mrissa: (stompy)
[personal profile] mrissa
Gmail is not letting me log in; this is annoying, but it says they're trying to fix it.

You know what else is annoying? United Way's print ad campaign. Again, or still. They've got pictures of people saying that they did certain things -- "I pulled 33,000 kittens from burning buildings!" -- and then it says it was through the magic of donating money to United Way. Except it's not 33,000 kittens. It's stuff like -- well, here are the examples I remember:

A bearded, long-haired guy in a leather jacket: helped preschoolers with their social skills
Two middle-aged women: built houses for the poor
(the latest one to spark my wrath) A Hispanic guy with a goatee: helped a bunch of kids get their teeth straightened out

Because everybody knows that those longhair freaky types shouldn't be allowed near children, and girls can't build houses, and Hispanics can't be dentists! Thanks, United Way, for allowing us to pay someone to have humanitarian skills we would lack if we were walking stereotypes!

As I was sitting at a stoplight boggling at a bus that had the one with the Hispanic teeth-straightener on its side, I saw that it had a set of wrenches in the background. So I think the idea was supposed to be, "Mechanics aren't dentists." But it came out, "Them Mexicans ain't dentists, but they'll fix your car up real good!" Oh yah. Much better.

I would like to send -- oh, let's say, all the women from my folks' church's Habitat for Humanity housebuilding team, plus all the Hispanic dentists and orthodontists in the suburb we lived in when we were in California -- after the idiots who came up with this campaign. The leather-jacketed shaggy people, being generally amiable, even-tempered types, can babysit for the housebuilders' and dentists'/orthodontists' kids while they go kick ad agency butt. "United Way: we will play on cheap stereotypes, so give us your money." Great. Thanks. Just what I wanted.

Date: 2007-05-16 04:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] arielstarshadow.livejournal.com
but that doesn't mean that United Way as an organization or individual United Way branches haven't made some bad choices in the past. You can believe in the work you do without defending various tactics that other groups have used, such as placing large amounts of pressure on people in their places of employment and, yes, use of stereotypes in ads.

Of course - my point is to please not disparage all UWs because of the actions of the few that engage in less than good practices. We aren't all cut from the same cloth. That's why I specifically talked about the UW I work at - because I know how we operate. I can't speak for any other UW, but I do know that ours can't be the only "good" UW out there. :)

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