Thursday 23 July 2009

Confused

We watch very little TV in Castle Bike, so I am not up with any of the current crop of TV ads. I even missed Masterchef, which I think I might have liked.

As I've been riding around, I've noticed ads like this one on billboards:


They've had me mightily confused. You've got someone that looks like Al Gore on the left, and maybe a Pakistani or Indian bloke on the right, or perhaps an Italian, and the text is "Which one of these men had a drug and alcohol addiction?"

And I'm riding along and thinking, "WTF?"

My thought processes initially went something like, "It can't be the Paki, because he's likely to be Muslim and not drink etc", and then I was looking for a hidden subtext and so on and wondering whether there was a trick to it.

Yes, apparently there is. I'm not supposed to be able to tell because the bloke on the left is not Al Gore, and the bloke on the right is Aboriginal. Could have fooled me.

Then again, that might be the point of the ads all along. I don't even pick the bloke on the right as being a blackfella. In fact, he is a dead ringer for a very nice Indian bloke I was working with last month.

Now that I think I understand these ads, let me just say that these ads shit me.

PS - posting has been lite as I've been hell busy at work.

3 comments:

Mehaul said...

I think it's stating the bleeding heart position of white man has no drug and alcohol problem, but aboriginal man has drug and alcohol problem because he is aboriginal. The take out supposedly reinforces the point that we have to feel sorry for the poor aboriginal who has no control over his actions. Despite the squillions thrown their way over 3 decades for very little, if any positive results.

I wonder who paid for it? Most likely you and me.

Pedro the Ignorant said...

Bit too subtle for me.

No doubt some sort of "kick whitey" message.

bh said...

Hey Boy, I think it may have an even more subtle message... look again at the fellow on the left. Ignore the slight chubbiness. That face is definitely Kevin Rudd!