Is this offensive?

[Archer841]

Got sent this by my boss.
Would you be offended?

In the same way as mentioning "my friend Stacey" is less uncomfortable as "my black friend Stacey"

But if the 2nd last face was white too then it wouldnt make sense!
Plus it would be damm offensive to use a 'white' face for Obama wouldnt it? Kind of dismissing the fact he wasnt white. Why would anyone make out that he was?

@Mummoomoocow culturally, many have a long history of using satire and humour to point out the unacceptable.

In this case it’s very proper to visually represent Obama’s colour because it is done to make the point that it took that long for the USA to elect a president who was a person of colour.

There are several things to note from that visual:

• where are the women?
• where are the younger people?
• where are the people of colour?

Trump as clown is only one part of this.

It’s absolutely right to highlight Obama’s colour, to make the point that it took that long.

@Willow2017 and agree with you it would otherwise be offensive to white face Obama!

A yellow emoji isn't white

I understand everyone's view completely, I understand why the brown faced emoji was used I just don't feel it was necessary in making the joke about trump. You get the same punchline from this:

😧😧😧😧etc🤡

Regardless of if it's offensive or not , it's very unprofessional as a boss to send this to an employee

But if you showed us a picture of Stacey and said that her glasses, sweater or coat was nice, we would still see that Stacey was a black woman, you would not be pointing it out or referring to her race, it's just there in the picture and if you somehow tried to disguise the fact that she wasn't white, that would be more wrong than just showing the picture.

Just like in the cartoon. It's absolutely nothing about Barack Obama or his race, but about Trump. The pictures show nothing more than a cartoonish man, 43 of them white, and one black, plus the clown to signify Trump.

The fact that all but one US presidents have been white and male is irrelevant to the joke, but you can't get away from the fact that one was not when showing a pictoral representation of them all, you can see this.

.

It isn’t yellow in the OP’s post, it’s flesh coloured.

Your yellow emoji fails to highlight the age of the other presidents. It also removes the possibility to make the important point about gender.

You sound like you’re trying to be professionally offended on Obama’s behalf. He might say - why do you think it’s a problem for me to be represented as a person of colour?

Not offensive in the slightest. I think people are missing the fact that the joke is the clown. All the other faces just represent men. One is black because that is factually correct. Using that particular emoji for Obama is not trying to make a point at all, and I don't understand why anyone would feel uncomfortable about it being used.

The joke is the clown. That is all.

Ellisandra you've made some good points, also I realised my phone was in night mode so the screen yellowed.

I think I'd come to that viewpoint from being online and having conversations on other platforms with people has tunnelled my vision towards things that may become or be considered controversial. I guess like having a heightened awareness to things otherwise normal? Still not being concise sorry

I cannot believe that people think it's in any way inappropriate, offensive or uncomfortable to represent white men with a white man emoji and black men with a black man emoji. If it were artistically drawn sketches of the actual presidents and a clown would you still find it offensive? Or would you expect them all to be drawn the same then? In yellow? It's almost like the fact that Obama is black should be whispered or shouldn't be represented? That is much more unacceptable and uncomfortable. It's really tedious when people insist on bringing race into everything.

In the same way as mentioning "my friend Stacey" is less uncomfortable as "my black friend Stacey"
If you had a photo of your friend while you said it then you wouldnt need to say what colour she was! It would be stating the bloody obvious.

You get the same punchline from this:
😧😧😧😧etc🤡
No you dont its just a line of identical emojis, and I would say its bloody offensive to anyone in the line up who isnt actually 'white'! Lets face it nobody is actually 'white' they are varying shades of 'off white'/cream/pink etc. Nobody has a purely 'white' face. Just as people of colour are a variety of shades. Its what makes us all different in a good way.

I think I'd come to that viewpoint from being online and having conversations on other platforms with people has tunnelled my vision towards things that may become or be considered controversial. I guess like having a heightened awareness to things otherwise normal?

So basically you're on of those 'woke' people?

One*^

Presumably you're a member of the Professionally Offended Society, OP. Otherwise, I see nothing offensive about it at all.

I think I'd come to that viewpoint from being online and having conversations on other platforms with people has tunnelled my vision towards things that may become or be considered controversial. I guess like having a heightened awareness to things otherwise normal?

So actively searching for any possible way to find offence where there is none?!