- Target:
- AT&T
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- www.youtube.com
AT&T's latest television commercial "Data Rich' and its campaign 'This is how the #DataRich roll" is inherently racist and serves to further divide our culture into the have and have nots. For AT&T to say "Data Rich" is to connote "Nig*er Rich" - a slang derived from the French nouveau riche which a derogatory used to imply that the newly rich person is prone to be ignorant buffoons and will only consume their new found wealth.
In the video AT&T saleswoman Lily Adams tells a family of four that, since they have both AT&T and DirecTV, they can get an unlimited data plan. The daughter points out that this makes them rich. "Data rich," Lily replies. All four family members imagine themselves in a car ride using as much data as possible. The T.I. song "Whatever You Like" plays in the background as the mother, son and daughter stream video and text on their smart devices, while the father (who is wearing sunglasses and has the word "DATA" tattooed on his fingers) uses the GPS and maps on his phone. Back in the real world, the family is still dancing along with the music they were imagining. As the father comes to, he says he believes they can get used to being data rich. He then puts his arms around his wife, who is still immersed her data-rich fantasy. This "Data Rich" imaginary world spoofs that young Black wealthy Hip Hop artists such as TI, Jay-Z, and Sean "Puffy" Combs.
Many have made claims the new rich (especially Blacks) "lack political and cultural sophistication" and others make comparisons saying that the old rich are "more sophisticated than the less cosmopolitan nouveau riche." They have also made claims to the inferiority of those with new money as compared to those with old money.
The behavior of the nouveau riche is often satirized by American society by "implying that stereotyped, rather than real, behavior patterns are copied." But the only real copied behavior that has proven time and time again to lead to death and destruction of the Black community by outside forces is that copied behavior which motivated from racist Jim Crow era propaganda.
We, the undersigned, speak as One Voice Across America and call on AT&T pull it's latest television commercial "Data Rich' and discontinue its campaign 'This is how the #DataRich roll" because this ad campaign is inherently racist. "Data Rich" is the connotation of the French term nouveau riche which refers to the man or woman who belonged to a lower social class rather than the 'Old Money" wealthy class and suddenly that mamn or woman came into wealth with nothing better to do but spend it frivolously. During the Jim Crow era, as Blacks began to become wealthy in the years immediately after after slavery, Nouveau riche became "Nigger Rich" as white became more an more envious of this newly formed wealthy class.
Moreover, the depiction of a white family instantly transforming into a hip hip mob rolling down the street enjoying their new found "data" only serves to bring the stereotype into the modern era and pass the institutional racism onto an unsuspecting younger generation.
We demand an apology and we demand that AT&T publicly express what actions will be taken to address the negative impact this has had on our society and what will be done to correct this egregious error in judgment.
The This Is Racist AT&T petition to AT&T was written by One Voice Across America and is in the category Culture at GoPetition.