March 10, 2004Blizzard of OddLatest Dairy Queen commercial begins: "You don't have to be Irish to enjoy our newest Blizzard treat!" It then goes on to spotlight some sort of mint-chocolate-chip frozen dairy treat, just in time for St. Patrick's day. Am I the only one who raised their eyebrows while watching that commercial? Does it strike anyone else as...puzzling, to any degree? Consider this: "You don't have to be Black to enjoy our newest soul-food treat..." Or how about: "You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy our newest gefilte fish delight..." What makes it OK to stereotype Irish culture, cuisine, etc? If, indeed, there is any kind of stereotyping going on here. Is "Irish" an ethnicity, a country of origin, or what? How does it differ from using Black, Jewish, or some other cultural/ethnic/national identification? I'm not calling out the PC police -- I'm just puzzled. Enlighten me. Posted at March 10, 2004 06:39 PM | TrackBackCOMMENTS!
50 points for Oblique Ozzy Reference. :) Posted by: mtpolitics at March 10, 2004 06:53 PMIt's all about the green food, Dave. Green! Actually, I have no clue. Good point, Dave. Posted by: jen at March 10, 2004 06:57 PM(Ew. I thought most Jews hated gefilte fish? I wouldn't eat it even if I made it myself. You'd have to be extremely devout to eat a whole serving of that with intentions to enjoy, but anyhoo...) I haven't seen that commercial yet, but I'd be anxious to see whether an Irishman took offense to it. Come to think of it, if there was a commercial airing in the U.K. selling something tacky, yet red white & blue, with the voiceover spieling a similar line of trite garbage in reference to Independence Day or whathaveyou, I'd probably be offended. Briefly. And then I'd act like an American and go bomb them. Posted by: Tiffany at March 10, 2004 07:51 PMWell I know that you don't have to be Irish to get drunk on 3-17. It's like so many other days a "bar holiday". Posted by: Joe G at March 10, 2004 09:51 PMI thought gefilte fish was something Norwegians in Minnesota ate. It's okay because the Irish aren't an oppressed minority. The question is, do the Irish mind everyone celebrating their holiday? Heck, is it their holiday? Did Ireland create it? Heck, I have no idea. Should there be commercials to sell products saying "You don't have to be African American/Jewish/German to celebrake Hannukah/Kwaanza/Oktoberfest"? Posted by: Renee at March 11, 2004 02:05 PMPost a comment
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