Anyone find this McDonald's commercial offensive?

Bella the Ball 360

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I must say I find the McDonald's salad commercial where the black woman writes "weasel" on the white man's head as he sleeps very offensive. She then proceeds to tell us that she and the "weasel" are up for the same job. Later in the commercial, you see her sitting with the boss and the competition the man comes in and is made to look like a fool. I find this offensive on many levels. First, what would happen if the tables were turned. What if the man wrote on the woman's head? Tell me there would not be a huge hue and cry. Women's groups would flip not to mention the NAACP.
Second, it implies that the only way the black woman can get the job from the white man is to make him look like a fool. Can she not get the job on her ability? I mean jeeze she has a leg up on the poor guy just by being a minority in two categories.

As the mother of two middle class white males I find it offensive. As a woman (albeit not black) I find it offensive. I think it is demeaning all around. Anyone else's teeth set on edge when they watch it?
 
Interesting. I saw the same commercial. As I usually surf the web while watching tv, I thought I might have missed something important watching it.:earseek: Yet you described what I saw, & my reaction too.:earboy2:

ETA: I'm a minority female (though not black,) & I had the same reaction.
 
Wow, I haven't seen that commercial yet! I am not sure I understand the point of a commercial like that for McDonald's.
 

Gosh...I laughed when I saw it....but after reading your post I see your point. There's a definate double standard there so, in retrospect, I think I'd like it more if it were two white (or black) men. Kinda fun to think about though...once you start mixing things up (gender and race) it all changes. What if it were: Asian man and white woman, or white woman and a black man? It shouldn't matter, right? but still it does :o)

Cathryn~
 
You know what? I never even noticed the race or sex of either person until it was brought to my attention. I just thought it was a cute commercial. I took it at face value.

I must be really out of touch. You mean this really bothered people? I'm honestly surprised.
 
The commercial didn't bother me, I saw the humor in it and I guess I've stopped noticing all the "male VS women" and "white VS black" stuff out there.

Anyway....for those who haven't seen this commercial, the woman is standing next to the man, who is asleep at his desk. She says "He had the big buffet lunch and is sleeping now. *I* had a salad from McDonald's and I'm wide awake" (or something to this effect). Then she says something like "we're both up for the same promotion" and you see her write something on the sleeping man's forehead. A moment later the man walks into the boss's office and says "Sorry I'm late, I was on the phone with China", obviously trying to cover up the fact that he was really just sleeping at his desk. lol

So the point of the commercial is that eating a McDonald's salad at your desk is better than having a big buffet lunch out somewhere. lol
 
this is the problem with the world today....

You can't do anything thats PC, everything has a ratial slur tied to it,or somepeople think they do...or they'll find one...

God- its a commercial- basically saying "eat nasty carbs at a buffet for lunch and you'll crash soon after, or eat a healthy salad, and you'll be good to go"....nothing more nothing less....

I cant' believe anyone could or would find this offensive

Brandy
 
I must admit that the first time I saw it it did not bother me but then I started to think.... I totally agree and have said if it were two of the same sex and race people it would not bother me but I have e mailed McDonalds. I know it should not bother me but it does.
 
So Brandy I guess you are saying that no one would be offended if the roles were reversed in the commercial. Reverse them in your mind and tell me it is not bothersome OR that McDonalds would not be forced to take it off the air. In my opinion, if you cannot reverse the rolls without offending anyone then the commercial is not fair.
Furthermore, EVERYTHING in the world has become more pc with that being the case then this is an insensitive commercial.
There are lots of ways to sell low carbs...this is not one of them.
 
I think it's just a commercial and it's not that big of a deal. Yeah, it's trying to sell a salad. I think being PC has gone overboard.
 
I thought the commmercial was cute and humerous, imagine pulling something like that on a competitor for a job? It did not even occure to me, the color or race or whatever.. they are just people :rolleyes:
 
Bella the Ball 360 said:
So Brandy I guess you are saying that no one would be offended if the roles were reversed in the commercial. Reverse them in your mind and tell me it is not bothersome OR that McDonalds would not be forced to take it off the air. In my opinion, if you cannot reverse the rolls without offending anyone then the commercial is not fair.
Furthermore, EVERYTHING in the world has become more pc with that being the case then this is an insensitive commercial.
There are lots of ways to sell low carbs...this is not one of them.


I'm 100% positive I would not feel any different. I didnt even think for 1/2 a second about this commercial until this thread.

There are so many REAL problems in the world today- Making something out of nothing- to me is a waste of time...

Brandy
 
It seems to me like they happened to find this funny, sassy woman who happens to be black for the commercial. I doubt that they went out looking for a black woman to play it. It wouldn't make sense. Personally, I'm glad that everyone, no matter what race, gets to appear in ads as a professional. It's not like she's the cleaning lady who's trying to take his job away from him - THAT would be offensive. She's his peer trying to get an advantage. I think it's cute.

It is a trend, though that men are being betrayed as complete idiots in commercials these days. Most men I know are capable of paying attention to a commercial without having everything "dumbed down" and I don't know any men who are as clueless as tv execs must think they are. It's sad but it seems that white men are the last ones that it's okay to make fun of. Thank goodness for Tivo and fast-forwarding all those ads!
 
I almost hate to post my opinion since I havn'et seen the commercial, but I 'have' to!! I don't think I would've thought anything racial about it! Just a funny 'get the edge on competition' ploy... Some people (obviously) take offense to it, but I highly doubt that was the intention, or the motivation to play the commercial.. they obviously didn't see it that way, so it's hard for them as writers to imagine others would be offended
 
SeaSpray said:
The commercial didn't bother me, I saw the humor in it and I guess I've stopped noticing all the "male VS women" and "white VS black" stuff out there.

Anyway....for those who haven't seen this commercial, the woman is standing next to the man, who is asleep at his desk. She says "He had the big buffet lunch and is sleeping now. *I* had a salad from McDonald's and I'm wide awake" (or something to this effect). Then she says something like "we're both up for the same promotion" and you see her write something on the sleeping man's forehead. A moment later the man walks into the boss's office and says "Sorry I'm late, I was on the phone with China", obviously trying to cover up the fact that he was really just sleeping at his desk. lol

So the point of the commercial is that eating a McDonald's salad at your desk is better than having a big buffet lunch out somewhere. lol
Thanks for giving your version of this commercial. I must say it does sound much less racial/sexist than the version that the OP painted. Not trying to offend the OP, just glad I got more about the commercial than the race/sex issue involved. Honestly, after hearing the more in depth description of the commercial, I am sure I would have seen the humor too and not even have noticed the race or sex of the actors. But I don't normally get offended by those type of things. Now the Hardee's commercials on the other hand...boy, I hate those! They are just annoying!
 
inaminute said:
You know what? I never even noticed the race or sex of either person until it was brought to my attention. I just thought it was a cute commercial. I took it at face value.

I must be really out of touch. You mean this really bothered people? I'm honestly surprised.

I bet I would have felt like you. I'll need to see it before I judge it.
 
I'll be glad when we can all stop worrying so much about what's PC. If that ever happens that is.
 


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