The same thing applies to JcPenny and Target. JcPenny recently has been advertising to the kids of America with the assumption that every kid in America listens to hip-hop, "dances" (and I use that term loosely because it's more like on-beat-involuntary-full-body-spasms/ jumping around like they have a tarantula down their pants or their underwear is riding up), and dresses like they walked through their closet, let their clothes fall on them, and hoped to God that something matched. During the commercial some of the most irritating, wannabe-old-school-rap plays with such captivating lyrics like "You can deal with this, or you can deal with that. You can deal with...this or you can deal with that. You can deal with this, or you can deal with that. You can (mumble mumble mumble) 'cuz this is where it's at." Well guess what, it's not where it's at for me because that crap makes me want to not buy anything from you're store. You're condecending attitude about the way you think kids are is insulting. Not every kid is some brainwashed dolt who adopts everything that is thrown at them as their own way of life. The only reason kids these days act like that is because people like you send them the message that it's okay to act like a punk and dress like crap because the important thing is to express yourself which is total garbage. Learn some responsibility you little punks. Get a job! Not every kid is infatuated with rap and hip-hop and thinks that black-culture is the best way of life. There are other ways of life that people live by other than that. Some people prefer the sound of rock over hip-hop and rap and actually dress nicely and not like punks. Not all kids are puppets to your brand of pop culture. Ironically I'm not exaggerating on the "puppet part" because in most of these JcPenny ccommercials there is a giant, dumpy, ghetto-looking, bobble head, plastic guy who is playing with bobble-head figures of the kids much like voo-doo dolls. When he sets one bobbling, the kid begins to spaz/dance (can we just admit that dancing is retarded and pointless unless it's for DDR?) until he stops it. Then the kid returns to normal. There is no God, there is only the giant, crappy, stupid bobble-head and his brainless, soulless, puppets.
Target's new commercials for backpacks and clothes for back to school feature Sir Mix-alot of "I like big butts and I cannot lie" fame performing a re-written version of said "butt" song with classy lyrics like "I'm back at school and it's been a little while, I learn but I learn in style". Not only am I irritated by the fact that yet again companies feel like kids are obesessed with rap, but the fact that sir Mix-alot has dropped so low that he's ruining his own songs for a crappy commercial. Both parts are bad. Like JcPenny, these commercials emphasize having the hottest looks to become popular because that's the most important thing in life. Here's a newsflash for kids who are obsessed with popularity: (ahem) Nobody cares. That about covers it all really. Nobody cares how popular you were in high-school or how many friends you had or if you were voted most popular. After you graduate high-school you'll hardly ever hear from them again. I hear from my high-school Senior class maybe twice a year and even then the group gets smaller and smaller. I hear from my friends at college all the time. Your friends at college are more important anyways so quit worrying about popularity and worry about getting good grades so you can get into college. You don't want to be bagging my groceries for a living do you?
Listen up people, if you advertise go ahead and advertise but you don't have to do it by using cultural stereotypes. Not only is it annoying, but its insulting to think that you have to condescend to a specific group of people to get them to buy your product. The only thing these advertisers haven't done yet is have the people in the commercials refer to the products as "dope", "phat", "crunk" and "the shiznit" (yet). Nobody wants to be talked to or advertised to like their idiots. Some of the most effective commercials are the ones that appeal to everybody, not just your cultural sterotypes. What your doing is reverse discrimination. Rather than excluding one group you're excluding everybody else and in the long run it will hurt your business. Quit assuming that you know how kids behave, quit assuming that every ethnic group behaves according to your skewed stereotypes, and quit force feeding us somebody elses culture. People are capable of making their own decisions concerning a way of life without you trying to brainwash them. Try and come up with a creative commercial for once instead of resorting to this mind-numbing shlock. Maybe you could try selling your product instead of selling a way of life (like Abercrombie & Fitch advertising to homosexual men). Who knows? It might actually work. You'll never know unless you try.
