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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 27, 2023

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Okay, this got me curious so I tried it for the second period of tonight's hockey game, as viewed on a semi-local feed in Canada. For the most part only the people most prominently featured are mentioned.

  • Grocery store - White family. Daughter (who looks about 13) firmly in charge, dad prominent but made to look kind of goofy (the mother is a bit of a space cadet too). Other ads in same campaign involve them interacting with the (white) president of the company.
  • Building supplies - Everyone I noticed in the ad was white.
  • Bank - In rough order of prominence, black guy I assume is a minor celebrity, black woman realtor, white family (only the wife is featured prominently).
  • Pizza - Ethnically diverse group of friends watching a sporting event. There was a white male in there.
  • Lottery (tied to one of the teams involved in the game) - White male celebrity (current captain of said team).
  • Restaurant - Couple that appeared to be an east Asian but very Westernized male and a somewhat less integrated south Asian female.
  • Quaker Oats (more their sponsorship of minor hockey than their products, though these get their spot) - No humans particularly prominent. Most people seen incidentally seem to be white.
  • Grocery store (different from the first one) - No humans shown, only products.
  • Sports team (one of the ones playing) - White male celebrity.
  • Restaurant - No people prominently shown, only their food. (White hand briefly seen.)
  • Apple iPhone - Black household that seem to be college roomies or something.
  • Car - Centered around a white female/east Asian male couple, some similarly diverse friends are briefly seen.

There's actually less emphasis on diversity than I would naively have expected, though there's certainly more than there would be in, say, 1984.

Also, no ads particularly geared to farming and no ads for sports betting (though these get small spots outside actual commercial breaks, which I didn't count). These would have loomed large in a game shown on CBC, I'm sure.

EDIT: Much more notably underrepresented than whites were aboriginal Canadians and South Asians. When I look at my city, even in the expensive apartment complex where I mostly work, I see way more of these demographics than I do on television, even fairly woke television. I don't think I saw a clearly aboriginal face even though I'd expect there to be some among the construction workers seen in the second ad. Blacks are way overrepresented, no doubt partially due to spillover from the US. I'd say whites and East Asians are represented about right. "Hispanic" as its own distinctive group is barely a thing here.

There was one ad (not noted above) I'd characterize as very woke, but not in an obnoxious way. It consisted of a South Asian man talking about how Bell Canada's support had helped him move to Canada, learn English (and he was pretty well-spoken though he did retain a noticeable accent) as well as gaining technical skills, and build a new life here, over re-enactments of key moments in his early time here.