What Didn't Sit Right About the Doritos Commercial?

I've already spoken at length about the controversial Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad but there was another ad that stuck with me and I just couldn't figure out why. It was one of the many Doritos commercials that were featured during the telecast and it was the one with the little kid who slaps a young man who was courting his mother.

Although I initially found some humor in this particular ad, I found myself thinking there was something deeper about the spot that didn't sit well with me. I couldn't figure it out until I read this post by Jam Donaldson. You can view the ad below (click here if the player doesn't show up) and read some poignant thoughts from Donaldson after the video.



From Donaldson:

"I know, I know, it's only a commercial; they are just meant to be funny. However, with the lack of strong black men on television, eternally single black Mothers, black young men seen as goofy sex-starved slackers and out-of-wedlock bad a** black children, somehow this spot just played in to every aspect of the community that silently haunts us. And then we are supposed to laugh.

All that was missing was the hoochie teenage neighbor, thug life aspiring rapper older brother or the sassy overweight no-nonsense, neck-rolling auntie. These black archetypes are getting so tired. I'm sooooo weary of the single-mom-playboy-man-bad-kid paradigm that seems to dominate our images on TV. And now its being used to sell Dorito's. I almost long for the days of the mean black dad and the coon. At least men were in control of their households. I mean, when a child can get in your face, slap you and you sit looking petrified, how are we to believe the black man is strong and in control of anything? (President Barack Obama, not withstanding)

But on the other hand, there's no real reason why a scenario that takes place every day in the homes of single parents everywhere can't be relayed with a bit of harmless, over-the-top humor. So maybe there's no harm, no foul. It could be me. I don't know. I just feel like it's time for a new breed of stock characters in our pantheon of media representations. Am I being a hypersensitive black person (HBP)? Am I tripping? Am I PMS'ing? I mean, I can't lie, I love me some Dorito's."

This ad demonstrates just one of the many images that are presented to us every day in the media that we may laugh at and not give it a second thought. It could simply be innocent fun or we could be contributing to the perpetuation of damaging stereotypes. Some may even wonder if, as a white man, I'm in any kind of position to even be commenting on this. And maybe they're right. But I do think it's something worth thinking about.

The Tim Tebow Ad: Was it Worth the Hype?

Chalk one up for pro-life advocates. The much talked about Super Bowl ad featuring Tim Tebow and his mother said nothing of abortion and was relatively tame. Unless, of course, you account for the nice hit that Timmy put on his mama. But more on that in second.

Had pro-choice organizations not made such a fuss about the commercial in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl it is likely that it would have gone relatively unnoticed. This is a good reminder that it's good to actually see something before we protest it. We Christians are notorious for boycotting things we know nothing about which naturally peaks others' curiosity and brings more attention to things we wanted others to ignore in the first place! Some even said that if they hadn't heard anything about the Tebow ad beforehand that they might have thought it was some kind of weird eHarmony ad while viewing it. You can view the ad below. Please click here if the player doesn't show up.



Because such a stink was made about a commercial that ended up being pretty unmemorable, it ended up bringing much more attention to the pro-life cause. To be fair, there was a sizable portion of those that objected to the ad because it was sponsored by Focus on the Family and not because of the content. That is understandable. There are many that view Focus as an organization that is more focused more on what goes on in other peoples' bedrooms than the family. In the end, the Tebow ad was not political and was family-focused.

However, there are some that looked for anything to find fault with the Tebow spot. The president of the National Organization for Woman (NOW), Terry O'Neill said this:

"I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it," she said. "That's what comes across to me even more strongly than the anti-abortion message. I myself am a survivor of domestic violence, and I don't find it charming. I think CBS should be ashamed of itself."

If Ms. O'Neill thinks that commercial glorified domestic violence then I really wonder if she is thinking clearly. What I'm ashamed of is that suctioning out a baby's skull while it is in its mother's womb is fine by O'Neill whereas an obviously light-hearted commercial bothers her. I wonder if she was equally troubled by the well-received Snickers commercial in which Betty White also gets tackled.

These types of comments are evidence that NOW knows that it is losing ground in the moral debate around abortion and it is desperate. This innocuous 30 second commercial generated a national discussion about abortion and the pro-life message was the one that won out. Although Focus on the Family couldn't have fully anticipated the attention this would receive, I'm sure they're happy that the protesters only increased the awareness of their message. Celebrate family. Celebrate life.