Media Portfolio #8

This is a Sony billboard for the white Sony PSP that is coming out. I am not sure where this billboard is located, but I would take a guess and say somewhere downtown in a big city. There are many different ways racism can be realted to this billboard. I am just going to list some of the things that came to my mind when I first saw the piece then I will realte it to class material.

The background of the billboard is all black.
The black man is dressed in all black, and the white female is dressed in all white.
The white person is a women and black person is a man and she is grabbing the black mans face as though, even though she is a women, she is still white and black rule over blacks.
The way she is grabbing him gave the thought of slavery in a way sort of like I own you and I can do what I want with you.
The way the black man is looking back at her, is like I know you own me and that is why I am extremly scared of you.
Lastly, the way she is looking at him is like he did something wrong and now she is going to do something to hurt him

You can realate is billboard to the way privledge and opperession is discussed in Johnson chapter 2. Johnson states, "Privledge exists when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply becuase of the groups they belong to, rather than because of anything they've done or failed to do." This billboard is rehiterating that whites are privledged and blacks are not. This shows that by having the white women grabing the black man by the face and having him look like he is scared instead of having him be mad at her. Another why it shows privlege is because think about it, if you were a black person and you saw this billboard in a city you most likely would not buy the product. Well, what is being advertised on this billboard is a very expensive video game system. There is already a black colored PSP out, so this is trying to make sure everyone knows there is a white one coming out. I highly doubt any black person would want to buy this product after seeing this billboard, but it brings a question to mind. Why did Sony put a billboard like if they are trying to maximize their profit off this product? By having this shown they are losing most of their black audience in that city. I think that because the product is so expensive, the marketing of the product was done with the thought that blacks would not even be able to spend the amount of money on a PSP therefore we should leave them out anyways. It is a very interesting way of marketing.

I think that this is a very interesting billboard and I would love to sit down and hear what a black persons point of view on it is. I also thought of one other thing while analyzing it. What if the roles would have been reversed? It would have made for a totally different type of marketing scheme.This class has helped me notice little things such as billboards like this have.