Looking like something straight out of the 1970s is the offensive piece of advertising by estate agents Strutt & Parker, as seen on the London Underground today. (UPDATE 21st Nov: The company have now pulled the adverts. Scroll down to the bottom for more info)
Apparently, in Notting Hill, black people are “born to dance”, whereas white people – particularly ones with the name Jeremy Montagu-Williams – are born to “sell flats.”
[Staff line up at Strutt & Parker’s Notting Hill office. I guess all the black folks are off dancing somewhere]
Although the concept of being created just to flog off upmarket flats is a pretty strange one, the suggestion that some black “folks” were born to dance really is a dire piece of racial stereotyping- the sort of crass generalisations I thought had been left behind decades ago.
To see it in advertising slapped all over the tube seems particularly shocking.
The advert was described as “utterly moronic racist nonsense” by a black historian friend, who added:
Speechless. I can flatline through a tsunami of BS from gollies to Morris dancers but this is from the most privileged slice of 20-35 yr olds in British history. They don’t give a flying fack about racism.
What do you think of this advertising?
Join in with the lively discussion on the urban75 forums or drop those white folk at Strutt and Parker a line and tell them directly.
[Photo © https://twitter.com/oscarwgrut]
UPDATE 21st Nov
Strutt & Parker pulls advertising campaign after complaints
“Our campaign was well intended and represented the various talents of people working in Notting Hill.
“We are obviously very sensitive to the response of people and it was never our intention to offend anyone. As a result we immediately withdrew the campaign.
“We would like to apologise for any upset this may have caused to anyone who has been affected by this”
http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/strutt-parker-pulls-advertising-campaign-complaints/
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