6 ms·

> multi cultural inclusive visual banality > It lets companies look diverse > Not sure what skin color to use? Make them blue Seeing cartoon SVGs of brown pe

by knolax 5y ago

> multi cultural inclusive visual banality > It lets companies look diverse > Not sure what skin color to use? Make them blue Seeing cartoon SVGs of brown people really hits a nerve for some people. IMO if you walk around the Bay Area the racial distribution is more or less the same as these graphics, so there's really nothing to complain about in that regard. Go buy Russian software if you don't like it.

vehemenz 5y ago
It’s a valid observation. Don’t you think it’s a bit cynical and calculated to include “diversity” on every single advertising graphic?
- knolax 5y ago
  Only if you think that "diversity" is somehow abnormal. Why is it a calculated move for companies like Google, whose CEO has brown skin, to have some of their advertisements include brown skinned people? The real cynical move would be to make them all white to appease middle America. Why do you feel the rest of us have to hide our existence to appease you?
  - vehemenz 5y ago
    I too use my identity as a cudgel, except I am a philosopher. > Only if you think that "diversity" is somehow abnormal. I don't, and you chose the value-laden term "abnormal" instead of "demographically atypical". Convenient that you chose the term that I would never use and that makes your argument look less preposterous. > Why is it a calculated move for companies like Google, whose CEO has brown skin, to have some of their advertisements include brown skinned people? This implies that brown skin is an indicator of diversity. To use your method of reductio: ...only if you think that diversity is determined by superficial attributes like skin color. > The real cynical move would be to make them all white to appease middle America. You one-percenters in the Bay Area must be very insulated; appealing to "diversity" does appease middle America. You could never get away with all white characters now, and I'm sure you know that. > Why do you feel the rest of us have to hide our existence to appease you? False attribution.
    - knolax 5y ago
      > This implies that brown skin is an indicator of diversity. To use your method of reductio: ...only if you think that diversity is determined by superficial attributes like skin color. I started my comment by mentioning skin tone. It's you and the comments I quoted who decided to label this "diversity" with scare quotes, and now you're arguing about the definition of a term you brought into the argument. > I don't, and you chose the value-laden term "abnormal" instead of "demographically atypical". That's not a counterargument, you're just nitpicking word choice here. Regardless of what you call it the skin tone distribution matches that of the people who make these graphics. It's also not far off from the national average. According to Wikipedia 60% of the US Population is non-hispanic white[0]. I imagine the number of Hispanic and Asian people with light skin is around the same as white people with darker skin so this is a good proxy for skin color distribution. If I count one of the first Google Image results for "corporate memphis" about 54/71 = 76% of them have light skin and look white to me. So no, it's only statistically abnormal in that there are probably not enough cartoon brown people. > I too use my identity as a cudgel, except I am a philosopher. You either have a poor understanding of philosophy or an inflated ego if you think the semantic games you're playing counts as philosophy. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_Un... [1] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e662715857fa52fe14b379c/1613389440117-MB1T5R0A6KIUPDI9L5Q1/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kDt0hgxSrpuXIovpUB0aLg8UqsxRUqqbr1mOJYKfIPR7LoDQ9mXPOjoJoqy81S2I8N_N4V1vUb5AoIIIbLZhVYxCRW4BPu10St3TBAUQYVKcSonwm8Wv5nNw3XkdEnWcBt_Srn6q7wA9bsc7YuN978vj0v0Rvl8T3ZLWb70pL6_5/ergrsy6ehc151.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e662715857fa5...
- eplanit 5y ago
  It's similar to the past 2-3 years in television advertisements, where it's also tiresome how one single idea gets copied and copied and copied by every other advertiser. In particular, in the spirit of "inclusiveness", and further driven by BLM, black people are now the default people shown in practically every ad. If aliens were to evaluate the earth based on TV ads, they'd conclude that the USA is about 60% black. Even State Farm insurance has replaced the white Jake character with a new black one (why did Jake have to be replaced? why not simply add a character?). It has become absurd. Not to knock the motivation, but I am knocking the sheep-like following of one advertiser after the others. For ostensibly creative people, they seem to have very few original ideas among them.
  - vehemenz 5y ago
    I would argue it started around 2013 or 2014, but we've seen more or less the same thing. I haven't watched TV in a few years, so maybe it's gotten worse. One thing I always thought was interesting; Apple commercials, which go out of their way to feature many types of racial minorities, do not show any: - obese people - weirdly proportioned people - ugly people - poor people - person over 45 - meatheads - Republican-looking people - disabilities besides deaf, blind, and mobility, e.g. burn victims They are into advertising to the groups that will be the best-received for their bottom line. It's no more than that, and it's foolish to think otherwise.
    - mbg721 5y ago
      There's a Whose Line Is It Anyway bit from a couple decades ago where Wayne Brady (musically talented, athletic, young, black guy) says "How come there's no one who looks like me on 'Friends'??" The audience says "Aww" in sympathy. And then Colin Mochrie (balding, awkward, white Canadian guy) repeats "How come there's no one who looks like me on 'Friends'??"

by knolax 5y ago

vehemenz 5y ago

It’s a valid observation. Don’t you think it’s a bit cynical and calculated to include “diversity” on every single advertising graphic?

knolax 5y ago
Only if you think that "diversity" is somehow abnormal. Why is it a calculated move for companies like Google, whose CEO has brown skin, to have some of their advertisements include brown skinned people? The real cynical move would be to make them all white to appease middle America. Why do you feel the rest of us have to hide our existence to appease you?
- vehemenz 5y ago
  I too use my identity as a cudgel, except I am a philosopher. > Only if you think that "diversity" is somehow abnormal. I don't, and you chose the value-laden term "abnormal" instead of "demographically atypical". Convenient that you chose the term that I would never use and that makes your argument look less preposterous. > Why is it a calculated move for companies like Google, whose CEO has brown skin, to have some of their advertisements include brown skinned people? This implies that brown skin is an indicator of diversity. To use your method of reductio: ...only if you think that diversity is determined by superficial attributes like skin color. > The real cynical move would be to make them all white to appease middle America. You one-percenters in the Bay Area must be very insulated; appealing to "diversity" does appease middle America. You could never get away with all white characters now, and I'm sure you know that. > Why do you feel the rest of us have to hide our existence to appease you? False attribution.
  - knolax 5y ago
    > This implies that brown skin is an indicator of diversity. To use your method of reductio: ...only if you think that diversity is determined by superficial attributes like skin color. I started my comment by mentioning skin tone. It's you and the comments I quoted who decided to label this "diversity" with scare quotes, and now you're arguing about the definition of a term you brought into the argument. > I don't, and you chose the value-laden term "abnormal" instead of "demographically atypical". That's not a counterargument, you're just nitpicking word choice here. Regardless of what you call it the skin tone distribution matches that of the people who make these graphics. It's also not far off from the national average. According to Wikipedia 60% of the US Population is non-hispanic white[0]. I imagine the number of Hispanic and Asian people with light skin is around the same as white people with darker skin so this is a good proxy for skin color distribution. If I count one of the first Google Image results for "corporate memphis" about 54/71 = 76% of them have light skin and look white to me. So no, it's only statistically abnormal in that there are probably not enough cartoon brown people. > I too use my identity as a cudgel, except I am a philosopher. You either have a poor understanding of philosophy or an inflated ego if you think the semantic games you're playing counts as philosophy. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_Un... [1] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e662715857fa52fe14b379c/1613389440117-MB1T5R0A6KIUPDI9L5Q1/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kDt0hgxSrpuXIovpUB0aLg8UqsxRUqqbr1mOJYKfIPR7LoDQ9mXPOjoJoqy81S2I8N_N4V1vUb5AoIIIbLZhVYxCRW4BPu10St3TBAUQYVKcSonwm8Wv5nNw3XkdEnWcBt_Srn6q7wA9bsc7YuN978vj0v0Rvl8T3ZLWb70pL6_5/ergrsy6ehc151.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e662715857fa5...
eplanit 5y ago
It's similar to the past 2-3 years in television advertisements, where it's also tiresome how one single idea gets copied and copied and copied by every other advertiser. In particular, in the spirit of "inclusiveness", and further driven by BLM, black people are now the default people shown in practically every ad. If aliens were to evaluate the earth based on TV ads, they'd conclude that the USA is about 60% black. Even State Farm insurance has replaced the white Jake character with a new black one (why did Jake have to be replaced? why not simply add a character?). It has become absurd. Not to knock the motivation, but I am knocking the sheep-like following of one advertiser after the others. For ostensibly creative people, they seem to have very few original ideas among them.
- vehemenz 5y ago
  I would argue it started around 2013 or 2014, but we've seen more or less the same thing. I haven't watched TV in a few years, so maybe it's gotten worse. One thing I always thought was interesting; Apple commercials, which go out of their way to feature many types of racial minorities, do not show any: - obese people - weirdly proportioned people - ugly people - poor people - person over 45 - meatheads - Republican-looking people - disabilities besides deaf, blind, and mobility, e.g. burn victims They are into advertising to the groups that will be the best-received for their bottom line. It's no more than that, and it's foolish to think otherwise.
  - mbg721 5y ago
    There's a Whose Line Is It Anyway bit from a couple decades ago where Wayne Brady (musically talented, athletic, young, black guy) says "How come there's no one who looks like me on 'Friends'??" The audience says "Aww" in sympathy. And then Colin Mochrie (balding, awkward, white Canadian guy) repeats "How come there's no one who looks like me on 'Friends'??"