Loads of people were tweeting about it yesterday nowt to do with here
"utterly moronic racist nonsense" - Strutt & Parker Notting Hill estate agents advertising
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Ted Striker
Foot's on the other hand
Nice sideline as a Kelsey Grammar impersonator too
Treacle Toes
Time
I don't know who the average Brixtonite is so I have a disadvantage there. My first impression of the ad was simply to wonder what the point of it was? It struck me that they were trying to be funny, because an ad simply saying XYZ are estate agents would have just been too dull although more accurate. My first thought was not though that all black people in Brixton are dancers and all white people estate agents.
No Idea why I wrote Brixtonite there but I think the point is still the same. Given it's actually Notting Hill I think a bit more thought went into the characterisation of the Black dancer too. 'Those bubbly Black people just live for carnival don't you know!' It's deliberate.
In terms of your first thoughts; advertising doesn't work on a concious thought level, it works on association and suggestion.
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Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
You're right. There's no 'racism' here. Just racism.
Anyone without a vested business interest in this ad - client/agency - can recognise it's racist. Immediately.
What surprises me is that it even saw the light of day. Surely the writer/art director/creative group head/CD/planners/suits would have all flagged it up. It really shouldn't have made it off the layout pad. It certainly shouldn't have been presented to the client.
What's the adage, 'a writer's best friend is the waste paper basket'? That's certainly where this 'concept' should have been filed.
What surprises me is that it even saw the light of day. Surely the writer/art director/creative group head/CD/planners/suits would have all flagged it up. It really shouldn't have made it off the layout pad. It certainly shouldn't have been presented to the client.
What's the adage, 'a writer's best friend is the waste paper basket'? That's certainly where this 'concept' should have been filed.
Bonfirelight
Crocodile
Is Notting Hill particularly well know for dancing \ Mark Elie locally renowned?
If so then I can cut them some slack I guess. "Some people were born to [local well known resident & occupation] others to flog houses" isn't terrible in principle.. They do look like a flock of twats though tbf, so I won't give them too much benefit.
If so then I can cut them some slack I guess. "Some people were born to [local well known resident & occupation] others to flog houses" isn't terrible in principle.. They do look like a flock of twats though tbf, so I won't give them too much benefit.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
Bonfirelight
Crocodile
Hmm, if that's the angle then I think its a bit more dodgy.
I know the ballet school have a presence in NH, but was wondering if that was something NH was known for in general.
sim667
All aboard the 303 bus.
joe_infinity
Well-Known Member
Comments like this ^ just demonstrate your own racist prejudices, this has nothing to do with what the ad says
so according to the U75 PC-brigade, it is racist to cast a black man in the role of a dancer. Unbelievable....
I wonder how Mark Elie would feel if he saw this lunatic thread, since he is being accused in his absence of complicity with racism against his own race.
EastEnder
Brixton Barnacle
I can't tell whether you're being disingenuous or simply naive. In a world without racism that advert would be fine, at least in so far as the race of the characters that is. But we don't live in that world, not by a very long way. They could've used two black people or two white people, but they went with one black man & one white man. They're both stereotypes - the black dancer & the white office worker. Perhaps the black dancer is an office worker by day and the white office worker is a dancer by night, who knows. It's not like the advert includes detailed biographies. Adverts are designed to create an immediate & conspicuous point, and whether this particular advert consciously intended to contrast race & occupation, that is inevitably the end result.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
fuck me, 'you are the real racist'
need a bingo card for these eejits
need a bingo card for these eejits
Bonfirelight
Crocodile
Agreed. Looking at their gallery of white power estate agents they would have been a bit limited from their end, and if they chose this guy because him or his dance studio is locally well known then I'd file this under 'should have given more thought to how it might come across ' rather than racist, but I still might be being naive.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
are you saying mark elie is being accused of being a race traitor?
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
last flat sold was no. 88?
joe_infinity
Well-Known Member
are you saying mark elie is being accused of being a race traitor?
he is being accused by the U75 PC-brigade of complicity with racism, because he is allowing his image to be used in a racist advert (and profiting from it too)
Of course in the real world this wouldnt be an issue, since outside of the fantasy world of the U75 self-righteously adamant pc-brigade, no normal person would think that the advert in question was racist.
But here, on U75, Mark Elie is being accused of complicity with racism
Treacle Toes
Time
You aren't very good at this.
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
Long way from being a RESPECT member to here eh Joe - what happened?
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
that sounds like a yes to me.
Blagsta
Minimum cage, maximum cage
I suggest you read a little history.
joe in 2005
I really don't know what to say, just to add that the advert is shocking.
Try looking at it and mentally swapping the skin colour of the men, perhaps make them female too... that would have made a more interesting campaign...
Some Notting Hill folk were born to dance
Others to sell flats
Try looking at it and mentally swapping the skin colour of the men, perhaps make them female too... that would have made a more interesting campaign...
Some Notting Hill folk were born to dance
Others to sell flats
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From the British Ballet Organisation website : "Mark Elie is considered by some a local hero, born and bred between Notting Hill and Maida Vale"
Apparently he is the Artistic Director at the charity Portabello Dance
So it is probably fair to say that he is locally renowned.
I'd think that was more the case if they used a picture of the carnival but they didn't.
are you saying mark elie is being accused of being a race traitor?
If he knew about the advert and thought it racist he's complicit or maybe he didn't think it racist himself. Maybe he isn't aware? Is there anyone on here familiar with the man or charity who could put it to him?
I think people are reading far too much into this. Estate agents are twats sure and if you want to bring up racism then focusing on the number of white people working at the estate agent is a reasonable argument but to complain because they show a locally relevant black person dancing really does seem to be looking for offence. Should they have chosen someone else for the dancing picture? If they'd hired a black actor in to play the estate agent would that be less offensive? If there was a black person working there should they have insisted they pose for the advert? Or is the advert just so intrinsicly racist that it's a lost cause?
They probably sold a house for him in the area and offered a % off his fees if he let them use his pic. The advert to me looks to be appealing to people moving into the area who will be sending their kids to ballet schools. I doubt the colour of those pictured would register to the majority of people who saw it.
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Of course it's a serious question.
People here are taking offence as they've used a local dance teacher and a local estate agent who happen to black and white respectively. It seems that those people who are offended have decided that this is pandering to stereotypes.
It seems that the 9 people working in that office are white so they couldn't have shown a black estate agent without getting an actor in. Would that have been less offensive? Lets say they did had a 10th employee who was black. Would it have been less offensive to have asked him to be in the advert instead so as to avoid this thread?
Perhaps they could have asked Mark Elie if he had any white people working for him who they could use for the advert instead - letting them avoid offending the people on this thread.
People here are taking offence as they've used a local dance teacher and a local estate agent who happen to black and white respectively. It seems that those people who are offended have decided that this is pandering to stereotypes.
It seems that the 9 people working in that office are white so they couldn't have shown a black estate agent without getting an actor in. Would that have been less offensive? Lets say they did had a 10th employee who was black. Would it have been less offensive to have asked him to be in the advert instead so as to avoid this thread?
Perhaps they could have asked Mark Elie if he had any white people working for him who they could use for the advert instead - letting them avoid offending the people on this thread.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
they may have some ancilliary staff who are black. "dear cleaner, would you like to be in an advert posing as an estate agent?"
Is that a joke?
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