Liberal Serving

New Sony PSP Viral Advertising Targets Closet Klanners

If you're going to titillate all the white supremacists, say it with fashion models. Sony's pulled the billboard above, citing a "whoops" and claiming ignorance.

A billboard ad in the campaign -- which Sony said was launched in the first week of June and created locally and exclusively for the Dutch market -- portrayed a white woman aggressively grabbing the face of a black woman and read "PlayStation Portable White is Coming."

Sony said that the Netherlands campaign intended to highlight the color contrast between the existing black PSP and the new ceramic white PSP.

Instead, the ad campaign riled California Assemblyman Leland Yee, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and a youth civil rights education project called Sojourn to the Past.

Go figure. Reuters goes on to remind readers of Sony's past use of viral marketing, giving the lesson that:

Each of Sony's controversial PSP campaigns has created massive buzz in the Internet blogosphere -- which can work to the company's advantage.

So they probably don't care that Yee and countless other folks are outraged and offended. Aside from the closet racists who are just itching to run through the streets crying "White is Coming" sullen, oblivious teens who need to be beaten about the brain with fashion model mid-drift are obviously a prime Sony marketing target. Well, put that grey matter to work fighting the hegemon and buy a Nintendo instead.

Famous Drag Artist Kevin Aviance Queer-Bashed. Attackers Behind Bars

Gregory Archie, Akino George, Jarell Sears and an unidentified 16 year-old are in custody for first-degree assault-as-a-hate crime charges after beating famed signer and drag artist Kevin Aviance this weekend:

Aviance was walking home about 1 a.m. Saturday after leaving a bar on East 13th Street when he was attacked. In an interview in his hospital room yesterday, Mr. Aviance, who has recorded several chart-topping hits, said he might have been attacked by only four people.

If you don't know NYC well, East 13th street is an extremely safe, queer-friendly area. Aviance was not in drag at the time (the Times took pains to describe his plain, non-homosexual clothing) so the photos above might be a bit misleading (however fabulous they are - I'm not about to post the photo of Aviance in a hospital bed looking fucked up). Every queerbashing is shocking - Dwan Prince struck particularly close to home for me - but bashings in queer friendly neighborhoods is hard to believe.

It's a sick sad world - even here in NYC. Photo via queenmothertv.

For A Visual Definition of "Platitude," Click Below

May I be so bold to suggest that this expensive pile of nothing is perhaps not so effective a tool to educate anyone about race.?Perhaps. Blackademic commenters have identified some ugly (!) subordinate classist and beauty facism messages, but even if you ignore them, this spot is at best ineffective. White America already knows racism is "bad" so it's not like they check "racist" on their mental demographic survey. They aren't go to identify with the word, think, "AHA! Racism IS bad. People will think less of me if am racist, so I should CHANGE!" No, people - even racist people - are more sophisticated than that. So is (good) commerical advertising.

Call someone on a racist (or sexist, classist or homophobic) comment and you'll get the message that joe asshole doesn't believe he's "a" racist (or sexist, classist or homophobic). [by the way, these are adjectives. using them as nouns implies they are essential characteristics, and that's not very optimistic. People can change. Ok, you won't see it, but if we want social change, we should at least hold out some hope].

The thesis of this spot is something like "racism is bad, and you wouldn't want people to think you are bad." Not a very profound argument in my opinion. It's the same problem with 2005's best film [sic] Crash. Trite fluff like this does nothing to deconstruct oppression or educate the sincerely ignorant. They make some people feel better - but lets be honest, they're really a toothless gesture made so safe that they don't accomplish anything jsut so we can all feel like we're doing something about racism. Without actually doing anything. The UN apparantly spend a lot of money on that slick spot - money they could have spent actually helping people.

Advertising and PR can be so powerful - just look at how much Coke and Pepsi are consumed world-wide. Why do the do-gooders always go for the softball advertising? Show me a series of ads depicting institutionalized racism in action (or like another poster did - just some Katrina/New Orleans aftermath footage). Something that would show people the mechanisms - the reality of how discrimination still happens everyday in our country. That would change some minds - or at least stir up some conversation.

via feministe

 

Celebrating the Ressurection of Jesus With the "Tradional Easter Gay Yell"

Click the pick to see this ridiculous story (kinda buried after a lukewarm Laura Bush impersonation - stick to the jokes, Mr. Stewart, for us fans) about the Bushies keeping queer families away from the annual White House Easter Egg Hunt photo op. On onegoodmove.

Gay Iranian Survived Torture and Rape: faces Deporatation for More of the same

Heart-wrenching story of a queer Iranian who's facing deportation - back to Iran, where he'll face possible execution, and definitely no warm homecoming.

Saba Rawi is a 30-year-old gay Iranian now facing imminent deportation back to the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Netherlands.

Saba, who lived in the northern Iranian city of Rashd, was arrested for kissing his boyfriend on the street-the boyfriend was able to flee arrest. Saba was tortured by the police and raped by a police officer, who, using the threat of a prison term, blackmailed Saba into signing a letter saying he was not harmed by the police and that his rape was at the hands of others. Saba signed the letter under this horrific pressure-and then managed to flee Iran.

Really awful. If you have it in you...

We also ask our readers to take five minutes to phone, fax, e-mail, or write immediately on Saba's behalf to H.E. Boudewijn J. van Eenennaam, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, at The Royal Netherlands Embassy, 4200 Linnean Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008. The phone number is 202-244-5300; the fax number is 202-362-3430. The ambassador can be reached via e-mail at webmaster@netherlands-embassy.org.

via Pam Spaulding

Gay Porn = Torture At Guantanamo

Queer Arabs reports that gay porn is the latest trend in torture at Guantanamo:

Last evening I went to observe an interview of __ with __. The adjoining room, observable from the monitoring booth, was occupied by 2 DHS investigators showing a detainee homosexual porn movies and using a strobe light in the room. We moved our interview to a different room! We've heard that DHS interrogators routinely identify themselves as FBI Agents and then interrogate a detainee for 16-18 hours using tactics as described above and others (wrapping in Israeli flag, constant loud music, cranking the A/C down, etc). The next time a real Agent tries to talk to that guy, you can imagine the result.

Yahoo freedom, etc.

More Abu Graib Images

Pround to be a Fucking American, huh? More on Kos, via Turbanhead.

James Dobson's Ten Reasons Why Not...or Bestiality!

Crackhead James Dobson's Top Ten List of Reasons gay marriage will destroy America is a fun ride:

1. The legalization of homosexual marriage will quickly destroy the traditional family, confusing young people about sexual identity, lifelong commitments, emotional bonding, sexual purity and the role of children.  Legalization will also lead to polygamy, bestiality and other alternatives to man-woman unions.

Good Fucking Grief! You led with the bestiality slippery slope - that's your best material, and you really should have saved it for the finale. I think it's fair to conclude that - within your logic, or lack thereof - that gay marriage will cause immediate child bestiality. Oh, and explain again how supporting gay relationships would confuse anyone about lifelong commitments, emotional bonding or the role of children (if anything, it would clear that topic up, but that's just my two cents). Would gay parents expect the kids to go out and win the bread?  Nice spice with the queer parents=slutty kids jab. Stupid, baseless, irrelevant, but oh so vivid an image. You've obviously got visions of Jonbenet Ramsey dancing in your head.

via Proceed at Your Own Risk. Thanks Sean!

Redefining "Red State:" Where they Kill The Gays

Might be too small to read, so let me reiterate that the red countries not only criminalize Homosexuality, but throw in the death penalty.  No one's in a rush to visit these red states, but there's plenty of salmony-taupe on tourists' radar.  Please remember to pack beards when traveling outside the blue.

I hope It's the Enemies, and not the Friends

So everyone with a website wants to rank high on google searches.  But is this a contest I want to win?