To wonder why this Sainsbury's ad received more backlash than the other?

[SingularFirefly]

Both are Christmas ads with families celebrating Christmas. Only, when the first one was released, it received numerous complaints. Though, when the second one was released, it didn't receive any.

For the life of me, I can't tell what the differences are between the two. Why did people complain about the first one, but not the other? Many even went as far as boycotting the supermarket, though no one said the same about the ad with the second family.

Please help me work out why?

Ad 1:
Ad 2:

TIA. I just can't seem to work it out!

So ashamed on behalf of the UK sometimes

Don't be on my behalf.

It makes me cringe when people go on about how racist a country is - except themselves, of course!

@JudyShakes

So ashamed on behalf of the UK sometimes

Don't be on my behalf.

It makes me cringe when people go on about how racist a country is - except themselves, of course!

Do you understand how institutional racism works? Are you aware of the systemic factors that underlie difference in disadvantage? This country can be institutionally racist And A country in which we have racists within the population

Neither mean everyone is a racist.

@redkenso

Hi Rose. Over the last few years we've always taken a different direction with our Christmas ad, and everyone will have their favourite. Of course this has been a year like no other, and we wanted to reflect this in our advertising.

So Sainsbury's said this on Twitter, if they wanted to do something different then the difference shouldn't be using a black family as the focus family, that's normal for the uk. Different would be showing an ad with Xmas on holiday (not this year!) in the sun but taking their favourite Sainsbury's foods with them for a traditional Xmas lunch.

I think they were dodging the race issue and taking about the style of both ads. Not saying they'd used a black family as a novelty

www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/about-us/our-management#sainsburys-bank

A PP made a good point that if Sainsbury's really were committed to diversity they could try a bit harder to get more POC represented amongst their most senior staff. There are more (white) men called Michael on their management board than non white people in total.

Do you understand how institutional racism works? Are you aware of the systemic factors that underlie difference in disadvantage?

Of course I understand. And I would say this country is no longer institutionally racist. You might want it to be, but it isn't. Too many individuals still are though.

@JudyShakes

Of course I understand. And I would say this country is no longer institutionally racist. You might want it to be, but it isn't. Too many individuals still are though.

Do you have any evidence to support your stance that this country is no longer institutionally racist??

I think it's a perfectly fine commercial, though both are a little boring. I can see where they are trying to go with the people being missing idea, I suspect that might appeal to some but others might really dislike it.

It's pretty silly to be unhappy because the family in the first is black. No, that doesn't represent everyone, but no one does. There are plenty of black families in the UK. I think you have to be pretty lacking in reflection to get on your high horse about an ad with a black family.

However - separate to that, I think it is also the case that there is now a social or political situation where there are some number of people who feel like they, as white people from white families from white parts of the country who feel they are no longer considered good enough, or interesting, that they are assumed to be poorly educated with retrograde values, and that their villages and towns are not as good as they would be if they had more of the right kinds of diversity.

And the reason they feel that way is because there is another section of the population that actually does think that way. The whole "I'd never live there I like living in places like London because they have diversity., I wouldn't want my kids to grow up seeing only white people" (Imagine saying that about a town in Ethiopia or Japan!) And there are some parts of the media and the arts and political representation that seem to care a whole lot more about having lots of "diversity" than they do about actually representing the views or lifestyles of large parts of the country.

That kind of situation, IMO, makes people more inclined to be resentful of perfectly reasonable things like this ad, because they aren't seeing it for itself. They are seeing it as part of this larger thing. It's connected to the Labour Party not giving a shit about them, or the weird BBC obsessions with the culture wars, and so on.

Unbalanced views in different parts of the population tend to feed off each other.

I don't think that it is fair to blame those who appreciate a more cosmopolitan environment for their children, for the strange thought patterns of those in remote areas. These two thought processes are not connected to any extent.

I want my children to grow up in a multi cultural environment, that is my choice, I don't feel the need to denigrate those who live in less diverse areas. If they have feelings of inadequacy that is for them to deal with.

Of course there is institutional racism in the UK. White Middle class men promote white Middle class men. The civil service evidences this pattern throughout almost all departments.

@0blio

If you really think that (and you don't work for Sainsburys), then you are incredibly naive.

No, I don’t work for Sainsbury’s

And no, I’m not being naive. Many companies are trying to be inclusive, to reflect their shoppers. What’s naive about thinking that? It makes business sense.

@SleepingStandingUp

You must be being manipulated though, because what other possible reason would there be for having none white faces on telly? It's ridiculous to think people might care about equality of they work for a big corporation, or that the people involved might not be white. Nope. Utterly ridiculous. Every time there's more than 15% nom white people on telly it's just to piss off the racists and generate newspaper columns. Obviously.

Exactly Sleeping! I think the people trying to convince us that companies are only being inclusive for nefarious reasons are the manipulative ones.

Exactly Sleeping! I think the people trying to convince us that companies are only being inclusive for nefarious reasons are the manipulative ones.
And pretty offensive.
A BROWN face?? Oh no, no one puts one of those on a screen unless it's to garner negative publicity. That Idris Elba fellow? No talent. He's just a tool. Octavia Spencer? Just manipulation fodder. Obviously a white person would be better but it's an about causing drama!!

Well said Sleeping ! Apparently I’m too ‘naive’ to not see it though .

It does feel like companies are now using BAME actors/models as some sort of box ticking exercise. I’ve noticed a huge increase since the BLM movement gained traction earlier this year and it all feels a bit forced. Thought it when I watched the Tesco Christmas advert too, they were trying to tick quite a few inclusivity boxes. It’s as if companies are fighting to be the most ‘woke’.

In reality, they should have been using BAME and disabled models and actors all along. I’m glad they’ve woken up to it but it does feel extremely forced rather than natural progression iykwim.

Fwiw I'd like Octavia Spencer in my Christmas advert but you can keep Edris Elba

@Simplyunacceptable

It does feel like companies are now using BAME actors/models as some sort of box ticking exercise. I’ve noticed a huge increase since the BLM movement gained traction earlier this year and it all feels a bit forced. Thought it when I watched the Tesco Christmas advert too, they were trying to tick quite a few inclusivity boxes. It’s as if companies are fighting to be the most ‘woke’.

In reality, they should have been using BAME and disabled models and actors all along. I’m glad they’ve woken up to it but it does feel extremely forced rather than natural progression iykwim.

I wonder what people would like to see.

At what point won't it feel forced and what would be 'acceptable' to people so they don't feel that it's forced?

I really strive not to be racist (or any other discriminatory outlook or behaviour), but I don’t need to take it personally when people say that the institution of this country is racist.

I'm not taking it personally. No matter how much you say I am. I just don't agree that this country is inherently racist and majority racist.

It isn’t forced, nor would it feel so if the racist hoarded hadn’t started complaining. But, so what if it were? Would it matter? A reasonable representation of people in the UK, surely that’s a good thing?

I am not at all racist but to be honest an ad featuring only black people seems unusual to me - where I live in Scotland it is most unusual to come across anyone who is not white, so it is not representative to me. I think a mix of people and ethnicities would surely be better and have more widespread appeal.

The comments and the backlash is 100% racism and completely indefensible.

White supremacy is massively on the rise, and that's the term that upsets people. But that's what it is. Many of the Twitter comments are racist but some of them are pure Neo Nazi fodder.

I listened to a really good play on radio 4, probably still available, about the "fight" to include a non white child in the Peanuts cartoons. The fuss was amazing, the agonising about the readers they would lose.

We haven't progressed much have we.

I get annoyed (irrational I know) with the Kevin the Carrot adverts.

One of my children had serious eating issues, the idea that carrots have feelings, families they want to spend Christmas with would have freaked her out and she would probably have been in hospital long before Christmas, doesn't take long for an underweight 4 or 5 year old to get dangerously ill if they stop eating.

Despite the serious issue for me at the time I am grown up enough to know they can't please everyone.

@DioneTheDiabolist this is classic.

Am I missing something? It's nothing new to feature black actors in adverts? I wonder if racists people are more pissed off about it now because of the BLM movement and the attention focused on it recently...

I'm white and I didn't even register the family was of African or Afro Caribbean descent. I didn't even get that it was from old videos. Was it? Looking at it a second time, I was surprised there wasn't more inclusivity with different families, or some mixed race couples (which is very common now in advertising) but it is joyful and Christmassy. Of the ?2 million people who saw it, the number of complaints were tiny so I don't think the majority are racist.