Have You Noticed…?

…how many Pampers AND Huggies TV commercials have NO BLACK BABIES in them?

I saw this Huggies commercial today and the ABSENCE of black babies stood out like a white thumb…

BLACK BABIES ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND VALUABLE BABIES IN THE WORLD

Which reminded me of a commercial in December 2010 called, “Pampers Peace On Earth Commercial” where they played the lullaby “Silent Night” while showing pictures of babies from all over the world but NOT ONE BLACK BABY out of the dozen that were shown. (Obviously black and African babies are not included in any ‘peace on earth’)

BLACK BABIES ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND VALUABLE BABIES IN THE WORLD

And here’s a Huggies commercial with a “Spanish” flavor

BLACK BABIES ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND VALUABLE BABIES IN THE WORLD

And another Huggies commercial with a non-white baby and his family

BLACK BABIES ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND VALUABLE BABIES IN THE WORLD

And another one where the BLACK FEMALE (apparently) had a baby with a WHITE MALE

BLACK BABIES ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND VALUABLE BABIES IN THE WORLD

How could a disposable diaper TV commercial (in ‘post-racial america’) NOT have ONE BLACK BABY — I mean a BLACK baby who does NOT have a white parent — considering the amount of money black folk spend on PAMPERS and HUGGIES?

Just consider this post — ECONOMIC WAKE-UP CALL #1 — one MORE piece of evidence that shows how little RESPECT  white companies have for OUR BLACK DOLLARS — and our BLACK BABIES.

Whenever I bring up the missing black children (who are brown and dark-skinned) and the absence of black families, and black couples, and black mothers and fathers with their children on TV commercials and in advertising there is a lot of shoulder shrugging and comments like, “what’s the big deal?”

And I tell them that it’s NOT just about being invisible in these ads, it’s about the black BUSINESSES that are NOT making money and CANNOT hire black people because these white companies surely aren’t using black advertising agencies and black models if there are NO black people in the ads.

I also think there is a psychological benefit for the white supremacist system when blacks are invisible in advertising, because it programs black people to identify with those white people in the ads. We should not underestimate the power of suggestion

Showing mostly white people — including white babies — causes us (AND our children) to identify with white people, white children, and white babies because they are presented as the NORM, meaning they have VALUE — while the “invisible people” have NONE

What did Michael Jackson want so badly that he was driven to create his own “Never land?”  I believe he wanted to be like those white children he saw on TV, who had the perfect parents, the perfect family, and the perfect life (in comparison to his own imperfect and abusive one), and I believe that is why he surrounded himself with the type of (white and light) children he wished he’d been born as.

We are literally growing thousands of Michael Jacksons in our homes, right under our noses, who have been programmed by the TV and the movies to believe being white is just “better”

Just to be clear, I’m not advocating boycotting these products because that’s not realistic. We don’t have black-owned diaper companies as an alternative to buying Huggies and Pampers.  Then again, is it feasible to use cloth diapers? I’m sure they’re healthier (if they’re cotton) but definitely a lot more work and more trips to the laundry.

And that is the crux of changing HOW we spend our money:  how much sacrifice are we willing to make?

Are we willing to give up Disney World in Florida as a vacation spot?

Are we willing to forgo that quick trip to buy fried fish (of unknown quality) from that Arab fish place and take that extra 30 minutes to fry our own fish that goes into our children’s stomachs?

Are we willing to travel an extra mile to avoid giving our money to a merchant (white or non-white) who follows us around the store OR sells inferior merchandise?

Are we willing to do our own nails or wait that extra hour or so to go to a black beauty salon instead of the Korean shop where the owner and workers roll their eyes at us behind our backs?

Are we willing — as black business men and women — to work on overcoming our own ANTI-BLACKNESS — and treat our black customers with the same respect we want when we go into a store?

What are we — as black consumers who are RAPIDLY LOSING OUR CONSUMER DOLLARS — willing to do to get out of this terrible condition?

we can talk about boycotting a few companies here and there but what are we going to do about building our OWN?

It’s time for a BLACK ECONOMIC REVOLUTION THAT WILL CHANGE THE WAY WE THINK AND THE WAY WE MAKE AND SPEND OUR DOLLARS. 

If you think this post is CONSTRUCTIVE, please share the link with others!