[Obadiah]

Avtually, I think the example provided by the poster is but a small example of the larger, ongoing trend in commercials and TV.

Ever see a prison scene in any movie? Inmates are 99.7% white, with maybe one black guy or one Hispanic guy. Hmmm...

Most TV shows and TV commercials have this same reinforced image:

Fat, slobby, and stupid white male versus

a) A hot, shapely, smarter and wiser wife who clearly is the leader although her too macho-dumb spouse doesn't get it; or,
b) Smart kids who easily outwit the dimwit and slobby dad.

The white guy is almost never ever shown in a positive light on television juxtaposed in the presence of women, children, or minorities. That is now almost an ironclad rule.

[reagan_fanatic]

Most TV shows and TV commercials have this same reinforced image: Fat, slobby, and stupid white male versus a) A hot, shapely, smarter and wiser wife who clearly is the leader although her too macho-dumb spouse doesn't get it; or, b) Smart kids who easily outwit the dimwit and slobby dad.

Exactly. What's funny is that I'll point out examples like this to my Wife or my Sisters and they will honestly tell me they never saw them that way.

I find it very instructive to pay attention to the commercials on at night and make note of how many portray white guys as uniformly fat, balding, clueless and stupid as opposed to the uniformly smart women who have it all together in spite of their knuckle dragging Neanderthal husbands.

Thanks for the crude stereotyping, Madison Avenue.

[CJ Wolf]

" b) Smart kids who easily outwit the dimwit and slobby dad."

Davy Crockett used to outwit his drunken father who chased him around with a hickory stick. He also could neither read nor write yet he made it to congress. Maybe it's not the 'white' person but the downtrodden and uneducated that we strive to lift up in our imagery... thoughout our history.