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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Racist? Arab/Americans Want Coca Cola Super Bowl Ad Pulled or Changed

Good Lord, people have been calling for V.W. to pull its Super Bowl ad because some found it racist, and now Arab/Americans are calling for the Coca Cola company to pull its  'Coke Chase 2013' ad, also scheduled for the Super Bowl, because they believe it too is racist. Why? Because it shows an Arab man walking his camels in the desert, along with some Mad Max type motorcyclists, a bus load of Vegas showgirls and a bunch of cowboys all headed for a huge bottle of coke in the middle of a hot desert.

The president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), Warren David, asked:

"Why is it that Arabs are always shown as either oil-rich sheiks, terrorists, or belly dancers?" 

Uh, why not?  Arabs don't have camels? There aren't oil-rich sheiks?  Or terrorists or belly dancers in the Middle East? His statement in and of itself is quite a put down, at least to belly dancers and oil-rich sheiks.

Perhaps they are taking umbrage with the fact that people can vote for which character should win the race except the Arab.

"The Coke commercial for the Super Ball is racist, portraying Arabs as backward and foolish Camel Jockeys, and they have no chance to win in the world," Imam Ali Siddiqui, president of the Muslim Institute for Interfaith Studies, said in an email.
and

"What message is Coke sending with this?" asked Abed Ayoub, ADC's director of legal and policy affairs. "By not including the Arab in the race, it is clear that the Arab is held to a different standard when compared to the other characters in the commercial," he said.

The way I see it, is the Arab is a calm observer watching the Westerners do whatever nastiness it takes to win the race. I'd be more upset at how they were portrayed than the Arab.

Ayoub said:

"I want to know why this happened and how can we fix this if possible before Sunday." 
Here's my advice: learn the meaning of creative license and get a life.


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