“Coloured is Better”

 

            An Italian laundry detergent commercial attempts to market its product by using the sexualization of a black male.  The detergent is specialized in washing darks and black clothing.  There is a female who is doing the laundry when a lanky, half naked Italian man walks into the room, assuming to be her partner, who seems to be initiating sexual behaviour.  When he walks over to her she looks disgusted and ends up shoving him in the washing machine and waiting for the cycle to finish while sitting on it, preventing him from coming out.  When the cycle is finally finished, instead of the same lanky Italian man coming out, a very handsome and buff black man slowly comes out of the dryer.  The female is obviously pleased about this change and the new man appearing seems to also be happy. 

             Though this commercial is in a way praising people with black or “coloured” skin by saying “coloured is better” and actually showing what is meant by these terms, it also objectifies the black male body.  There are all sorts of misconceptions about the body, specifically when it comes to race.  Both black males and females are continually sexualized.  Often times they are thought to be exotic, making people who do not identify racially as black drawn to them, but not usually in a permanent way.  Black females in advertisements are often portrayed in animal printed outfits and in environments that are associated with jungle or other themes of this nature.  These trends also reflect Goldberg ideas of primitive as an aspect of racism, a women in a jungle suggest that she is underdeveloped or in the “Third World” (Goldberg, 1993).  In this commercial, the black man is thought to be something new, strange and different.  Though the female is pleased with his arrival, this new man is likely just thought to be a onetime thing, a more sexually appealing partner for a short period of time.

            As stated previously, there are many misconceptions about the human body specifically when dealing with race.  Black males are thought to be well endowed when it comes to the sexual organs, often making them viewed to be sexual gods.  These views create an unfair stereotype which leads to the objectification of black males.  These stereotypes that revolve around size as well as ability to give pleasure make black males feel as though they have a certain standard they must uphold and live up to.  Not only is it problematic for those who identify as black, but it is also an issue for those who fall under different racial categories because they may begin to believe that they are not good enough and will not be able to fulfill a person’s sexual needs, purely based on race.

Work Cited:

Goldberg, D.T. (1993). Racist Culture: Philosophy and the Politics of Meaning (pp. 148-55), New York: Blackwell.