Anti-Racism Groups Slam German Ads

[Aeternitas]

Anti-Racism Groups Slam German Ads

"Kent Nagano conducts Wagner" -- charming or tasteless?



Racism in Germany is usually associated with far-right groups and neo-Nazis. But anti-racism campaigners say the country's advertising industry is also guilty of rampant insensitivity towards ethnic minorities.

Plans to stage an African cultural festival in a zoo in the southern German town of Augsburg last month sparked condemnation among the country's anti-racism groups. The incident was given wide coverage in Germany’s mainstream media.

But apart from such one-off controversial events, what hardly receives any attention, according to campaigners, is long-running insensitivity towards ethnic minorities in the country’s advertising industry.

A case in point is a poster (photo, above) created for the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden last year to advertise German composer Richard Wagner’s "Parsifal" performed by acclaimed US conductor Kent Nagano, currently creative head of the German Symphony Orchestra in Berlin. It showed a famous portrait of Wagner, given a pair of arms with the help of a computer, making slanted eyes in an obvious reference to Nagano’s Japanese origins.

The poster, "Kent Nagano Conducts Wagner," didn't even raise an eyebrow in mainstream Germany. But it did catch the attention of advertising industry insiders -- they awarded it a top prize in Berlin earlier this year.

"I think it's tasteless and racist," said Dagmar Yu-Dembski, chairwoman of the German-Chinese friendship society in Berlin, who documents examples of racial stereotypes in the media and advertising. "Highlighting the physical features of Asians in this way is just a cheap ploy to grab attention. The crass reference to Nagano's ethnicity has nothing to do with a classical music concert."

Aki Takase, a well-known Japanese pianist and composer based in Berlin agreed.

"It is shameful that his origins seem to be so much more important in this case than his immense musical talent," Takase said.

Kent Nagano was unavailable for a comment.

Ethnic cliches

Insensitivity to issues of ethnicity is widespread in German advertising, according to campaigners.

Noah So, a prominent black German radio presenter and singer, who founded the group "Der braune Mob," which monitors race issues in the media and advertising, said most Germans think it's perfectly normal to make fun of certain racial minorities.

"In commercials or advertising posters, Asians and blacks are usually used to either give Germans something to laugh about or they’re reduced to ethnic clichés," So said. She referred to a current commercial on MTV Germany for an online music download platform, in which an Asian teenager never manages to buy music by his favorite band, as he can’t utter the letter "r" and keeps saying "Lamones" instead of "Ramones."

Such stereotypes are frequently played upon in German ads. "Asians are usually depicted as small, giggly people who can't pronounce the letter "r" and constantly take photographs, while blacks are shown either as victims in need of donations or as hip DJs," So said.

Norbert Finzsch, a history professor at the University of Cologne, agreed. "The way Africans and African Americans in Germany are perceived and discussed, the way they are presented on billboards and in TV ads proves that the colonialist and racist gaze is still very much alive in Germany," he said in an open letter last month calling for the African cultural festival in the Augsburg zoo not to open.

Selective political correctness?

The allegations might seem surprising given that Germany is known to be particularly careful about relations with its 6.8 million-strong immigrant population, in view of its past.

But anti-racism campaigners suggest that many Germans have a selective concept of political correctness -- an attitude which is perpetuated by advertising, they say.

"Naturally, you won't find any racist or offensive portrayals of Jews or Sinti and Roma people in German advertising, because most Germans are acutely aware that that's off-limits," So said.

Yu-Dembski added that given Germany's large Turkish population of some 1.9 million, the stereotyping of Muslims in commercials is also taboo. "The Asian community, in comparison, is small and almost invisible. There's almost this unspoken agreement that the Asians are the laughing stock in German advertising," she said.

Ad industry denies accusations

The German advertising industry denies accusations of being racially insensitive.

Michael Preiswerk, company board spokesman for the Art Directors Club (ADC), a Berlin-based advertising group that awarded the gold prize to the Wagner poster earlier this year, defended the move.

"It's an excellent poster that goes beyond cultures to form a great work and that very strikingly and succinctly shows Asian culture." He denied it was meant to cause offense. "It's charming and funny and shows openness and multiculturalism," Preiswerk said.

He admitted, however, when asked, that had Nagano been a black American, it would have been "more complicated" to come up with a creative concept.

Volker Nickel, press spokesman of the Deutscher Werberat, an advertising watchdog, also saw the Wagner poster as acceptable. "People who feel directly affected naturally feel upset about such things, but you have to see the advertisement in its entirety," he said.

Though the watchdog has drawn up a list of fundamental rules against discrimination of people in advertising on the basis of ethnicity, race, language and origins among others, it has rarely asked a company to drop an advertisement on those grounds.

Nickel underlined that there had not been any "racist advertisements" in Germany over the 33 years of the industry watchdog's existence, only "questionable" ones and that the country enjoyed high advertising standards.

"There's a great deal of sensitivity in German society and even among companies and people towards other ethnicities -- we really don't need to worry about that," he said. He added that the Werberat received only between one and three cases a year amid some 400-600 complaints about "racist" ads. "It really is a fringe phenomenon," he said.

German reality not just white

Anti-racism groups aren't convinced.

There's agreement that lack of awareness is a big part of the problem -- a sign that the country still needs to make huge strides to become truly multicultural. A further stumbling block is presented by the fact that unlike in the UK and US -- which admittedly also have their own share of racism -- there's no central body or forum in Germany where members of racial minorities can turn when they have a complaint.

Others say that average Germans are also to blame. "In Germany, it's very important for people not to seem racist. But they're more worried about how the British press is referring to them and about Nazi comparisons abroad than about how racial minorities are portrayed in their own country," So said.

She added that, since white people are rarely the target of racial stereotyping, it's almost impossible for white Germans to understand how people of color feel when their ethnicity is ridiculed or portrayed disrespectfully.

"German reality isn’t only white," So said, pointing out that there are some 300,000 black Germans living in Germany today. "But to hear and see the mainstream public sphere in Germany, you’d think that all Germans are white."


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[Laocoon]

I fail to understand what is "racist"... Slanted eyes are common among asians, no? Besides Asians are among the most racist peoples on earth and when they call you "long nose" in your own country it's racist as well (nobody cares though). When Japanese (japanese TV) imitate "whites" by putting a fake pink big nose on them, nobody complains. Asians born with slanted eyes, europeans born with a longer nose than them, well that's what we're and that's one of our specificities.

In other hand, I noticed that asians are the only minority that can be easily mock (in France f.e. it's obvious that they are used to make laugh in advertisements). In fact there is a taboo "racism" (jews, blacks, arabs) and free "racism" (asians). The funnier thing is that those adverstisements are made by the same people who promote anti-racism, tolerance, etc. (but attention, for europeans only).

She added that, since white people are rarely the target of racial stereotyping, it's almost impossible for white Germans to understand how people of color feel when their ethnicity is ridiculed or portrayed disrespectfully.

"German reality isn’t only white," So said, pointing out that there are some 300,000 black Germans living in Germany today. "But to hear and see the mainstream public sphere in Germany, you’d think that all Germans are white."

Germans are the targets of stereotyps (almost racial) when they're compared to nazis and when they've to live with the feeling of the so called guilt. Plus maybe Germans are not as ethnomasochists as we're but generally "whites" are stereotyped as evil by nature and are mocked in adverstisments. But when europeans are concerned it is not racism.
Blacks & cie are not at home in Germany but Germans are, they are still a majority and they should have not to apologize for this so called "racism". Germany "isn't only white" but it should be.

[fael]

...pointing out that there are some 300,000 black Germans living in Germany today...

One daring to propose such an antinomical postulate of shit, dearly deserves to be expelled one day soon to come!

Originally Posted by Duchemin

Germans are the targets of stereotyps (almost racial) when they're compared to nazis and when they've to live with the feeling of the so called guilt.

Yes, just consider how they mock the typological light-blond person, especially when of German ethnicity, for having this >particular< hair-color, which already just in itself is nearly believed to be a decrial of the >6 Million Jews slayed<, thus some wish it would be abandoned completely.

[Aeternitas]

Racism has some rather odd connotations nowadays - just acknowledging that these people are different bothers them. I've said before that just calling someone a 'jew' (when this is indeed the case) can be equated with a racist/anti-semitic attitude. On the other hand, oxymorons like "black Germans", "German Jews", "German gypsies" etc. are perfectly ok. Why? Because, to these people, "German" is something artificial - i.e. something that's written on one's passport, regardless of ethnicity. How can that be a reality? To me, a German is a person of German ethnicity. How can this be otherwise?

[Ederico]

BM is 100% right, I presume it is not simply a case in Germany but all over Europe. In Malta we have "Arab Maltese" "Black Maltese" et cetera. Obviously no Maltese sane in his head would consider such "Maltese" as Maltese as it is correctly, righteously and honestly understood.

Political Correctness is the offspring of Liberalism, and like its parent it is a mask for lies under the guise of respect, tolerance, dignity and other buzzwords used for non-Europeans/Nationals but which aren't accorded to native Europeans. Political Correctness is the opposite of truth and honesty for in fact it stands for falsity and deceit.

[Laocoon]

Originally Posted by fael

Yes, just consider how they mock the typological light-blond person, especially when of German ethnicity, for having this >particular< hair-color, which already just in itself is nearly believed to be a decrial of the >6 Million Jews slayed<, thus some wish it would be abandoned completely.

True, blond hair almost equals nazism. And the blond jokes are famous. I've noticed the same thing happens for redheads. You can easily make fun of a redhead because of his hair colour (but it's just a "joke"), now try to do the same with a negro (it's "racist" for sure).

Originally Posted by Ederico Figallo

BM is 100% right, I presume it is not simply a case in Germany but all over Europe. In Malta we have "Arab Maltese" "Black Maltese" et cetera. Obviously no Maltese sane in his head would consider such "Maltese" as Maltese as it is correctly, righteously and honestly understood.

Hmm, not here. In France we're all French and all equals, there's no difference between me and others "French" who are just a bit more "differents". But "curiously" there are always "French of algerian origin", "French of morrocan origin", "French of black african origin", etc. How curious, we're all french but there's special french. How come? So yeah there's a clear dichotomy between multi-kulti dogmatism and reality. Moreover French, Gemans, etc... clearly equals "native" in their extra-european minds, it's obvious.

I once talked with a turkish guy, I had the feeling that he was mistaken France for USA...

[Gil]

Originally Posted by Aeternitas

It showed a famous portrait of Wagner, given a pair of arms with the help of a computer, making slanted eyes in an obvious reference to Nagano’s Japanese origins.

The article says it all: a reference to the man's japanese origins. Nothing racist about that.

Originally Posted by Aeternitas

"I think it's tasteless and racist," said Dagmar Yu-Dembski, chairwoman of the German-Chinese friendship society in Berlin, who documents examples of racial stereotypes in the media and advertising. "Highlighting the physical features of Asians in this way is just a cheap ploy to grab attention.

Well... publicity/marketing = using cheap ploys to grab attention hence Mr. Dagmar Yu-Dembski is obviously retarded.

Originally Posted by Aeternitas

Noah So, a prominent black German radio presenter and singer, who founded the group "Der braune Mob," which monitors race issues in the media and advertising...

No way! a "black german" monitoring racist behaviour....

Originally Posted by Aeternitas

...while blacks are shown either as victims in need of donations or as hip DJs.

We "radicals and right wing lunatics" call that the MTV generation...

Originally Posted by Aeternitas

Anti-racism groups aren't convinced....

Who f*cking cares what they think?

Originally Posted by Aeternitas

"German reality isn’t only white," So said, pointing out that there are some 300,000 black Germans living in Germany today. "But to hear and see the mainstream public sphere in Germany, you’d think that all Germans are white."

This mate sounds live an inverted version of Nemo....

I'm sorry the German volk have to suffer the atrocity of these "minority groups" and that even people who are creative (like so many ad creators and publicists) have to take this type of crap.

By the way, great post BM