Stereotypes behind cereal mascots?

[dodo-man-1]

Could it be true?
Yes. Yes it could.

Dig 'Em the Frog = Caricature of a Black Man
Toucan Sam = British Imperialist
The Trix Rabbit = Third World Beggar
Sonny the Cuckoo = Addict
Tony the Tiger = Steroid-Abuser

[PowerRangerYELLOW]

cracked is awesome

[stafffighter]

At 11/18/07 04:31 PM, dodo-man-1 wrote: Could it be true?
Yes. Yes it could.

Dig 'Em the Frog = Caricature of a Black Man

No, but sugar bear is

Toucan Sam = British Imperialist

He has a british accent, how else is he an imperialist?

The Trix Rabbit = Third World Beggar

That would explain how Americans are always tearing stuff out from his hands

Sonny the Cuckoo = Addict

That's a steriotype now?

Tony the Tiger = Steroid-Abuser

He has shrunken testes, an enlarged head and aggressive tendencies?

[Brick-top]

Erm......lol?

Is this a comedy thread or should I be concerned?

[dodo-man-1]

At 11/19/07 03:18 AM, Brick-top wrote: Erm......lol?

Is this a comedy thread or should I be concerned?

It's not comedy... I mean, I didn't make the site there, so I don't know.

[bluedemonspeedracer]

It's already a documented fact by scholors that Aunt Jamima was actually an icon to demean African American women as being incompetent members of society by depicting them as slave like figures that cook for their masters.

[bluedemonspeedracer]

Here are some interesting links on stereotypes behind food spokescharacters

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/vi ewContentItem.do?contentId=870701&conten tType=Article

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&
id=Z3_Bf0pd_7cC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=aunt+j emima&ots=BVqjFLhs3l&sig=tN2wWkriayq_Trm uybtU9Xnog4s

[dodo-man-1]

OK, for everyone who doesn't want to read the article:

Dig 'Em the Frog = Black Guy
Dig 'Em is a caricature of a black man; he wears the sideways baseball hat, his name is a crappy approximation of urban slang, and he talks like "an amphibian Barry White", as the article says. I'm surprised he doesn't go around giving out unwarranted high-fives and beating white kids at sports. Oh wait...

Toucan Sam = British Imperialist
Toucan Sam is like any turn-of-the-century imperialist; he speaks with a vague accent and lives in the jungle, searching for the one natural resource he wants. When the natives can't keep up with him, Sam unsympathetically tells them to
"Follow your nose!", not understanding that they may not have his same abilities.

The Trix Rabbit - Third World Beggar
The rabbit is could be a beggar, but I think he's a heroin addict just like Sonny the Cuckoo - note his skinny frame, pale complexion, and the fact that he'd do anything for a bowl of cereal.\

Sonny the Cuckoo - Addict
Sonny the Cocoa Puffs Cuckoo isn't exactly in the denial stage of his addiction - the more recent Cocoa Puffs ads center around Sonny trying to cure his addiction with normalized activity, but something always reminds him of his addiction and it goes on from there. In older ads, a bunch of kids (or in REALLY old ads, his grandfather) would torment him by trumpeting Cocoa Puffs' awesomeness.

Tony the Tiger - Steroid-Using Competition Addict
First, just use common sense. Look at 1950's Tony. He was basically a stick figure with a tiger face. 2007 Tony must weigh something like 400 pounds, and he's only getting better at sports despite officially being a senior citizen. Almost every ad for Frosted Flakes since the '80s plays out like this retarded example, and it only got worse with the "Earn Your Stripes campaign."

[LordZeebmork]

Political correctness is fun, kids.

[JerkClock]

Regardless of the seriousness of the website, I did enjoy this site:

If Trix are for kids, at least buy the guy a fucking sandwich! The amazing part about this advertising campaign is that children absolutely hate it. In 1976, there was a promotion wherein children had to vote whether or not Trix Rabbit should get to eat some of his own cereal. Ninety-nine percent of the kids voted to feed the poor bastard. Kids were apparently embarrassed he'd been reduced to begging. So Trix was fed a single bowl of his own cereal and then, against the wishes of 99 percent of their consumers, Generalissimo Mills returned to their policy of oppression.

Thank fuck someone else said this. I NEVER approved of those commercials, and I knew 0 others that did either. Ohj but I knew plenty who agreed with me that those commercials were cruel and stupid.

In fact, there was another after 1976 in which kids also said the trix rabbit deserved to eat. I know this for a fact because I was born in 83, long after 76. And I specifically remember being part of the overwhelming majority that voted he should get to eat. After seeing the commercial where he got to eat(finally) I thought that shit was over. But oh fuck no, they decided to go right the fuck back to the, "Trix are for kids" shit. I swear, they are as oblivious to their stupidity as those mythbusters guys are to how fallacious their science is.

[Euroc]

At 11/19/07 08:30 PM, JerkClock wrote: Regardless of the seriousness of the website, I did enjoy this site:

If Trix are for kids, at least buy the guy a fucking sandwich! The amazing part about this advertising campaign is that children absolutely hate it. In 1976, there was a promotion wherein children had to vote whether or not Trix Rabbit should get to eat some of his own cereal. Ninety-nine percent of the kids voted to feed the poor bastard. Kids were apparently embarrassed he'd been reduced to begging. So Trix was fed a single bowl of his own cereal and then, against the wishes of 99 percent of their consumers, Generalissimo Mills returned to their policy of oppression.

Thank fuck someone else said this. I NEVER approved of those commercials, and I knew 0 others that did either. Ohj but I knew plenty who agreed with me that those commercials were cruel and stupid.

In fact, there was another after 1976 in which kids also said the trix rabbit deserved to eat. I know this for a fact because I was born in 83, long after 76. And I specifically remember being part of the overwhelming majority that voted he should get to eat. After seeing the commercial where he got to eat(finally) I thought that shit was over. But oh fuck no, they decided to go right the fuck back to the, "Trix are for kids" shit. I swear, they are as oblivious to their stupidity as those mythbusters guys are to how fallacious their science is.

I remember that too. In fact, the rabbit legitimatly won a race where the prize was a bowl of trix cereal. It was some time in the late 80s if I remember right. It kind of pissed me off that they had to vote if he sould be allowed to get the prize he earned. He did get them. I remember that specifically.

Regardless of the stereotypes behind our beloved commercial products, most appear to be mild and need to be interpreted. Just like a good story, they can be interpreted in a variety of ways. A new stereotype that has surfaced recently is the inept middleaged white guy. We have all scene him on tv, confused what kind of pill to take for a headache, or having trouble cooking a simple meal. While I can cook a decent meal (far better than my wife) and I know to take an advil for a headache, these commercials still have some sort of enjoyable satire. It's sort of like the movie Song of the South. This was pulled from the U.S. because people believed it showed blacks in a negative light. I have watched it a couple times, and I thought Uncle Remus was a great character.

[fahrenheit]

the only thing i saw in dig em was his deep voice.
and from that i assumed the rest of the article was bullshit.

[JerkClock]

At 11/19/07 10:32 PM, Euroc wrote:
I remember that too. In fact, the rabbit legitimatly won a race where the prize was a bowl of trix cereal. It was some time in the late 80s if I remember right. It kind of pissed me off that they had to vote if he should be allowed to get the prize he earned. He did get them. I remember that specifically.

Well actually, it was a silver trophy cup full of Trix cereal. It had been done not long after they introduced the lime green flavor into the mix.

[bluedemonspeedracer]

At 11/19/07 06:51 PM, dodo-man-1 wrote: OK, for everyone who doesn't want to read the article:

Dig 'Em the Frog = Black Guy
Dig 'Em is a caricature of a black man; he wears the sideways baseball hat, his name is a crappy approximation of urban slang, and he talks like "an amphibian Barry White", as the article says. I'm surprised he doesn't go around giving out unwarranted high-fives and beating white kids at sports. Oh wait...

You don't have to be black to be a rapper and where a sideways baseball cap. Look at Eminem and vanilla ice. Plus its not like a black person can't help wearing a sideways baseball cap due to some genetic predisposition.

Toucan Sam = British Imperialist
Toucan Sam is like any turn-of-the-century imperialist; he speaks with a vague accent and lives in the jungle, searching for the one natural resource he wants. When the natives can't keep up with him, Sam unsympathetically tells them to
"Follow your nose!", not understanding that they may not have his same abilities.

Well nothing is more appealing then an "imperialist" jungle adventure. Otherwise why is Indiana Jones or Giligans Island so populer?

The Trix Rabbit - Third World Beggar
The rabbit is could be a beggar, but I think he's a heroin addict just like Sonny the Cuckoo - note his skinny frame, pale complexion, and the fact that he'd do anything for a bowl of cereal.\

He's not exactly a begger but more like a person that becomes a begger due to the widescale discrimination in employment resulting in him being a talking rabbat so all the jobs reject him and a human always takes his place.

Sonny the Cuckoo - Addict
Sonny the Cocoa Puffs Cuckoo isn't exactly in the denial stage of his addiction - the more recent Cocoa Puffs ads center around Sonny trying to cure his addiction with normalized activity, but something always reminds him of his addiction and it goes on from there. In older ads, a bunch of kids (or in REALLY old ads, his grandfather) would torment him by trumpeting Cocoa Puffs' awesomeness.

This is the only one that sounds plausibile, because it is not uncommon to find children with drug addictions. Therefore the advertisement agency my very well indeed be targeting children with drug problems in relapse since they will try anything to get a high. It's well documented that people with severe drug addictions unable to access psychoactives may resort to placebos in futile attempts to get high. If you ever work in a rehab, youll sometimes see relapsing coke addicts snort baking soda because they can't get coke so they will pretend to through a placebo. Therefore relapsing youth with drug addiction problems may likely attempt to get high from the suggestions of coco puffs causing someone to be cookoo.

Tony the Tiger - Steroid-Using Competition Addict
First, just use common sense. Look at 1950's Tony. He was basically a stick figure with a tiger face. 2007 Tony must weigh something like 400 pounds, and he's only getting better at sports despite officially being a senior citizen. Almost every ad for Frosted Flakes since the '80s plays out like this retarded example, and it only got worse with the "Earn Your Stripes campaign."

How come I never see him with roid rage and biting the necks off of little kiddies?

[Euroc]

At 11/20/07 12:27 AM, JerkClock wrote:
Well actually, it was a silver trophy cup full of Trix cereal. It had been done not long after they introduced the lime green flavor into the mix.

Gimme a break! It was about 20 years ago, right? But now that you mention it...

[Euroc]

At 11/19/07 10:45 PM, fahrenheit wrote: the only thing i saw in dig em was his deep voice.
and from that i assumed the rest of the article was bullshit.

Well, dont forget its from a parody website. They are just trying to be funny... like MAD magazine. Dont treat it like an article from the New York Times... its only a joke. The fact that it could be argued from a conspiracy standpoint is what makes it so funny!

[JerkClock]

At 11/20/07 10:56 PM, Euroc wrote:
Gimme a break! It was about 20 years ago, right? But now that you mention it...

Lol. I remeber also the guys campaigning for each site were in tuxedos and top hats. What the fuck were guys wearing tuxedos and top hats doing at a race anyway?

[Euroc]

At 11/20/07 11:12 PM, JerkClock wrote:

At 11/20/07 10:56 PM, Euroc wrote:
Gimme a break! It was about 20 years ago, right? But now that you mention it...

Lol. I remeber also the guys campaigning for each site were in tuxedos and top hats. What the fuck were guys wearing tuxedos and top hats doing at a race anyway?

I can kind of picture it now... I'll probably look it up on youtube while Im thinking about it! I wonder what itwould have said about our generation if we had voted to not give the rabbit his prize...

Maybe we were just part of some huge sociological experiment. I think I would be afraid of the generation who had such a disregard for principles such as good hard work has it's reward.

It seems that the American Dream is really lived in the idea that a rabbit, who is constantly told he can not do something or have something, works hard and reaches his goals and earns his prize. If we had voted not to give the rabbit the prize, we would have favored a more stalin-esque form of government in which papa-russia tells us what we can and can't do... and nothing you do will change the rules.

There's a thesis for you... the most important vote in the history of the united states occured by a bunch of eight year olds and most adults never even noticed! And you though you just wanted the rabbit to win once! Ha!