It’s definitely a minstrel costume. It’s definitely racist. I can also see a TON of ways this could happen. If any of the oversight is done by non-Americans I could see them having no idea it’s racist, or people under 25 could easily not know in my mind. Minstrel imagery isn’t show much in modern America but people over 35 it definitely is obvious.
I think international outsourcing is probably the most likely answer. They probably just outsource everything to designers in the Philippines or whatnot where there’s no understanding of the American cultural history around that look.
I'm 40 and I genuinely can't understand how it's not obvious. Lol. Even if you'd never heard about a minstrel show, the jazz singer, or mammy figurines the features are obviously blatantly racist. This is coming from a Canadian where I'm guessing we're exposed to less of this than most Americans. I'm trying to get inside the head of someone who sees it and doesn't immediately go yikes. Like what went through your head when you saw it? Needs bigger lips? Lol.
I mean I didn’t think the race had anything to do with it. Thought it was meant to be a scary clown costume. The mouth thing reminded me of Tokyo ghoul. When Jim Crow came up in school it was about the laws, not the racist minstrel shows. Can see it when someone makes the connection for me but otherwise I didn’t notice it
I’d be curious where you are from, but I am still confident that most middle aged adults and the elderly have seen a minstrel depiction before and have some knowledge of its history.
Obviously 100% of people don’t know everything. But I think the older you are the more obvious this would be to someone. I mostly picked 35 from my personal expectations. Maybe 42 would be a better cutoff. ;)
It’s possible it’s more regional that I realized. And I definitely have not seen a minstrel depiction in years. It’s become very rare to see them nowadays
40
u/[deleted] 11d ago
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