Businesses that want to be allowed not to serve gays should simply be required to post this policy somewhere prominently so that anyone patronizing them could tell what upstanding bigots they are.
Showing posts with label public relations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public relations. Show all posts
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Thursday, October 17, 2013
WASHINGTON REDSKINS NAME CONTROVERSY
People are clamoring for the scalp of the Washington football Redskins. They want the “Redskins” to cease being the “Redskins“ They want to change the team’s identity!
It’s because everyone thinks that “Redskins” is a derogatory racial slur referring to skin color and bigotry. But actually, “Redskins” refers to the color of paint that certain Indians located in what is now Newfoundland used to paint their bodies--it was red. It’s as simple as that!
This red color would be flashing quite boldly during wartime, giving them a spectacular aura! Settlers called this particular Indian tribe--the Beothuk--“Red Indians” for the lavish body painting. As that noble tribe is now extinct, sports teams such as the Washington football Redskins may be seen as doing honor to the Beothuk--preserving their memory!
When that National Football League (NFL) franchise in the 1930’s, then in Boston, took the name “Redsins”, it’s likely that the impression they wanted to make was one of toughness and prowess on the field of battle. Note the prominent use over the years of a spear in the team’s logos and on their helmets--hardly pejorative!
Back in the day, it wouldn’t have made sense to call a particular tribe the “Red Indians” if all Indians were already considered “red.” It would have been redundant. In fact, all Indians weren’t as a rule referred to as “red” or “redskin” or “red anything”. That’s more recent.
In lieu of name-changing, the Redskins could be encouraged to refine their image by making the Indian’s appearance on the team logo more realistic--a lighter skin tone matching that (estimated) of the Beothuk Indians, and highlights of a bright brilliant red pigment applied as best as we can tell they did.
Proud Redskins owner Dan Snyder can say it was all one big misunderstanding. Problem solved. Game Over. Now if winning some real games was as easy!
Sources:
The Quebec History Encyclopedia
The Smithsonian Book of North American Indians
Wikipedia--Washington Redskins
It’s because everyone thinks that “Redskins” is a derogatory racial slur referring to skin color and bigotry. But actually, “Redskins” refers to the color of paint that certain Indians located in what is now Newfoundland used to paint their bodies--it was red. It’s as simple as that!
This red color would be flashing quite boldly during wartime, giving them a spectacular aura! Settlers called this particular Indian tribe--the Beothuk--“Red Indians” for the lavish body painting. As that noble tribe is now extinct, sports teams such as the Washington football Redskins may be seen as doing honor to the Beothuk--preserving their memory!
When that National Football League (NFL) franchise in the 1930’s, then in Boston, took the name “Redsins”, it’s likely that the impression they wanted to make was one of toughness and prowess on the field of battle. Note the prominent use over the years of a spear in the team’s logos and on their helmets--hardly pejorative!
Back in the day, it wouldn’t have made sense to call a particular tribe the “Red Indians” if all Indians were already considered “red.” It would have been redundant. In fact, all Indians weren’t as a rule referred to as “red” or “redskin” or “red anything”. That’s more recent.
In lieu of name-changing, the Redskins could be encouraged to refine their image by making the Indian’s appearance on the team logo more realistic--a lighter skin tone matching that (estimated) of the Beothuk Indians, and highlights of a bright brilliant red pigment applied as best as we can tell they did.
Proud Redskins owner Dan Snyder can say it was all one big misunderstanding. Problem solved. Game Over. Now if winning some real games was as easy!
Sources:
The Quebec History Encyclopedia
The Smithsonian Book of North American Indians
Wikipedia--Washington Redskins
Thursday, July 29, 2010
AT&T's Slick Ad End
An often-seen TV commercial boasts about how AT&T covers 97% of "USAmericans" (as long as they don't stray into certain rural or wilderness areas).
The commercial is a visual feast of American architecture--Gateway Arch, Hoover Dam, etc.--getting covered in orange drapes a la the artist Christo. They didn't actually do it--it was computer-generated.
At the very end, they cut to a satellite view of northern North America--you can see the Great Lakes near the bottom of the screen--the shot only lasts for a couple of seconds, so one supposes it's not an effort at boosting service to Canada.
But the continent is noticeably painted uniformly the same orange color--which might be described as rust- or copper-colored. This makes the shot eerily resemble all those depressing Gulf oil slick TV news bits people have been seeing the past three months.
That's certainly not the kind of association AT&T would have wanted. One can only surmise that the commercial was tested out on focus groups before the Gulf oil disaster.
And, wouldn't you know it, in-between drafts of this paper, there was a major oil line rupture in the Great Lakes area!
Steven (Starjet) Kearney
The commercial is a visual feast of American architecture--Gateway Arch, Hoover Dam, etc.--getting covered in orange drapes a la the artist Christo. They didn't actually do it--it was computer-generated.
At the very end, they cut to a satellite view of northern North America--you can see the Great Lakes near the bottom of the screen--the shot only lasts for a couple of seconds, so one supposes it's not an effort at boosting service to Canada.
But the continent is noticeably painted uniformly the same orange color--which might be described as rust- or copper-colored. This makes the shot eerily resemble all those depressing Gulf oil slick TV news bits people have been seeing the past three months.
That's certainly not the kind of association AT&T would have wanted. One can only surmise that the commercial was tested out on focus groups before the Gulf oil disaster.
And, wouldn't you know it, in-between drafts of this paper, there was a major oil line rupture in the Great Lakes area!
Steven (Starjet) Kearney
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