accidental racism

Are Kia Soul Ads Racist?

Is it only me that finds the Kia Soul commercials racist? First, they name it the Soul, then they had rats driving around an urban hood, dressed with hoodies and backward caps, listening to rap music. The recent commercials show them working out, then putting on the ritz. I don’t know…If I named a car Soul, and made it all about being cool in the hood, I would NOT use rodents to depict the people. And people had a problem with a Chihauhua as spokesman for Taco Bell? Just saying.

These are collected from various websites including The Chive. I want to explain that while they are funny, racism is not. Accidental racism occurs, hopefully, because the ones that do it are unaware since they don’t think in terms of race. If they are doing it because they really are racist, all the better to point it out. Although I am caucasion (mixed from hundreds of races as most Americans are) of indeterminate origin (I have not looked myself up on Ancestry.com) I have experienced blatant racism while living in Hawaii. My wife had a difficult time finding work because several employers told her they would not hire her because she was white. (most businesses in Hawaii are asian held, the largest population is Japanese in origin) At schools, they had ‘kill a haole day’. Haole being roughly equivalent of the ‘n’ word, but for white people. So, I know first hand how horrible racism is, not just as a concept. With that preamble, hopefully this post will serve two purposes; 1) to be funny; and 2) to make all of us a bit more sensitive so we can avoid accidental racism.