This was the thought that ran through my head as I read Kelsey Johnston's post, Approved by YiaYia, which talked about Kraft's advertising of their new product Athenos (hummus).
Kraft's spokeswoman for this product is a cantankerous old Greek grandmother who blasts all of her family's life choices, except for their choice of hummus. These ads have created a bit of controversy in the Greek community as some are upset that it stereotypes Greek elders and is an unfair and unrealistic depiction. Other blogs like AdFreak ran this story with the headline, "Bitchy old women promoting Kraft hummus. The blog later said this in Kraft's defense...
Jill Baskin, director of advertising at Kraft, says the brand means no offense. "While these ads may be controversial, for the most part people will see them for the light-hearted fun they are having," she says. "Any Greek Americans we ran them by thought they were really funny."
HERE'S MY QUESTION
HAVE WE BECOME SO SENSITIVE TO BEING POLITICALLY CORRECT THAT WE INHIBIT MARKETER'S FREEDOM OF SPEECH?
Let me first say this...I am a white male, which means that in the Oppression Olympics, I always finish in last place. But being PC has gotten so ridiculous to me that I feel like marketer's today can't make ANY ad that doesn't piss SOMEONE off.
When I see these ads, I don't see issues of race, I see the values of OLD PEOPLE. Am I the only person who had traditional Christian grandparents? That's who I think of when I see this...not racial stereotypes.
See for yourself
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
~Z
Interesting campaign. I can see that those ads created some controversy. It seems Kraft did not consider the local culture too much. They have tested the ads with Greek Americans but maybe not in Greece. So the lesson would be that humor cannot be adopted that easily in other cultures.
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