Mark D. Jerrell

A few weeks ago I had some friends over to watch the Charlotte Bobcats take on the Orlando Magic in the first round of the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs. The excitement for the Charlotte team making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history had everyone engaged in predictions on ways to make this team a perennial contender. Unfortunately, after the first half the hopes and dreams of all in attendance quickly faded as the Bobcats were completely dominated by the Magic. Interestingly enough during the commercial break -- prior to the start of the third quarter -- a controversy erupted over an ad that only a couple of the guys in attendance had previously viewed.

The ad featured a white suburban family rapping about their Toyota Sienna, which has become known as “The Swagger Wagon”. These suburban parents are gesturing and talking in such stereotypical ways that it appears extremely funny to see these suburbanites in a rap video/commercial. The commercial is obviously a parody intended to be funny and it is not the first time this has been attempted by advertisers trying to market their products and services. Once again, this effort has left many entertained and others offended, which will create controversy in a field that is always walking the fine line between responsibility and profits. It is also a good example of what many marketing departments must consider prior to launching a marketing campaign.

During the commercial there was side splitting laughter, coupled with shouts of “no they didn’t” and “that was crazy” (in this case, crazy means cool or something that was enjoyed), but the laughter eventually turned into a conversation that ranged from heated to philosophical in nature, when my friend Ray pointed out what he called the “hidden racism,”which everyone attempted to dismiss, thinking these are the rants of a paranoid person that sees racism in everything. You have to really know Ray to understand why everyone initially dismissed his thoughts. He has been known to go on tirades about hidden racism, which also included how the game of pool contains elements of racism. I know I have you wondering about this, so I will briefly explain. In short, the balls are laid on a green table which represents the earth and the object of the game is to use the “white” ball to knock all the balls of color off the table and the game is not over until the black ball is disposed of. Now that you understand Ray and his thought process, I will get back to the commercial.

The main thrust of the discussion surrounded if that commercial and others reinforced stereotypes that were detrimental to the African American community and what was the actual purpose of the commercial. I have to admit that the discussion was much more interesting than the game and became extremely heated with a myriad of opinions. Everyone wanted to give their view of the commercial and started to talk over each other with raised voices to get their points across. In the end, there was no consensus on the issue, but it did reinforce that controversy can result from the most innocent intentions.

In this case, I choose to believe that the humor comes from what the family is rapping about, which is a minivan. A minivan is not cool and to try to make it cool is hilarious to me. I choose to believe that advertisers must always examine the possible offensiveness of any campaign prior to launching. There will always be those individuals who are sensitive and others that need to be more sensitive. Unfortunately the perception of a person is their reality and that can lead to either positive or detrimental results. Either way, you will not catch me buying a minivan. On second thought, I’ll say at least not now.

How do you make a minivan cool?

Graphic Credit:
Sabrina Segal