I can’t tell if this commercial is real, but if it is (or was), um, it wins the prize for Most Racist Toothpaste Commercial Ever? And/or Most Crazily Depressing Toothpaste Commercial in The Whole Wide World?

Kelly O—formerly a Stranger staff photographer, music writer, Drunk of the Week columnist, and more!—finished art school and a soul-crushing internship at a corporate advertising agency in Detroit,...

39 replies on “Lunchtime Quickie”

  4. WTF….. where the fuck is this from?

    And why the fuck would that dude even accept being in such an obvious bs racist commercial?

  6. @4: For the same reason “ugly” people play Ugly Person in Farrelly Brothers comedies, or fat people play Person Taking Up Three Seats In Theatre. They want to further their acting career so badly they don’t care that the role squishes them like bugs.

  9. My wife tells me Thailand is historically very racist. If anything this commercial seems to decry racism rather than represent it.

    Racism was depicted in this ad by the mother. The black man was portrayed rather sympathetically.

    It’s a little simplistic to just point at this ad and call it racist.

  11. i’m glad i’m not the only one who didn’t think it racist. but maybe that just means i’m actually as racist as fnarf?

  12. My buddy brought back “Darkie” mints from rural China, circa 1992. Total Steppin Fetchit guy on the front of the roll. That was back when the locals rioted and broke into the Ugandan student dorm after the young men had the audacity to try out the local hookers that teemed by the millions and millions just outside campus. The nerve of some people!

    I’m sure it’s all better now, though.

  13. So the message is, “Our black toothpaste won’t hurt your kids any more than this black man,” or “Our product looks scary but we promise it won’t hurt you” or something like that? Even without the weird racism, it doesn’t seem like a very high bar.

  15. It is indeed racist–what does the tagline “Appearances can be deceiving” mean? “Just like the scary black dude who–surprise surprise!–was a nice person, scary looking Black Herbal toothpaste is–surprise surprise!–tasty!” It legitimizes ignorant and racist cultural expectations in order to set its own product off in high relief. It treats as arguable whether the mother’s reaction was legitimate, when, because her reaction was portrayed as race-based, it is inarguably illegitimate. Had the guy been white, maybe the mom would simply be reacting to a stranger interacting with her kid, as we parents do. But then it wouldn’t work for “Black Herbal.”

  16. #2 – You ask “is it too much to ask that other countries make sense?”

    What makes you think that America makes any sense?

    Furthermore, what makes you think that YOU even make sense? Do you think that it is sensible to judge other countries based on a single commercial that caught the Slog’s attention?

  17. @14 Seeing an athletic black man engaged in physical activity did not “depict” a monkey.

    Look in the mirror if you want to examine racism.

  18. 13 hit the ball out of the park! Best comment made on this thread.

    How is that not racist?

    As much as we like to believe things have changed truth is they haven’t and some people as exemplified by the comments here a high level of tolerance for racism. Until they see people hanging from trees they’ll brush off reality as ‘simplistic’, I’ll say this much though, no Thai business will get a penny from me until I see a denouncing of this garbage from the Thai community here in the states.

  19. You guys are confused because you haven’t seen the follow-up commercial.

    It turns out the woman in the ad was actually a Thai chicken-hawk who delivers the little girl straight to a brothel.

    After deprivation and frequent beatings, it’s shown that even though she is small, she can still give a really good blowjob.

    It turns out to be an ad for a portable vacuum cleaner.

  20. Boycotting Thai business on account of one commercial you didn’t care for? As if the entire nation is responsible for this?

    Loveschild, that’s racist of you.

  21. 20 Oh no you won’t …..

    You won’t turn the table on me with such bullshit, I’m not the one defending this crap, if there wasn’t a market for that garbage, if such blatant nonsense wasn’t acceptable in Thai society that commercial wouldn’t exist Mr Ackham. You can defend it and try to rationalize till you become a pretzel but it remains what it is. A reaffirmation on their part of what the distorted image they have of black people are. And if they don’t distance themselves from this trash, then yes a boycott is perfectly called for.

  22. I watched it without sound, and I’ve got to say it ain’t racist. I mean, it draws parallels between a human and a toothpaste, so it’s inherently objectifying. The black guy could climb a big pole, ever see anyone (from any continent) harvest coconuts? I don’t think he was supposed to be monkey-like, just super powerful…like the toothpaste.

    And he was inherently good and kind…like the toothpaste.

    And people who are scared of the big black man? Ignorant, hateful, wrong…like people who don’t like their toothpaste.

    So the weird thing to me is that the message of the commercial is “Don’t be racist, buy our toothpaste.” It’s nice that they’re not racists, but buying toothpaste isn’t normally a progressive act.

  25. Loveschild, you really are crazy.

    A) Thai food is awesome.
    B) Thai people in the US aren’t responsible for and probably aren’t even aware of this commercial.
    C) The commercial is anti-racist.
    D) You’re a homophobic bigot, over reacting to a misunderstood Thai commercial doesn’t lesson your bigotry one bit.

  27. In Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, chocolate-covered marshmallows were sold under the name “Niggers’ Kisses”. This shocked me when I first saw it, but I learned that most locals, with their limited English, just thought the n-word was an acceptable English translation of their word meaning “black person,” without any racist connotations.

    In any case, racial sensitivity in the region has improved since then, and they now sell chocolate marshmallows under a different name …

  28. I get so sick of people throwing the term “racist” around. How is that racist?
    The black man is misunderstood and feared because of the color of his skin. It happens to be true. Sad, but true.
    Sad commercial? Sure. A little maudlin? Definately. Racist? No.

  30. Racist? Where is the racism? He was not discriminated against. He was not denied a job. He was portrayed as a “Do Goober”. He was not lynched, he was not told to drink out of a separate water fountain. WHERE is the racism? A mother grabbing her daughter and giving a man the evil eye is NOT racism. It’s called being rude and people do that all the time.

  34. It might be said to be about racism, or at least about large-imposing-looking-personism, based on the mom’s reaction… and certainly speaks to racism that is undoubtedly present there. But I’m not sure it’s actually racist in and of itself, as it doesn’t say anything bad about the black dude.

  35. What makes it racist is the “appearance can be deceiving” line. Because that says, “Wow, black people sure are scary looking! Sometimes they’re nice, though.”

  36. @35–You’re not ‘the REAL racist’, just a real idiot. The entire point of this commercial–apart from selling toothpaste– is to re-educate a culture which perceives Africans to be inherently scary. You work with the tools you have. Grow up.

  37. @16 the guy turns into toothpaste. he has a giant collection of balloons. he climbs a pole and is then viewed as some sort of monster. none of this makes sense. what makes me think i make sense? because i’m attempting to correspond my outlook on the world with reality as best i can. which is what the phrase ‘make sense’ was invented to describe. however, you are right about america not making a whole lot of sense.

    also, this commercial is both racist and anti-racist at the same time everybody. but over all i think it’s a step in the right direction for thailand given the sympathetic take on the black guy being unfairly demonized.

  39. if you think it’s racist, do something dramatic and take a stand and go out and boycott a product you’ve never heard of and never would have used in the first place! that’ll be a real good use of your time.

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