Everyone agrees that stereotypes are wrong but there are a few floating around that most black people don’t take much offense to. In fact, some stereotypes are more a badge of honor for black culture than racial bigotry.

Not only are many black people proud to proclaim these commonly held notions, but if a white person affirms her belief in this lore, you’ll pat her on the back for finally getting it right, thinking “now that’s a cool white person.”

And here they are, black people’s favorite stereotypes:

Sometimes I think Black folks are in a no win situation.  We are damned if we do and we are damned if we don’t.

Take for instance, Debra Lee. Man, the last couple of years have been very bad for her. After taking over the helm in 2005 as H.N.I.C from Robert Johnson, who sold the company and the integrity of BET to Viacom, Lee has been charged with taking all the original programming and transforming it into a steady diet of offensive stereotypes and cheap entertainment for the TV watching audience. And after successfully producing one of the worst Michael Jackson tributes ever during the even more shame-worthy BET awards, Lee topped herself by following through with the premieres of Frankie and Nette and the Tiny and Toya shows.

The backlash came swift. Letters and blog posts were written, anti-B.E.T songs were produced and boycotts were organized.  Folks around the blogosphere expressed their disdain for BET and its usage of hyper sexualized, misogynistic, materialism under the flagship of Black entertainment. They pleaded with Lee to do us a solid and start producing more relevant programming, which presents Black folks in a more positive light.

Hearing the concerns, Lee and BET havebeen trying to get its act together, albeit slowly. Recently it has taken a new approach to improve the brand by researching what their viewers wanted to see.  Of course, the answer was more family-oriented programming. In the last decade or so, the black family has been largely missing from prime time and more than anything, viewers wanted to bring back the golden era of black television which is best represented byThe Cosby Show. So being good stewards to the Black community, BET created a lineup of more family-oriented shows such as “Reed Between the Lines” and “Let’s Stay Together.”

And so far it appears to be working as “Let’s Stay Together,” a romantic comedy involving a contemporary relationships that debuted in January, has averaged around 3 million viewers, helping the network score its biggest ratings in history. And the premiere of “Reed between the Lines,” a new show starring Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Tracee Ellis Ross doing their best Cosby Show impersonation, has pulled in solid numbers since its debut. It seems that things are starting to turn around for the station, and more importantly Lee, who has certainly taken a beating in the Black press.  Not so fast.

Despite BET’s noble attempt to change the face of Black entertainment, its wildly popular sister-network VH1 continues to capture the attention of Black America. It first started out with shows like Flavor of Love and I Love New York and has now expanded into Basketball Wives, Basketball Wives LA and Love & Hip Hop. Both Wives shows and Love & Hip-Hop have been a ratings bonanza for the station.  The network released stats showing that the season finale of Basketball Wives LA drew over 4 million viewers. And the second season premier of “Love & Hip Hop” scored equally high in the 18-49 demographic, making it the most watched episode out of the two seasons. In short, the tawdry agenda of seeing black folks backbiting and backstabbing, which is taboo on B.E.T, has become perfectly acceptable must-see TV on VH1.

By Alexis Garrett Stodghill

Summer’s Eve has removed its three “Hail to the V” commercials from its web site and YouTube channel, AdWeek is reporting, in response to a national backlash. The jive-talking black hand depicting an African-American vagina did not sit too well with the feminine products market. Nor did the saucy misrepresentation of a Latina vagina. Both reinforced racial stereotypes that ad executives assumed would be entertaining. Summers Eve in reality did a lot of offending, and ended up being mocked by “The Colbert Report.” Now that’s good branding.

AdWeek details the latest moves of Summer’s Eve as it tries to backpedal from this disaster:

Under pressure, agency and client stood by the videos last week, with agency founder Stan Richards saying they were meant to be “relatable,” not stereotypical. But on Wednesday, Richards PR executive Stacie Barnett told Adweek that the criticism had begun to overshadow the message and goal of the larger campaign—to educate women about their anatomy and break down taboos in talking about it—and that the online videos had to go.

“Stereotyping or being offensive was not our intention in any way, shape, or form,” said Barnett. “The decision to take the videos down is about acknowledging that there’s backlash here. We want to move beyond that and focus on the greater mission.”

Agency and client had expected the campaign to be provocative, Barnett said, but for its frank talk about female anatomy, not for any racial issues. [...] “We do not think they are stereotypical, nor did we obviously intend that. However, it’s a subjective point of view,” said Barnett. “There seems to be an important perception out there that they may be, and we would never want to perpetuate that.”

It’s utterly maddening that these culture creators could be so blithe about the perceived nature of what is stereotypical. Their complete ignorance of these issues allowed such offensive ads to make it into the public arena, harming their client and disturbing audiences. Barnett is not in a position now to call the ire they stimulated “subjective.” These opinions came from the audience they claim to want to educate. In actuality, this audience is educating The Richards Group ad firm, which made this mess, on what stereotyping is. Perhaps its leaders should shut up and listen.

Another good idea: clearly apologize to women of color, hire more people of color in decision-making positions at this firm, and keep it moving.

As I pointed out in my previous essay, the stream of skewed portrayals of black women in ads stems from the fact that virtually zero people of color work in the industry in powerful capacities. The defensive and dismissive words of this ad group’s PR exec illustrate the need for integration. If those who are still in control of the main apparatus of cultural production can’t tell what a stereotype is in the 21st century, they need to hire some help.

No, not “The Help.” No more background servitude, secretly empowering the master. Ad firms need to hire well-paid managers of color who can raise a red flag about race issues current leaders may never understand. Otherwise, racism in advertising will continue, perpetuating the same crap in a new century.

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.)

(The Grio) — Today, more than 25 years later, there’s still a great need to publicly celebrate women of color who are “doin it for themselves”. When it comes to public portrayals and representations in the media, black women have been known to get the short end of the stick, often being cast as villains or scapegoats rather than successful career women and girl power gurus, as Franklin and Lennox once did. From “loud” to “angry” to just plain “unattractive”, we’ve had to face a whole host of negative labels and stereotypes that have surfaced about us and our abilities, some of them with deep-seeded cultural and historical roots.  That’s why it’s so refreshing to hear about the findings of Katherine Phillips, an associate professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and an expert in workplace diversity. She recently presented data as a visiting scholar at the Stanford Graduate School of Business demonstrating that black women are actually excelling in education and business, due at least in part to the ways that we are publicly portrayed in popular culture and the media.

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