It’s time for Super Bowl 2013 next Sunday, and with Super Bowl there is practically as much talk about the Super Bowl advertisements as there is about the actual game throughout the nation. And, the talk has begun this year over an allegedly non-politically correct ad released by Volkswagen, according to NBC and a variety of other sources on Tuesday.
The Super Bowl 2013 ad released by Volkswagen is being criticized for being racist by having a white actor in the advertisement speaking with a Jamaican accent. One critic went as far as to proclaim that the ad “is like blackface with voices.”
In the ad, the white actor speaks very Jamaican-sounding and is one happy-as-all-heck guy because he owns a new Volkswagen. Throughout the ad, he is seen going to his office and trying to spread his good cheer to everyone else with the underlying message that buying a Volkswagen will make you happy as he is.
After the strongly negative reaction across the media on Tuesday morning when the ad went viral on YouTube, it will be interesting to see if Volkswagen uses it in their $8 million-time slot on Sunday or whether they will use a different ad. They reportedly have backups if needed.
The controversy begs the question: Are Americans too politically correct and too sensitive at the expense of a good-natured, funny ad? There are media claims that say Jamaicans who live in Jamaica have said that they are not offended by the ad, and the fact is that there are obviously many white people in America who really do speak with a Jamaican accent.
So far, this is the biggest controversy-laden ad released for the 2013 Super Bowl, but there are lots of ads yet to be seen.
Last year’s biggest controversy was the Clint Eastwood ad for an automaker in which he was accused of foreshadowing a second term for President Barack Obama.
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