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Oct 2, 2013
Racism in a Cellcom ad (videos)
Racism is still a problem in Israel. And not just in certain religious sectors. It is a general problem. The following ad is a good example..
It is a new ad by Cellcom, the mobile service provider, for a free phone line for a year for existing customers.
Looks fine to you? It did to me as well. But it has generated complaints. The ad is framed around a unit of Golani soldiers. The troubling thing about it is that the soldiers are all extremely white. They all look ashkenazi. In reality, the Golani unit, like all IDF units, is a tremendous mix of soldiers from all backgrounds and skin colors, including sefardim from all countries, Ethiopians, Yemenites, along with ashkenazim. Yet nobody but a pure white ashkenazi is depicted in Cellcom's ad. It seems they think dark-skinned sefardim isn't a good sell for a phone line.
I typed the word "Golani" into Youtube and selected 3 random videos of real-life Golani units. Here they are:
(no need to watch the entire clips, unless you want to. Just click around to different time spots in each video)
You can see clearly that the Golani unit in real life has plenty of dark-skinned soldiers.
And obviously Cellcom was not filming a real Golani unit but was using actors. However, by choosing only "pale-face" actors, they are making a statement that they think ashkenazi actors sell better than sefardi actors. Even by depicting imagery that has nothing to do with reality.
If you think I am making a big deal of nothing, it was actually soldiers in a Golani unit that saw it and got upset. One former Golani soldier wrote in NRG about the ad that when he was a soldier in the mid-90s, he had a commander who was a Druze, one that was Moroccan, some were ashkenaz, one was a new oleh from Russia - and they all spoke the same language - Golani.... there were descendants of Russian immigrants, French, Brazil.. all together defending Israel. Each Friday they prayed in a different nusach, and each Shabbat when the families came they devoured the food no matter which ethnicity the dish came from... He goes on saying how in Lebanon the huddled together to stay warm in the freezing nights and nobody cared which ethnicity someone was or what the color of his skin was...
Among most people there probably is not much racism. Many people in Israel seem to know how to look past that, though surely there is still plenty of racism. Among many community leaders racism seems to be a problem,, and it seems to be a problem in marketing as well.
It is a new ad by Cellcom, the mobile service provider, for a free phone line for a year for existing customers.
Looks fine to you? It did to me as well. But it has generated complaints. The ad is framed around a unit of Golani soldiers. The troubling thing about it is that the soldiers are all extremely white. They all look ashkenazi. In reality, the Golani unit, like all IDF units, is a tremendous mix of soldiers from all backgrounds and skin colors, including sefardim from all countries, Ethiopians, Yemenites, along with ashkenazim. Yet nobody but a pure white ashkenazi is depicted in Cellcom's ad. It seems they think dark-skinned sefardim isn't a good sell for a phone line.
I typed the word "Golani" into Youtube and selected 3 random videos of real-life Golani units. Here they are:
(no need to watch the entire clips, unless you want to. Just click around to different time spots in each video)
You can see clearly that the Golani unit in real life has plenty of dark-skinned soldiers.
And obviously Cellcom was not filming a real Golani unit but was using actors. However, by choosing only "pale-face" actors, they are making a statement that they think ashkenazi actors sell better than sefardi actors. Even by depicting imagery that has nothing to do with reality.
If you think I am making a big deal of nothing, it was actually soldiers in a Golani unit that saw it and got upset. One former Golani soldier wrote in NRG about the ad that when he was a soldier in the mid-90s, he had a commander who was a Druze, one that was Moroccan, some were ashkenaz, one was a new oleh from Russia - and they all spoke the same language - Golani.... there were descendants of Russian immigrants, French, Brazil.. all together defending Israel. Each Friday they prayed in a different nusach, and each Shabbat when the families came they devoured the food no matter which ethnicity the dish came from... He goes on saying how in Lebanon the huddled together to stay warm in the freezing nights and nobody cared which ethnicity someone was or what the color of his skin was...
Among most people there probably is not much racism. Many people in Israel seem to know how to look past that, though surely there is still plenty of racism. Among many community leaders racism seems to be a problem,, and it seems to be a problem in marketing as well.
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Wow, that really did stand out to me. White ashkenazim are a minority in Golani, certainly not these babyfaced actors. If it was a tank unit, that's another story. Rafi, this is in fact a combination of discrimination and prejudice in showbiz. White folks send their kids to be models and actors, sepharadim usually do not in the same ratio. 2) white and blonde looks better around the world, even in the Haredi advertisements which disgust me. I do not know many blonde Haredi boys but they seem to exist all over food and kupat holim advertisements. NEVER, will you get 'black' kids.
ReplyDeleteOf course, you probably also noticed that at the end before they all put on their berets, there are no religious soldiers either.
Cellcom - the choice of the wasps.
My assumption is the customers they are targeting are WHITE ASHKENAZIM with the bucks.
ReplyDeleteThe racism is in Tel Aviv. The fancy production studios for advertisements, the kind that a large company like Cellcom would use, are all staffed by white ashkenazym. And the kids that can afford (very low pay and few opportunities for work) to layabout and be actors for such advertisements are almost all white ashkenazym. And very few (probably very close to zero) are dati.
ReplyDeleteIn this evenings newspaper, there is a full page add with still photo of the final scene. All the soldiers are clearly white secular 'tzfoni' looking. Not even one dati, sefardi or even 'Russian'.
ReplyDeleteI think it should be illegal to use army insignias for commercial purposes. Period.
ReplyDelete