Jungle Drums Ad Racist?

Soccernova78 · Oct 25, 2006

I haven't heard this ad so I can't make a judgement. But after the whole "Don't Vote For Harold Ford Because He'll Sleep With White Women" commercial none of the possible motivations behind many of these ads wouldn't surprise me.

Okay, so Election Central has just obtained a radio ad which you've got to hear: It actually has what sounds like tom-tom drums playing in the background every time the ad talks about Dem Harold Ford, Jr. The ad -- which says it was paid for by the campaign of GOP Senate candidate Bob Corker -- can be heard right here. When the ad mentions Corker, the music soars and no tom-toms are audible. Throughout the entire minute-long ad, you hear the rumble of tom-toms every time Ford is mentioned. This ad, keep in mind, quotes Bob Corker himself as having "approved" the message -- meaning it wasn't the work of the Republican National Committee, as in the case of the recent "bimbo" TV ad which drew charges of racism.

We got a copy of the ad from a producer from WGOW radio in Chatanooga. Bill Lockhart, the program director for WGOW, confirmed the authenticity of the ad and that it's running on the station. "They're freaking jungle-drums," Lockhart tells us. "It's racist -- it tries to conjure up deep, dark African moods. Yeah, it's overtly racial."
Click to expand...

This morning about 6:45 I'm getting ready for work and have the radio tuned to the local mega talk station. The hosts are talking about the heat that the Corker/RNC ads are picking up, but are pretty neutral on them themselves, suggesting that the ruckus--and the suggestions of racism--are overblown. They're going through some callers, when one says, "That's nothing. Have you heard the jungle drums on the radio ad?"...

So they play it, and, sure enough, the caller's right. Soaring music underneath the copy when discussing Corker's merits, jungle-like drumming when cutting to Ford's demerits. The hosts were stone-silent when it finished, until one whistled, and said, "Damn." They both agreed that the drumming--and the intent--was obvious.
Click to expand...

PsychedelicCeltic · Oct 25, 2006

I haven't heard it but I wouldn't be surprised. The first ad was completely racist.

Knave · Oct 25, 2006

Soccernova78 said:

I haven't heard this ad so I can't make a judgement.
Click to expand...

There's a link to the audio here: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=9878920#post9878920

Soccernova78 · Oct 25, 2006

Knave said:

There's a link to the audio here: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=9878920#post9878920
Click to expand...

Damn. I can't get the audio to work. Do they really sound like jungle drums?

BenReilly · Oct 25, 2006

Soccernova78 said:

I haven't heard this ad so I can't make a judgement. But after the whole "Don't Vote For Harold Ford Because He'll Sleep With White Women" commercial none of the possible motivations behind many of these ads wouldn't surprise me.
Click to expand...

Both ads are disgusting.

Dante · Oct 25, 2006

It sounds like music you'd hear in Lord of the Rings, with the drums beating in anticipation of something bad happening. You can hear the drums better right in the beginning. When I think of "jungle drums" it's something completely different.

dfb547490 · Oct 25, 2006

Dante said:

It sounds like music you'd hear in Lord of the Rings, with the drums beating in anticipation of something bad happening. You can hear the drums better right in the beginning. When I think of "jungle drums" it's something completely different.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I didn't even notice the drums except in the first two seconds or so

PsychedelicCeltic · Oct 26, 2006

Don't know, leaning against this being some sort of jungle drums thing.

Though it's stupid anyway. On what planet is a Penn education a bad thing? WTF?

SixKick · Oct 26, 2006

PsychedelicCeltic said:

On what planet is a Penn education a bad thing?
Click to expand...

The south.

The bimbo ad is even more of a disgrace.

PsychedelicCeltic · Oct 26, 2006

SixKick said:

The south.

The bimbo ad is even more of a disgrace.
Click to expand...

CHUG
CHUG
CHUG
CHUG
aaaaawwww
fine, we'll lose the slaves..but we don't have to read books!

BenReilly · Oct 26, 2006

The NY Times has an interesting article about the bimbo ad:

Critics asserted that the advertisement was a clear effort to play to racial stereotypes and fears, essentially, playing the race card in an election where Mr. Ford is trying to break a century of history and become the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction.

Hilary Shelton, director of the N.A.A.C.P.’s Washington bureau, said the spot took aim at the sensitivities many Americans still have about interracial dating.

John Geer, a professor at Vanderbilt University and a specialist in political advertising, said that it “is playing to a lot of fears” and “frankly makes the Willie Horton ad look like child’s play.”
Click to expand...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/26/us/politics/26tennessee.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The article includes a great line from Harold Ford Jr., "You know your opponent is scared when his main opposition against you is, ‘My opponent likes girls.’ ”

Foosinho · Oct 26, 2006

BenReilly said:

The article includes a great line from Harold Ford Jr., "You know your opponent is scared when his main opposition against you is, ‘My opponent likes girls.’ ”
Click to expand...

Harold is funny. I saw an ad of his recently where he mentioned that "If I had a dog, he'd [my opponent] probably kick him too."

superdave · Oct 26, 2006

What makes the floozy ad worse than even the Jesse Helms-Harvey Gantt "hands" ad is that affirmative action is a legitimate political issue. Sure, Helms addressed the issue in a totally racist way, but at least he was attacking Gantt on an issue. He wasn't attacking Gantt for the mere fact of him being black.

The floozy ad attacks Ford for being black. That's its racist appeal, it's totally personal, not political.

Having had time to think about it, IMO, it's the worst political TV ad I'm aware of.

I put in the "TV" qualifier just so I don't have to make a judgment about Vernon Robinson's "attack" on Brad Miller for marrying a woman who had a hysterectomy and for writing a few items for a blog run by a married father who happens to live near San Francisco. He tried to imply that Esther is Brad's beard and, I guess, that Kos' wife is HIS beard, and the whole child thing is a put on, and Brad and Kos are gay lovers.

argentine soccer fan · Oct 26, 2006

BenReilly said:

The article includes a great line from Harold Ford Jr., "You know your opponent is scared when his main opposition against you is, ‘My opponent likes girls.’ ”
Click to expand...

See, all those closet gays secretly working as Republicans are beggining to make a difference.