them should be affecting us in some way as well.
well you just repeated a lot of what i said in my first post in this thread, but other than that, i still disagree that whoever made the ad thought "well gee, look at national geographic, people in africa seem to wear beads and face paint, lets use that in our ad!" thats the part of your post i was feeling a little "wtf?" about.
i think the concept behind the idea for the ad is extremely rascist. They're running on a "let's show them Africans are just like us and don't deserve to have AIDS", which implies that all people first think, fuck it it's just Africa..
i think the concept behind the idea for the ad is extremely rascist. They're running on a "let's show them Africans are just like us and don't deserve to have AIDS", which implies that all people first think, fuck it it's just Africa..
There are a fair number of people who DO think that. They are the ad's intended audience. I don't see how that's racist....[/b]
what is truly sad is that this is one only a few ad's ive ever seen about HIV and AIDs. its not that you really have to raise awareness but also so much needs to be broken down before people will stop thinking its gonna happen to " the other guy".
to the OP, im not sure what i think, im not sure my opinion matters on this issue but in regards to people thinking AIDs affects only those in african countries, what ive seen more of is AIDs happens to those who deserve it. i know that sounds fucked up but ive seen AIDS made a moral issue instead of a health issue and i think that mroe than anything needs to be addressed.
since AIDS can be contracted through sex, it is instantly the persons fault who contracts it ( even if they get it another way they are tied to this dirty disease) its the same fucking way that no body feels sorry for the smoker who gets lung cancer. what we have is a true lack of human compasion.
what is truly sad is that this is one only a few ad's ive ever seen about HIV and AIDs. its not that you really have to raise awareness but also so much needs to be broken down before people will stop thinking its gonna happen to " the other guy".
to the OP, im not sure what i think, im not sure my opinion matters on this issue but in regards to people thinking AIDs affects only those in african countries, what ive seen more of is AIDs happens to those who deserve it. i know that sounds fucked up but ive seen AIDS made a moral issue instead of a health issue and i think that mroe than anything needs to be addressed.
since AIDS can be contracted through sex, it is instantly the persons fault who contracts it ( even if they get it another way they are tied to this dirty disease) its the same fucking way that no body feels sorry for the smoker who gets lung cancer. what we have is a true lack of human compasion.
Right on. I did hear on the news, though, they've developed some sort of medication that may be able to, at least to some extent, prevent people from getting HIV. They just started testing and stuff, but it looks promising.
I think the ads are disgusting. Yes, AIDS is an issue that needs attention, but goddamnit there are so many better ways to do it.
The ads are half assed, ignorant and offensive.
A beautiful white woman is used to humanize black people? Ok. The subtle message that just because Africa does have a bit higher rate of AIDS that it's solely Africans? The fact that her attire can't be attributed to any actual dress in Africa?
One of the people in an lj community said it best:
Quote:
waddafxup with her warpaint and necklace? cos all africans are still running around nekkid and throwing spears, dontchaknow.
you know what? I get it. I get what they're trying to do and I get why they're trying to do it. their audience isn't brown people (obviously). it's rich white mofos who can afford to fly over to africa snap a few photos, have a few babies and call it a philanthropic day.
It's patronizing and exploits a culture so that white people can pat themselves on the back the fact that they were charitable for a day. Celebrity charities aren't anything but publicity gigs, and any small amount of revenue miss paltrow posing as someone who actually gives a damn (or would even have a CLUE what people in Africa actually go through, nor would even care, she probably did this photoshoot, got her cheque, and went off to her multi million dollar mansion to call it a day) does not even make up for the exploitation and offensive subtleties.
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2678/1252/1600/paltrow.jpg
this picture im questioning
well to me it would be okay because she's not saying something like "look how cool I am, look how I can fit in with a culture that isn't mine."
She's raising money to directly aid this culture, where more people die of aids than anywhere else in the world.
so the necklae and the face painting arent appropriation???
Not in this case. She's not wearing it as a fashion statement, she's wearing it in an attempt to raise awareness of a very serious issue.
The only thing I really don't like about the ad is that all the attention is drawn to paltrow herself, and the point of the ad is fine print at the bottom. That shouldn't be blamed on her, but on the ad campaign itself. Stars don't really have a choice in the matter of things like the layout of the ad. She knew she was doing a service for the aids campaign, she wasn't just getting pictures taken with the cultural symbols for her head shots or something.
i guess what bothered me is that it says "i am african" when she is not at all
Yeah, but she doesn't really have control over that. She signed on to do ads raising aids awareness, and the subject of the shot doesn't usually have approval over it's use. I guess what they're trying to do here is promote a global relationship so people will stop saying the aids issues in africa don't matter because it's not like it affects us in any way.
i wouldnt say she had no control. at anytime they (a person wieth that much star power) can approve or not approve any ad that they are contibuting to, especially if its done for charity.
can you post the pic or link it somewhere else? it won't show up for me no matter what i try and it sounds interesting.
did you try the link under the original post?
ya :?
maybe this is one of those times where something works on a mac but not a pc?
http://copyranter.blogspot.com/2006/08/right-gwynnie-and-im-martian.html
that link worked, thanks erinn.
as for the ad, hmm. are they trying to reference the idea we all came from africa? i've heard that used before in awareness campaigns, and wouldn't consider that to be cultural appropriation, but more a way to get people to think/remember that we are more closely related than it seems.
but it also kind of looks stupid. would they make an ad saying "i am from canada" and show an igloo and dog sleds? (not that we actually have those in most parts, eh). or "i am from the united states" and show a white person with a cross around their neck with a badana with the stars and stripes on it? pulling out that one part of what africa might be about and putting on, then saying "i am african" while looking as stereotypically "african" as possible while being the whitest white girl around kind of makes me feel uneasy.
good post though.
I think the "shock value" was part of the point. Maybe what they're trying to say is that whoever we are, we're really all the same inside, and we should care what's happening. They could have done it a little less stereotypically, I guess, but they probably just read National Geographic or something and took cues from that without realizing that the continent of Africa probably has like a million different cultures.
I wonder what people who are African think of this ad? Wouldn't they (the target of the potential appropriation) be the final judges of whether this is apropriating or not? I know when I first saw the ad, I thought whoa, isnt this kind of offensive? I mean she's wearing native dress and then it says in huge letters "I am African" when she is oviously a white woman.. I'm curious as to whether they do or do not find this offensive.
i know that alot of africa is white people, but NOT WHITE PEOPLE LIKE GWENETH NEVER EVER FEELING THE EFFECTS OF UTTER POVERTY. the add would of been more effective to me seeing a young child of african decent
i found a link to it here http://socialitelife.com/images/2006/08/gpaltrow081006.php
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isnt it South Africa that has a sizeable white population.. and are they native or is it a result of whites from Europe settling there centuries ago?
I may be way off, but when I think about all the pictures of impoverished Africans in AIDS ravaged villages that I've seen they are all POC. Also, I've never seen African natives in tribal dress that are PWOC..
totally agreed sativa
i'm sorry, but are you being serious? or is this sarcasm? i honestly can't tell if you meant that for real or not.
keep in mind who is behind an ad campaign big enough to include an a list celebrity and is published in highly read areas. these people know what they are doing, who have lots of other people from various backgrounds working for them, who are all together part of the wonderfully fucked up world of marketing. they are no confused youngins who accidentally messed up on an art project for school or something.
and in all my years of being subscribed to the national geographic (a little known dork fact about yours truly, indeed), i have never seen the publishers of that awesome magazine post a picture of a person with colour and say "this is an african - note the beads, yo." and leave it at that. just to like, clarify.
that is, if you were serious. maybe you were being sarcastic - it would have made a lot more sense.
i just showed my friend this poster, and she's at the world AIDS conference in toronto for the next couple weeks, and she thinks that maybe there will be some discussion about it, I'll let you know if i hear anything.
Kaya, I was being serious, but I think you might have misunderstood anyway. I mean they have pictures in there of REAL people in Africa in REAL traditional dress, and the people who created the ad may have taken SOME ELEMENTS from those pictures or one particular African culture and tried to recreate them in the ad. Keep in mind, Africa isn't a country, it's a continent, and every country will have its own culture. I think they chose Gwyneth (as odd a choice as that is) because everybody knows who she is. If it were just some random white chick, nobody would care. The fact that she is so obviously not of that culture is the whole point. They're saying that at heart, we're all the same, and what is affecting them should be affecting us in some way as well.
well you just repeated a lot of what i said in my first post in this thread, but other than that, i still disagree that whoever made the ad thought "well gee, look at national geographic, people in africa seem to wear beads and face paint, lets use that in our ad!" thats the part of your post i was feeling a little "wtf?" about.
I was kind of using that as an example. They could have gotten those cues from anywhere.
i think the concept behind the idea for the ad is extremely rascist. They're running on a "let's show them Africans are just like us and don't deserve to have AIDS", which implies that all people first think, fuck it it's just Africa..
There are a fair number of people who DO think that. They are the ad's intended audience. I don't see how that's racist....[/b]
I'm saying that the ad is targeting a racist idea..
what is truly sad is that this is one only a few ad's ive ever seen about HIV and AIDs. its not that you really have to raise awareness but also so much needs to be broken down before people will stop thinking its gonna happen to " the other guy".
to the OP, im not sure what i think, im not sure my opinion matters on this issue but in regards to people thinking AIDs affects only those in african countries, what ive seen more of is AIDs happens to those who deserve it. i know that sounds fucked up but ive seen AIDS made a moral issue instead of a health issue and i think that mroe than anything needs to be addressed.
since AIDS can be contracted through sex, it is instantly the persons fault who contracts it ( even if they get it another way they are tied to this dirty disease) its the same fucking way that no body feels sorry for the smoker who gets lung cancer. what we have is a true lack of human compasion.
Right on. I did hear on the news, though, they've developed some sort of medication that may be able to, at least to some extent, prevent people from getting HIV. They just started testing and stuff, but it looks promising.
I think the ads are disgusting. Yes, AIDS is an issue that needs attention, but goddamnit there are so many better ways to do it.
The ads are half assed, ignorant and offensive.
A beautiful white woman is used to humanize black people? Ok. The subtle message that just because Africa does have a bit higher rate of AIDS that it's solely Africans? The fact that her attire can't be attributed to any actual dress in Africa?
One of the people in an lj community said it best:
It's patronizing and exploits a culture so that white people can pat themselves on the back the fact that they were charitable for a day. Celebrity charities aren't anything but publicity gigs, and any small amount of revenue miss paltrow posing as someone who actually gives a damn (or would even have a CLUE what people in Africa actually go through, nor would even care, she probably did this photoshoot, got her cheque, and went off to her multi million dollar mansion to call it a day) does not even make up for the exploitation and offensive subtleties.