During Super Bowl 48, Coca Cola aired a commercial that, for some reason, made a lot of people upset:
The purpose of the commercial is to showcase how different people across America can be. But that’s not the stereotype we really fit, is it? According to American television, we’re mostly white people with a few black people sprinkled in along the way. Maybe 20 years ago this might have been more accurate, but these days that just isn’t true. As a people, we generalize so much that we tend to forget what real life is like. We think that it’s ok to just group people together and assume they’re all the same.
Culture is one of the things that make life interesting. It’s almost like different genres of music. There’s no such thing as a bad genre of music. It all depends on what you like and the mood you’re in. Even your geographical location can influence your taste in music. In a similar fashion, culture is all about your geographical location, how you view the world, different family traditions, etc. A family from Oregon isn’t going to celebrate thanksgiving the same way a family from Virginia might. It doesn’t really matter as much what color your skin is. If that is something that you’re proud of, that’s fine. Just don’t let it become something that causes a division from those around you.
The Changing Times
25 years ago (even maybe 15 years ago), there was a huge division among races and cultures. Estelle Tang, a contributor to Salon.com, talks about how the Asian community wasn’t very well represented: “ My younger sister and I used to play a game when we watched TV. It didn’t have a name, but I’m going to call it “Asians!” It was pretty simple, really; there was only one goal. Whenever an Asian appeared on the screen, we’d cry, “Asian!” Then, we’d just continue watching… An Asian person on TV was so rare that we felt excited to point it out. In this game, there was no winner – it didn’t matter which of us managed to spot the Asian first. All that mattered was that there was an Asian on TV. Didn’t that mean we were all winning?”
These days, you see all kinds of different people being represented. Tang continues: “With the range of Asian characters now on TV, my childhood game may have lost its significance. Certainly it seems like overkill to be shouting “Asian!” every time characters like Joan Watson, Chang and Helen-Alice get screen time. While some TV characters still rely heavily on Asian stereotypes, plenty have emerged whom I can adore or revile – not simply because of their race, but because of their unique, complex personalities and stories, of which race is just a part.”