Stuff you hate (aka: the new f. you thread)

[yesno]

Siri, play some Durst.

[Smelodies]

I also can't stand how in the new IPhone Siri commerical, the black dude has gotta say "Play some Coltrane".

Would you prefer he say, "Play some Stan Kenton"?

[dave from knoxville]

I also can't stand how in the new IPhone Siri commerical, the black dude has gotta say "Play some Coltrane".

Would you prefer he say, "Play some Stan Kenton"?

"Fix a sandwich for Kenny G"

[Steve of Bloomington]

sudo fix a sandwich for Kenny G

[KickTheBobo]

I also can't stand how in the new IPhone Siri commerical, the black dude has gotta say "Play some Coltrane".

Would you prefer he say, "Play some Stan Kenton"?

I wish they would have went with the more obvious/ obnoxious "Play some 'Bird'".

[Smelodies]

Now when the white guy says play some white music, you have no problem with it, but when a black guy says play some black music, it's offensive?  I'm not really getting what they should have done with this guy, enlighten me, Bobo.

[KickTheBobo]

Now when the white guy says play some white music, you have no problem with it, but when a black guy says play some black music, it's offensive?  I'm not really getting what they should have done with this guy, enlighten me, Bobo.

I'm sorry, I've been away for awhile. Who the fuck are you again?

It's not offensive. I couldn't give a shit either way. It's just one of those little annoying things that a person complains about on internet message boards.

[JonFromMaplewood]

Now when the white guy says play some white music, you have no problem with it, but when a black guy says play some black music, it's offensive?  I'm not really getting what they should have done with this guy, enlighten me, Bobo.

I'm sorry, I've been away for awhile. Who the fuck are you again?

It's not offensive. I couldn't give a shit either way. It's just one of those little annoying things that a person complains about on internet message boards.

I'm with KickTheBobo on this.  Any fulfillment of group stereotypes in the media are annoying. Perhaps not offensive, but annoying. Such portrayals are the enemy of the Individual.  When I see two women in a commercial do something like conspire behind their husbands' backs to go on a shopping spree, or I see an Italian family all slapping each other on the shoulder and hugging around a table full of food, or I see a guy planning out his man-cave, I shudder a little.  Nothing offensive has happened, but it is a little sad.

[Andy]

Like it or not, stereotypes are typically based in at least a little fact. The Coltrane thing is annoying though, for reasons I can't put my finger on.

[buffcoat]

We're not gonna fall for no banana in a tail pipe.

[Chris L]

Like it or not, stereotypes are typically based in at least a little fact. The Coltrane thing is annoying though, for reasons I can't put my finger on.

Because of Gene Hackman in Royal Tenenbaums?

[JonFromMaplewood]

Like it or not, stereotypes are typically based in at least a little fact. The Coltrane thing is annoying though, for reasons I can't put my finger on.

I was not suggesting that stereotypes are arbitrary.  Heuristics (as opposed to algorithms) are the predominant decision-making tool of humans, and stereotypes are the necessary - and often beneficial - result of those heuristics.  But I do not have to like them when they are employed in advertising to target individuals, as you point out.

[Chris L]

I find it annoying he doesn't specify WHICH Coltrane tracks he wants to hear. Giant Steps? Ascension? Makes no difference, I guess.

[cavorting with nudists]

"“Remind me to get milk when I leave work.” Milk? Jeez, could you get more predictable?

[Smelodies]

Again, a similarly positioned white actor could have said Coltrane, Madonna, The Beatles, or Beethoven, and none of those choices would have been deemed stereotypical or inappropriate. 

Which artist would have been more acceptable for the African American actor to say?