By Alexis Garrett Stodghill
The new “Hail to the V” ad campaign from Summer’s Eve is the latest in a recent string of ads that stereotype blacks, particularly black women, in the most disturbing of ways. The campaign is comprised of three different ads, each depicting a woman’s vagina — talking as a vertical “mouthing” hand. That sounds bad enough, but what makes the “Hail to the V” campaign disgusting is how the race and culture of each lady part of color is made aggressively clear. While the white hand gets to talk in an educated voice about wholesome things like going to the gym, the black hand talks about weaves and hitting the club — and the Latina hand? She derides her owner’s tacky leopard thong in a string of Spanish-laced saucy talk. Really Summer’s Eve?
Truly, this level of racial stereotyping has to be seen to be believed. Exhibit A — The black vagina squawks:
From the “neck swivel” of the black vajayjay’s wrist, to the use of non-existent urban slang made up by ad agency executives who likely have never watched an episode of “Girlfriends,” this travesty of communication packs a whopper of black female cooning. Why didn’t they throw in a reference to waiting in line for your welfare check and keeping your “V” fresh after chasing down your baby daddy? I bet that’s already in the works for the follow-up.
Exhibit B — Oh those fiery Latinas!
I truly could not believe my ears when I heard this accent. Having lived in New York City for 16 years, and knowing many Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Mexicans and Peruvians personally, I have never heard anyone talk like this. This is a Latina accent on crystal meth. And you have to wonder why. If this ad was meant to appeal to Latinas, why not depict said woman’s Latina vagina talking in a realistic way? (Okay, I know that doesn’t make any sense, but you have to work with me in this absurd context.)
