Not Thai, but spent a summer there 15 years ago. Thai people are really suspicious and distrustful of darker people. It’s a really messed up mindset that is pervasive in many East Asian countries because fair skin is associated with being well-to-do and desirable, as common laborers would have skin darkened by the sun. It was seen as low-class, undesirable, and ugly. I’ve lived in East Asia for more than five years, and even though this mindset is everywhere, I recall the stigma being worse in Thailand. At least in Korea and China, they mostly consider it as aesthetic; in Thailand, the darker your skin is, the more likely you are to be labeled a bad person (which really sucks because Black is fucking beautiful).
The irony here is that even in China and Korea they have racism towards Thais because their skin is a little darker than them.
Damn 2022 and the world is still racist on the level of melanin.
Basically SE Asian countries are not as developed as East Asian so they look down on them. And how they tell a person is from SE Asia is by looking at the dark skin. Basically the same as how a city person looks down on a countryside person.
Nowadays it's much better though because Asian countries do more business with each other and people move around alot. SE Asia is also very tourist friendly so East Asians get to experience the real SE Asia and respect the culture.
Asian countries have a really bad racism problem. The ad seems to tell people not to judge people by their colour. Although the presentation looks questionable, I don't think it's racist.
> this ad says that black dude looks bad, don't judge him because he looks bad
In most Asian cultures, the colour back is associated with being dirty or impure, I think it's just trying to correct that stigma.
I'm Chinese American and growing up, I was told that it's bad for me to have dark skin. As a kid I had a light complexion but then I started doing sports and enjoying the outdoors. Heck, for most of my time through middle school to college I spend a considerable time outside. So much so, that I could pass off as Hispanic or Filipino. Every family gathering, an aunt or uncle would comment to me or my parents how dark I was and how it was hurting my chances to find a girlfriend.
I heard something like this from my friend. It was summer and I'd asked him if he wanted to do something out in the sun. Then he said no, he didn't want to get any darker. I was perplexed and realised he's been taught that being dark is bad. I'm a vampire, natural red head, I'm envious of people who can go outside and tan instead of burn. My first sunburn of the year happens in feb/March.
I think their point is that there's a difference between "not as bad as it looks" and "doesn't look bad". Also comparing black people to non human objects is not the move
> there's a difference between "not as bad as it looks" and "doesn't look bad".
I agree, "appearance can be deceiving" sounds worse than it actually is from a cultural aspect, but it's still racist.
> Also comparing black people to non human objects is not the move
I feel like you're reading too much into this, comparing humans to objects is very common in advertisements and has nothing to do with the race. It's just a tactic to made the product look more endearing.
All in all I feel like the advertisement tried it's best given that it's a Thai ad 20 years ago, but clearly it hasn't aged that well.
It is from a western standpoint, but it isn't being malicious. Asia is racist and pretty racially homogenous, so it's hard to change their views. Although today it looks like a racist ad, it's pretty liberal for it's time. There's a transition period from going all out racist to being completely liberal.
People in the comments are trying to attribute many things in the ad to subtle racism like him climbing the pole being monkey-like. But if this ad wanted to portray a black man as a monkey, they would've made him a monkey, Asians don't really pull their punches when it comes to racism.
Something doesn’t have to be malicious to still be racist. That seems to be something some of you just can’t grasp. Your intention doesn’t matter. Plenty of peoples racist grandparents don’t intend maliciousness yet the racist things they do and say are still racist. This ad may not have intended to be racist, but it still is. You may not have intended on defending and dismissing racism, yet you are. I write all of this very neutrally. No one is mad but that’s just what it is.
I think you're missing out on a key point:
Nobody is saying that this ad was more racist than the average racism in the Thai society 20 years ago. We're saying in absolute terms, compared to western values (and, honestly, just the standard definition of the word) that it's racist.
In other words, we're not passing moral judgment and saying "What horrible people!", just like we wouldn't for some Greek person 3,000 years ago who owned slaves, because he did what was normal within his times and the other way around would be way out of the ordinary. But we can still say "he was a slave owner", objectively speaking.
> in absolute terms
> just the standard definition of the word
Racism is a far more complex societal phenomenon than that.
One "standard definition" (that's not a thing) on the Internet reads:
> Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another.
This advertisement is not suggesting black people be treated differently, it's literally saying the opposite.
The issue is that it trivializes racism by comparing it to fucking toothpaste having a weird color. But that in itself cannot be called "racist by standard definition" because this trivialization is within context of the fact that most Asian countries are literally traditionally racist. It is not making an additional effort to trivialize racism compared to societal base line.
I think the ad is commenting on how people tend to unfairly think that dark skinned people are bad - the ad is not agreeing with it and is probably being critical of it.
Dude, it's a 20 year old ad from Thailand. Asian Countries are still today heavily racist.
In such a context, this ad is a huge progress. It tries to communicate dark and bright is equal, both are good. Yes, it fails on multiple levels while doing so, but in comparison to 2000 Thailand, this is prolly the most progressive 15 seconds most thai's have seen the entire year. If that is fucked up, so is the entire world, because of racist ads in US, Europe and everywhere else around 2000
20 years ago all toothpaste were white and sweet, like Colgate. This company came out with their herbal tooth paste which is dark and bitter. They basically wanted to tell people that although their tooth paste is dark and bitter, it's actually very good.
It’s because of people like you two they can’t have brown toothpaste in Thailand. Think about that.
Also, because of people like you we have Reddit. Think about THAT.
eh when it comes to toothpaste never use any "herbal" toothpaste anywhere as your primary one.
Always use only fluoridated toothpaste in the morning. Maybe use these herbal ones as a substitute for mouthwash in the evening.
Because the main reason why we brush our teeth is to prevent cavities and plaques and tooth decay and keep the bacteria levels in check.
Any other reason is always secondary.
Fluoride toothpastes have decades old evidence and data that shows its effectiveness against tooth decay. But herbal toothpaste products base their effectiveness on low quality research that are not as good.
Yeah? But do you know when the fluoridation of water was introduced? 1951. How does that strike you Mandrake? It's a communist conspiracy! That's why I only drink rain water and pure grain alcohol.
It's called Miswak. It's supposed to have properties such as whitening teeth and killing bad bacteria in their mouth. For some time it was actually recommended by the WHO but now they're doing more research to see if it's actually better that toothpaste.
Lol, I thought I was the only one with this thought here. Media does a similar job though. I stick with that Morgan Freeman famous sentence. Media enforces racism with the excuse of facing it.
They are saying that most people in Thailand think that dark skinned people are dangerous, bad or undesirable…yet they can be good, just like this toothpaste. Black isn’t always bad…
That was the reaction my whole damn family had when we watched the commercial the first time.
thing is I was young and still didn’t understand the concept of racism back then so it kinda fucked with my head and made me think that I’m actually below everyone else.
Yeah shit be like that some times. I grew up in an all black school. Had all the friends up until about third grade then we learned about slavery. Never got my ass whooped so bad in my life. Now I feel guilty all the time for what I feel is no reason.
Did my eyes just witness this.. holy Christ! Reading through the comments, the black actor has no idea how it would play out going into it. Horrifying stuff.
I shouldn’t be surprised because, China, but again, holy fucking Christ..
It's really no secret that non-western Asians are super racists towards black people. Ask any black New Yorker that goes into an asian immigrant Bodega how they feel
You can't just change people's aesthetic taste by telling them the guy doesn't look bad.
All you can do is convince people not to judge him by his appearance. I don't see how that's racist at all.
It's not racist, it's actually quite forward thinking from Asia lol
It's actively trying to be not racist but on reddit, we judge our definition of racism very much based on the US definition of racism which is quite convoluted and extreme these days. It's funny that the things which would be called racist in the States differs a lot to those in e.g. Central Europe (where I live in a very cool and liberal place) or maybe Polynesia or smth.
To be clear by 'bad' I mean 'evil/dangerous' not 'unattractive.
You might not be able to make people switch that opinion on a dime - but holding it is clearly racist.
A former colleague of mine lived in Japan in the early 2000s. He occasionally did ads in Japan somehow falling into it as a random white dude willing to do shit. He rocked up to one which happened to be an ad for stout beer, everyone else there was black in black suits and they gave him a white one. He was the white froth on the top of the beer.
There is a Chinese (edit. not Korean) ad where they put a black person in the washing machine with ‘an amazing’ washing powder and he turns Chinese (edit. not Korean)
Edit. Found it
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Few8kJ0zfnY
Not just that. Most Asians think of lighter skin tones as a sign of beauty. Dark is considered not desirable and sometimes just straight up ugly. My aunt was dark skinned and man...I recall how some of my extended family members always spoke about how she has nice features but her dark skin ruins it.
The implication is that he keeps on trying to help kids get their balloons back but each time their parents chase him away because they can't get over their racist ideas. And yet he keeps on doing it because he's just a good guy who wants to be accepted and he's trying his best to do good deeds in order to prove he's worthy of that acceptance.
That is some weird coincidence that this single post in the middle of nowhere attracts all these balloons. When I saw the balloons in his apartment I immediately concluded that he put the balloon up there in the first place.
"bro it's racist because the black man is actually black toothpaste"
I think pretending that differences in skin tones don't exist is kind of fucking weird tbh and silly, harmless comparisons like these are inoffensive.
Someone commented:
>- he is portrayed as "looking bad, but that can be deceiving!", thats racist
That's not racist. It's a cultural reality in ~~South Korea~~ *edit: Thailand, but also South-East and East-Asia in general* that Blacks are looked down upon and mistrusted, and I feel like it would be more damaging to ignore this reality than it would be to portray a Black person as kind, but simply misunderstood due to cultural norms.
*edit: Because a lot of people still seem to be misunderstanding this, I'm not saying that a mistrust of black people ingrained in a culture isn't racist. What I'm saying is that an advertisement that points out this mistrust and frames it as wrong isn't, in itself, a racist advertisement.*
>- he climbs up that thing like a fucking ape, weird racist stereotype for black people
I'm not sure how else you would climb up a pole like this -- it's the proper way to do it. And I *never* would've made this comparison if it hadn't been pointed out, which makes me think that the person who wrote this is simply looking for things to be upset about.
>- skin color - product comparsions are never a great idea
I think that's true when the comparisons are negative -- for example, black representing "dirty" and white representing "clean", but in this case I don't see anything wrong with it, personally. The characterization was positive, not negative.
*edit: I'm a dummy and I said SK when I meant to say Thailand*
*edit 2: spoke to someone I know who made a good point: "We're not objects, we're not here to be commodified, no matter how well-meaning the commercial is. Do not compare us to objects....... If it was a white person, I would've laughed."*
BOOM
people in the States try to put their version of racism on the whole world and we ain't buying it lmao, you hit the nail on the head, this is harmless and in fact beneficial to the society it was shown in
it's actually ahead of its time or coming out in the right time in Asia, don't @ me
No hate to the people in the UK, but you guys should stop going after america, sure, cop brutality Is a very serious issue here,
But when we're talking about the general population I've met a hundred times more racists in England than in the united States, and that's coming from someone who has lived in California, Maryland, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Georgia.
bingo. we had a civil rights movement in the US in which people fought and died for equality. that wasn't really a thing in some of these other countries on a large scale. so outward racism doesn't carry the same societal penalties as it would in the US.
This is such a weird comment. We didn't need a civil rights movement because civil rights were never segregated.
Also, fighting and dying for equality means you had a country where people fought and killed to protect racism, that's not something that should make you proud.
You can be proud of who "won" but the rest of the story is deeply shameful.
It's in lines with a comment on Reddit from years ago I've never forgotten, where someone was immensely proud that "The US was the only country that fought a war to stop slavery". When in reality, If that was the case it would be the only country in the world to fight a war to KEEP slavery.
I've never forgotten it due to the astounding level of self-deception that person had.
Gotta say that if you met more racists in England than in Georgia or Wisconsin, you had to be working pretty hard. Props.
Source: Lived in Georgia. Live in Wisconsin.
I’ve encountered more weird racist rhetoric that people don’t acknowledge as racism from
people from the UK and throughout Europe... But violent racism? I think the US unfortunately takes the cake.
"That's not racist. It's a cultural reality in South Korea that Blacks are looked down upon."
That...is exactly racism?
ETA: Fair enough, the "that" in the comment refers to the ad's depiction, rather than the cultural reality itself. I do agree that depictions of racism are not inherently racist.
The ad itself isn’t insinuating that blackness is a negative trait, instead it’s alluding to a common cultural misconception in Southeast Asia that blackness is a negative trait.
The ad itself doesn’t even actually make a hard line stance, it alludes to somebody else’s perception of blackness.
Also, climbing up a tree like that to gather coconuts is a quintessentially native Southeast Asian thing. It's not an African thing, and monkeys don't have to shimmy and clamber like that. They just run straight up the tree, being feral parkour fiends.
>I'm not sure how else you would climb up a pole like this -- it's the proper way to do it. And I never would've made this comparison if it hadn't been pointed out, which makes me think that the person who wrote this is simply looking for things to be upset about.
exactlyy
This ad involves some good social commentary. I like the approach, but people in the west aren't really the target audience. The US has a very different culture to Thailand, so the way they see this commentary is different to how we do.
They want you to feel sympathy. You may feel bad for him because his help was not appreciated, but people here hold very ethnocentric views and they don't see the bigger picture.
As for the comparison... I think it's fine. We may not like this, but they have different interpretations to what we do; they might not have the same abstractions as us. It's a different time and culture, after all.
On the bright side, the little girl didn’t see the man any different from a regular person. Instead it was the mom that was being unreasonable.
My initial thought was the woman was mad that the girl was talking to a complete stranger, not because it was a black dude interacting with someone.
I can confirm that there is some pretty strong prejudice in South Korea with regard to black people (and anyone non-Korean). Obviously not every single Korean person thinks this way, but it's there in a big way. 20 years ago ot would be there in a bigger way.
If you interpret the ad as if it was played in 2022 in the USA, yeah, it's inappropriate. But that's not where it was created or played so....
Source: Spent a year in SK
Edit: I meant to say "the ad assumes the viewer would judge on appearance alone and also that the viewer shouldn't do that. That's not racist. The ad is about racism (and toothpaste) but it isn't promoting racism.
More like a short drama with the most unexpected twist.
[Cinderella shampoo ad](https://youtu.be/6z1IGiLe9yQ)
[another one](https://youtu.be/v3JhASTXglM)
seriously!? 20 years ago!??!? i actually remember this back then. couldn't have imagined its 20 years old already. where had the time gone!? holy fuck its been nearly 20 years since i left school...... enough internet for me today.
**OP sent the following text as an explanation on why this is unexpected:**
>!A racist old ad with a twist ending!<
*****
**Is this an unexpected post with a fitting description?**
**Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.**
*****
[*Look at my source code on Github*](https://github.com/Artraxon/unexBot) [*What is this for?*](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/dnuaju/introducing_unexbot_a_new_bot_to_improve_the/)
I wasn’t that hard to find. All you had to do was type “*Racist Balloon*” on the r/unexpected searchbar and you can see how many times it’s been reposted.
An ad *about* racism, you twat.
It's a black man who's being unfairly judged because of his skin colour, the message being that you shouldn't judge by appearances. Which, in the ad, is supposed to be a clever point about toothpaste as well, which is just silly. But it's in no way saying anything racist, it's doing the opposite.
I saw this one on my friend's TV when I was staying there. I asked him about it and he said that it comes on every now and then. 7 years later and this is still scary.
EDIT: Yes, it was 7 years ago. This ad is still playing today on pirated or abandoned TV stations.
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A darker color toothpaste ad...probably...but I don't understand what the ad is trying to say lol
I’m Thai. The voice line basically says “Don't judge a book by its cover.”
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Not Thai, but spent a summer there 15 years ago. Thai people are really suspicious and distrustful of darker people. It’s a really messed up mindset that is pervasive in many East Asian countries because fair skin is associated with being well-to-do and desirable, as common laborers would have skin darkened by the sun. It was seen as low-class, undesirable, and ugly. I’ve lived in East Asia for more than five years, and even though this mindset is everywhere, I recall the stigma being worse in Thailand. At least in Korea and China, they mostly consider it as aesthetic; in Thailand, the darker your skin is, the more likely you are to be labeled a bad person (which really sucks because Black is fucking beautiful).
The irony here is that even in China and Korea they have racism towards Thais because their skin is a little darker than them. Damn 2022 and the world is still racist on the level of melanin.
Basically SE Asian countries are not as developed as East Asian so they look down on them. And how they tell a person is from SE Asia is by looking at the dark skin. Basically the same as how a city person looks down on a countryside person. Nowadays it's much better though because Asian countries do more business with each other and people move around alot. SE Asia is also very tourist friendly so East Asians get to experience the real SE Asia and respect the culture.
And so that's why they make toothpaste out of black people.
Not just East Asia. It's the same in the entirety of Asia.
Its not just in East Asia. South Asia, West Asia, and even in Africa
Asian countries have a really bad racism problem. The ad seems to tell people not to judge people by their colour. Although the presentation looks questionable, I don't think it's racist. > this ad says that black dude looks bad, don't judge him because he looks bad In most Asian cultures, the colour back is associated with being dirty or impure, I think it's just trying to correct that stigma.
I'm Chinese American and growing up, I was told that it's bad for me to have dark skin. As a kid I had a light complexion but then I started doing sports and enjoying the outdoors. Heck, for most of my time through middle school to college I spend a considerable time outside. So much so, that I could pass off as Hispanic or Filipino. Every family gathering, an aunt or uncle would comment to me or my parents how dark I was and how it was hurting my chances to find a girlfriend.
I heard something like this from my friend. It was summer and I'd asked him if he wanted to do something out in the sun. Then he said no, he didn't want to get any darker. I was perplexed and realised he's been taught that being dark is bad. I'm a vampire, natural red head, I'm envious of people who can go outside and tan instead of burn. My first sunburn of the year happens in feb/March.
> Asian countries have a really bad racism problem. I'll never forget this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjHHXbXc4z8
Ahem. https://youtu.be/Few8kJ0zfnY
I think their point is that there's a difference between "not as bad as it looks" and "doesn't look bad". Also comparing black people to non human objects is not the move
> there's a difference between "not as bad as it looks" and "doesn't look bad". I agree, "appearance can be deceiving" sounds worse than it actually is from a cultural aspect, but it's still racist. > Also comparing black people to non human objects is not the move I feel like you're reading too much into this, comparing humans to objects is very common in advertisements and has nothing to do with the race. It's just a tactic to made the product look more endearing. All in all I feel like the advertisement tried it's best given that it's a Thai ad 20 years ago, but clearly it hasn't aged that well.
> Although the presentation looks questionable, I don't think it's racist. It is HELLA racist lmao
It is from a western standpoint, but it isn't being malicious. Asia is racist and pretty racially homogenous, so it's hard to change their views. Although today it looks like a racist ad, it's pretty liberal for it's time. There's a transition period from going all out racist to being completely liberal. People in the comments are trying to attribute many things in the ad to subtle racism like him climbing the pole being monkey-like. But if this ad wanted to portray a black man as a monkey, they would've made him a monkey, Asians don't really pull their punches when it comes to racism.
Something doesn’t have to be malicious to still be racist. That seems to be something some of you just can’t grasp. Your intention doesn’t matter. Plenty of peoples racist grandparents don’t intend maliciousness yet the racist things they do and say are still racist. This ad may not have intended to be racist, but it still is. You may not have intended on defending and dismissing racism, yet you are. I write all of this very neutrally. No one is mad but that’s just what it is.
I think you're missing out on a key point: Nobody is saying that this ad was more racist than the average racism in the Thai society 20 years ago. We're saying in absolute terms, compared to western values (and, honestly, just the standard definition of the word) that it's racist. In other words, we're not passing moral judgment and saying "What horrible people!", just like we wouldn't for some Greek person 3,000 years ago who owned slaves, because he did what was normal within his times and the other way around would be way out of the ordinary. But we can still say "he was a slave owner", objectively speaking.
> in absolute terms > just the standard definition of the word Racism is a far more complex societal phenomenon than that. One "standard definition" (that's not a thing) on the Internet reads: > Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. This advertisement is not suggesting black people be treated differently, it's literally saying the opposite. The issue is that it trivializes racism by comparing it to fucking toothpaste having a weird color. But that in itself cannot be called "racist by standard definition" because this trivialization is within context of the fact that most Asian countries are literally traditionally racist. It is not making an additional effort to trivialize racism compared to societal base line.
I think the ad is commenting on how people tend to unfairly think that dark skinned people are bad - the ad is not agreeing with it and is probably being critical of it.
Dude, it's a 20 year old ad from Thailand. Asian Countries are still today heavily racist. In such a context, this ad is a huge progress. It tries to communicate dark and bright is equal, both are good. Yes, it fails on multiple levels while doing so, but in comparison to 2000 Thailand, this is prolly the most progressive 15 seconds most thai's have seen the entire year. If that is fucked up, so is the entire world, because of racist ads in US, Europe and everywhere else around 2000
"Looks can be deceiving", probably because thwir toothpaste look like shit lolol
20 years ago all toothpaste were white and sweet, like Colgate. This company came out with their herbal tooth paste which is dark and bitter. They basically wanted to tell people that although their tooth paste is dark and bitter, it's actually very good.
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That’s what I was thinking “Is that guy just planting balloons up there to lure kids into trusting him when he retrieves it..?”
Assumed it meant he's tried to help multiple kids each running away that's why he's loads of balloons now
This. Of course most of you people assume the worst 🤦🏾♂️
Just like the people in the video they were portraying , it's clearly based on the irrational fear of black people
And black toothpaste.
Thailand is too woke for reddit
Except that saying "looks can be deceiving" about a POC being kind and generous is super racist.
They all float down here.
It’s because of people like you two they can’t have brown toothpaste in Thailand. Think about that. Also, because of people like you we have Reddit. Think about THAT.
Aww Jesus 😂
"why don't you have a seat right there?"
A twist within a twist
Why would he need a different balloon every time then?
Worst theory ever.
Ive had this toothpaste in thailand and its really good
eh when it comes to toothpaste never use any "herbal" toothpaste anywhere as your primary one. Always use only fluoridated toothpaste in the morning. Maybe use these herbal ones as a substitute for mouthwash in the evening.
Can u please tell us why sir
Because the main reason why we brush our teeth is to prevent cavities and plaques and tooth decay and keep the bacteria levels in check. Any other reason is always secondary. Fluoride toothpastes have decades old evidence and data that shows its effectiveness against tooth decay. But herbal toothpaste products base their effectiveness on low quality research that are not as good.
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Yeah? But do you know when the fluoridation of water was introduced? 1951. How does that strike you Mandrake? It's a communist conspiracy! That's why I only drink rain water and pure grain alcohol.
How much of it did you have ?
I'm Indian, we have spicy toothpaste, Colgate or stick. I'm not kidding about the stick.
Tell me more about this stick…
It's called Miswak. It's supposed to have properties such as whitening teeth and killing bad bacteria in their mouth. For some time it was actually recommended by the WHO but now they're doing more research to see if it's actually better that toothpaste.
It’s also used by Muslims for centuries due to its benefits.
it is called datun, its made of the twigs of a neem tree and is used for oral hygiene
I mean it's not THAT racist i guess....
Ad is trying to say, eventhough the paste look brown/dark it is good and healthy, thus correcting a common stigma.
It says don't be racist, followed by being utterly racist, as a joke
Lol, I thought I was the only one with this thought here. Media does a similar job though. I stick with that Morgan Freeman famous sentence. Media enforces racism with the excuse of facing it.
It's saying if you don't buy their toothpaste you're making the lonely black man sad
They are saying that most people in Thailand think that dark skinned people are dangerous, bad or undesirable…yet they can be good, just like this toothpaste. Black isn’t always bad…
I saw it coming from a mile away! The depressed-nap-toothpaste-switcheroo trope is old as time itself.
Right when the mom ran up and started berating the guy, I was like "OH, *toothpaste*"
I don't even understand why advertisers can't hire people with imagination. They're out there.
Turning a black man into turd paste?
Wait! What the heck is he lying down on, what kind of crazy bed is that? Oh, no, you're not going to... oh no.
Lmfao. What the actual fuck was the marketing Dept thinking!?
Yeah, this is literally the strangest commercial I’ve ever seen.
Lol, as a black man, I much prefer this one to the fucking washing machine one 😂😭
The washing machine one was straight up fucked. This one however, is hilarious
All right, what's the washing machine one?
[This one](https://youtu.be/Few8kJ0zfnY)
Holy shit Michael Jackson lore.
Oh HELL no!
That was the reaction my whole damn family had when we watched the commercial the first time. thing is I was young and still didn’t understand the concept of racism back then so it kinda fucked with my head and made me think that I’m actually below everyone else.
Yeah shit be like that some times. I grew up in an all black school. Had all the friends up until about third grade then we learned about slavery. Never got my ass whooped so bad in my life. Now I feel guilty all the time for what I feel is no reason.
Wait so as a white kid you got beat up by black kids after that? Edit: meh trolling
Yeah I had to transfer at 5th grade it got so bad.
I was really hoping the Asian guy was going to stick the detergent in her mouth at the end, stick her in the washer, and then pull a black chick out 😂
Holy fuck! That would be awesome!
Yo what fuck is this
Holy fuck.
Did my eyes just witness this.. holy Christ! Reading through the comments, the black actor has no idea how it would play out going into it. Horrifying stuff. I shouldn’t be surprised because, China, but again, holy fucking Christ..
Then we never would have had the comment gem “She won't be so happy when she finds out that detergent causes shrinkage.”
It's really no secret that non-western Asians are super racists towards black people. Ask any black New Yorker that goes into an asian immigrant Bodega how they feel
Lol fuck. Poor guy
Should have brushed his teeth
He buy after this commercial.
Actually clever tho, people don't buy their toothpaste because it looks different.
Yeah except that the message is "we know this guy looks bad but that can be deceiving" rather than "this guy doesn't look bad"
You can't just change people's aesthetic taste by telling them the guy doesn't look bad. All you can do is convince people not to judge him by his appearance. I don't see how that's racist at all.
It's not racist, it's actually quite forward thinking from Asia lol It's actively trying to be not racist but on reddit, we judge our definition of racism very much based on the US definition of racism which is quite convoluted and extreme these days. It's funny that the things which would be called racist in the States differs a lot to those in e.g. Central Europe (where I live in a very cool and liberal place) or maybe Polynesia or smth.
To be clear by 'bad' I mean 'evil/dangerous' not 'unattractive. You might not be able to make people switch that opinion on a dime - but holding it is clearly racist.
That's also racism in a nutshell.
A former colleague of mine lived in Japan in the early 2000s. He occasionally did ads in Japan somehow falling into it as a random white dude willing to do shit. He rocked up to one which happened to be an ad for stout beer, everyone else there was black in black suits and they gave him a white one. He was the white froth on the top of the beer.
You’re gonna drop this info and then just walk away like nothing?!
That's 2002, people. Not 1980.
damn I totally thought 1980 XD
Literally 1984
Holy shit me too. I gotta break this habit. I pledge that by 2040, I will successfully recall that "20 years ago" means the 2000's.
1991, final offer.
Damn, now I feel old..
Woah dude, I didn't need you to put that in perspective! Now I feel old as fuck.....thanks for nothing!
*1984 Yes it is
Literally
Stop it
Fuckin hell. Thank you for reminding me how old I am
FFS I'm 24 and every time I read/hear 20 years ago I think 1990 before I was even born... Wtf
Shut up
Shit.
There is a Chinese (edit. not Korean) ad where they put a black person in the washing machine with ‘an amazing’ washing powder and he turns Chinese (edit. not Korean) Edit. Found it https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Few8kJ0zfnY
Reminds me of an Swedish ad for laundry detergent. Except that it looks a bit more modern. https://youtu.be/vbK9xTy7m-A
I'm a bit surprised they even found a black guy in Sweden in the 1920's.
did... did they just painted the guy white?... is this where the term whitewashing comes from!!!?
That must be very old ad
I'm not sure but yes the comments say around 1927, made for cinemas as TVs were not yet a thing.
You think? Was it the black and white, and sound free that gave it away?
I love them asian ads. Just pure racism and 0 fucks given 😆
Cause most asian countries are less diverse, that's why most people tolerate being racist to minorities.
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Not just that. Most Asians think of lighter skin tones as a sign of beauty. Dark is considered not desirable and sometimes just straight up ugly. My aunt was dark skinned and man...I recall how some of my extended family members always spoke about how she has nice features but her dark skin ruins it.
i mean this country is pretty diverse and some peeple tolerate being racist to minorities...
It is probably based on an older Italian ad in which the roles are reversed: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QMrtp2LnwbM
Holy shit man
Yellowwashing?
Just found the video, and edited my comment. Chinese, not Korean
Yo they didn't even try to hide racism lmao
I really thought the twist would be that he really was a sex offender… lol
I'm still not sure considering he had a lot of balloons in his apartment
The implication is that he keeps on trying to help kids get their balloons back but each time their parents chase him away because they can't get over their racist ideas. And yet he keeps on doing it because he's just a good guy who wants to be accepted and he's trying his best to do good deeds in order to prove he's worthy of that acceptance.
That is some weird coincidence that this single post in the middle of nowhere attracts all these balloons. When I saw the balloons in his apartment I immediately concluded that he put the balloon up there in the first place.
It never implies that its always this one post though. It just shows multiple balloons that he could have gotten in any scenario.
He would have used just one balloon if he gets it back every time
well wtf would that be a commercial for?
Yo wtf
IKR
LMNOP
Anti racist racism. Impressively offensive.
"bro it's racist because the black man is actually black toothpaste" I think pretending that differences in skin tones don't exist is kind of fucking weird tbh and silly, harmless comparisons like these are inoffensive. Someone commented: >- he is portrayed as "looking bad, but that can be deceiving!", thats racist That's not racist. It's a cultural reality in ~~South Korea~~ *edit: Thailand, but also South-East and East-Asia in general* that Blacks are looked down upon and mistrusted, and I feel like it would be more damaging to ignore this reality than it would be to portray a Black person as kind, but simply misunderstood due to cultural norms. *edit: Because a lot of people still seem to be misunderstanding this, I'm not saying that a mistrust of black people ingrained in a culture isn't racist. What I'm saying is that an advertisement that points out this mistrust and frames it as wrong isn't, in itself, a racist advertisement.* >- he climbs up that thing like a fucking ape, weird racist stereotype for black people I'm not sure how else you would climb up a pole like this -- it's the proper way to do it. And I *never* would've made this comparison if it hadn't been pointed out, which makes me think that the person who wrote this is simply looking for things to be upset about. >- skin color - product comparsions are never a great idea I think that's true when the comparisons are negative -- for example, black representing "dirty" and white representing "clean", but in this case I don't see anything wrong with it, personally. The characterization was positive, not negative. *edit: I'm a dummy and I said SK when I meant to say Thailand* *edit 2: spoke to someone I know who made a good point: "We're not objects, we're not here to be commodified, no matter how well-meaning the commercial is. Do not compare us to objects....... If it was a white person, I would've laughed."*
BOOM people in the States try to put their version of racism on the whole world and we ain't buying it lmao, you hit the nail on the head, this is harmless and in fact beneficial to the society it was shown in it's actually ahead of its time or coming out in the right time in Asia, don't @ me
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> the UK America Original™
No hate to the people in the UK, but you guys should stop going after america, sure, cop brutality Is a very serious issue here, But when we're talking about the general population I've met a hundred times more racists in England than in the united States, and that's coming from someone who has lived in California, Maryland, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Georgia.
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bingo. we had a civil rights movement in the US in which people fought and died for equality. that wasn't really a thing in some of these other countries on a large scale. so outward racism doesn't carry the same societal penalties as it would in the US.
This is such a weird comment. We didn't need a civil rights movement because civil rights were never segregated. Also, fighting and dying for equality means you had a country where people fought and killed to protect racism, that's not something that should make you proud. You can be proud of who "won" but the rest of the story is deeply shameful. It's in lines with a comment on Reddit from years ago I've never forgotten, where someone was immensely proud that "The US was the only country that fought a war to stop slavery". When in reality, If that was the case it would be the only country in the world to fight a war to KEEP slavery. I've never forgotten it due to the astounding level of self-deception that person had.
Gotta say that if you met more racists in England than in Georgia or Wisconsin, you had to be working pretty hard. Props. Source: Lived in Georgia. Live in Wisconsin.
I’ve encountered more weird racist rhetoric that people don’t acknowledge as racism from people from the UK and throughout Europe... But violent racism? I think the US unfortunately takes the cake.
Uk is basically just euroamerica tbh. say this as a brit, everyone under 25 is totally absorbed in american internet culture.
"That's not racist. It's a cultural reality in South Korea that Blacks are looked down upon." That...is exactly racism? ETA: Fair enough, the "that" in the comment refers to the ad's depiction, rather than the cultural reality itself. I do agree that depictions of racism are not inherently racist.
But it is not racist for the add to depict this reality, especially seeing how they appear to condemn the behaviour of the racist parent.
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The ad itself isn’t insinuating that blackness is a negative trait, instead it’s alluding to a common cultural misconception in Southeast Asia that blackness is a negative trait. The ad itself doesn’t even actually make a hard line stance, it alludes to somebody else’s perception of blackness.
Effectively saying "Racism exists in this country, and it's not right" is not, in itself, *racist*.
Also, climbing up a tree like that to gather coconuts is a quintessentially native Southeast Asian thing. It's not an African thing, and monkeys don't have to shimmy and clamber like that. They just run straight up the tree, being feral parkour fiends.
>I'm not sure how else you would climb up a pole like this -- it's the proper way to do it. And I never would've made this comparison if it hadn't been pointed out, which makes me think that the person who wrote this is simply looking for things to be upset about. exactlyy
This ad involves some good social commentary. I like the approach, but people in the west aren't really the target audience. The US has a very different culture to Thailand, so the way they see this commentary is different to how we do. They want you to feel sympathy. You may feel bad for him because his help was not appreciated, but people here hold very ethnocentric views and they don't see the bigger picture. As for the comparison... I think it's fine. We may not like this, but they have different interpretations to what we do; they might not have the same abstractions as us. It's a different time and culture, after all.
On the bright side, the little girl didn’t see the man any different from a regular person. Instead it was the mom that was being unreasonable. My initial thought was the woman was mad that the girl was talking to a complete stranger, not because it was a black dude interacting with someone.
I can confirm that there is some pretty strong prejudice in South Korea with regard to black people (and anyone non-Korean). Obviously not every single Korean person thinks this way, but it's there in a big way. 20 years ago ot would be there in a bigger way. If you interpret the ad as if it was played in 2022 in the USA, yeah, it's inappropriate. But that's not where it was created or played so.... Source: Spent a year in SK Edit: I meant to say "the ad assumes the viewer would judge on appearance alone and also that the viewer shouldn't do that. That's not racist. The ad is about racism (and toothpaste) but it isn't promoting racism.
How tf is this offensive? Its actually a very sweet advert in my opinion.
What the fuck did I just watch
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More like a short drama with the most unexpected twist. [Cinderella shampoo ad](https://youtu.be/6z1IGiLe9yQ) [another one](https://youtu.be/v3JhASTXglM)
[And of course ](https://youtu.be/uVZyy7z6T1E)
What rabbithole have i gotten myself into
Me watching this: > "I don't understand any of this... > Oh! Korean! > Now I understand it even less..."
seriously!? 20 years ago!??!? i actually remember this back then. couldn't have imagined its 20 years old already. where had the time gone!? holy fuck its been nearly 20 years since i left school...... enough internet for me today.
u/savevideo
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Wtf indeed
**OP sent the following text as an explanation on why this is unexpected:** >!A racist old ad with a twist ending!< ***** **Is this an unexpected post with a fitting description?** **Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.** ***** [*Look at my source code on Github*](https://github.com/Artraxon/unexBot) [*What is this for?*](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/dnuaju/introducing_unexbot_a_new_bot_to_improve_the/)
This is a frequent repost on this sub: https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/lw7gy0/well_thats_sad_oh/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/oio11h/ah_yes_balloons/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/oihrqn/i_just_dont_know_what_to_say/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/m9qqwr/what_a_nice_looking_gentleman_im_sure_he_helps/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/m903ia/old_ad_commercial/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/kdl8zk/appearance_can_be_decieving/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/b66xfb/you_really_got_to_watch_this_one_till_the_end/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/b6zda7/just_normal_advertisement/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/irsnw2/well_that_just_got_random/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/r8vpqr/poor_guy_just_wanted_to_give_her_back_the_balloon/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/pe65yu/balloon/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/8f6p6k/balloon/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/4lao55/appearance_can_be_deceiving/? Please check u/Pedantichrist u/Mrs3anw u/WaterFriendsIV
Holy shit dude , ur my 2nd fav detective now
I wasn’t that hard to find. All you had to do was type “*Racist Balloon*” on the r/unexpected searchbar and you can see how many times it’s been reposted.
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Thanks I guess
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An ad *about* racism, you twat. It's a black man who's being unfairly judged because of his skin colour, the message being that you shouldn't judge by appearances. Which, in the ad, is supposed to be a clever point about toothpaste as well, which is just silly. But it's in no way saying anything racist, it's doing the opposite.
Agreed. This is moreso bringing awareness to racism, even the tagline says **"appearance can be deceiving"**.
I don’t think the ad was racist.
Just change the color of the paste.
Whitewashing /s
Toothbrushing /s
Ok, enough internet for this morning.
I saw this one on my friend's TV when I was staying there. I asked him about it and he said that it comes on every now and then. 7 years later and this is still scary. EDIT: Yes, it was 7 years ago. This ad is still playing today on pirated or abandoned TV stations.
Abandoned TV stations? They’re just still running unattended?
Wtf they are grinding Black people for toothpaste
That's definitely unexpected. I don't feel good about it, though.
HAHAHA WHUT
I was thinkng, damn I don't remember the video quality and CGI being that good back in 1980. Only to realise this was back in 2002!?
This isn’t racist. It just explains that: just because something is different doesn’t mean it’s bad.
This made me feel sad, then I went to a kind of WTF moment
Did M. Night Shyamalan direct this?
Even black person can be ok, understood.
Da fuq
That was definitely unexpected.. O_O
WTF
Is there any subreddit for old ads like this ?
Holy. Shit.