Adidas, Cabby vs. Atlanta Fan
A southern businessman steps into a New York City cab. As the taxi takes off, a recorded seatbelt message to riders is heard from 20-year Yankees manager Joe Torre.
The rider, annoyed at the message, says, "Yankees this and Yankees that, I am sick of the dang Yankees. Last year was a total fluke. Atlanta Braves, team of the decade. Yankees suck."
The driver has pictures of his favorite Yankee on his dashboard -- and a silly picture of himself in baseball cap for his license.
The driver laughs as he drops the Southerner off in an abandoned warehouse district. The lost man, who is now a bit scared, is approached by a very large, punk transgendered woman who says in a masculine voice, "Honey, you look lost."
Although the ad agency says it used a native transgendered person from New York's meatpacking district, where the ad is shot, it is hardly a neutral portrayal. The transgendered person -- the kicker of the joke -- is menacing as is the neighborhood.
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User Comments
Margaret A. McGregor
OK, first I'd like to state for the record that not all New Yorkers put sterotypes on the Southeners. I, being a former Western New Yorker, only made fun of a Southerer once, but I digress...Regarding this ad it can be seen in two lights: one entirely neutral and the other downright offensive. I'll admit the ad does use way too much sterotyping, but I think it is making fun of homophobia rather than transgended people themselves. Mind you, this is merely my opinion so feel free to put me in my place if I am totally off the mark here.
Megan
I agree with David. This was offensive to me being a southerner and knowing few people sound like that despite the stupid stereotypes that New Yorkers and others in the North tend to put on us (the movie 'Remember the Titans' springs to mind since that took place in Virginia and they all spoke like mountain hicks). But the transgender person seemed to mean to be threatening.
Brenda
Dropping the guy off was funny, but not using a trannie as an additional prop to heighten the shock reaction and humor of a straight person. It demeans a signifigant population of this country and it manages to drive transgendered, transvestite, and transsexual people further into the closet. I think the commercial sucks because of this.
Jonah Falcon
I love it because I'm a Yankee fan, and in 1999, we swept the Braves in the World Series. A little context is needed -- Adidas and the Yankees were ad partners at the time, and it was a response to negative potrayals of New York and the Yankees in Atlanta at the time. The Braves jerk got everything he deserved.
Hether
What a horrible portrayal of a transgendered male to female. As long as the media depicts us as some kind of dangerous freaks we will never be accepted by mainstream society. Is this the purpose of this sick, twisted ad? Is being placed in close proximity to a transgendered person the punishment for not being a Yankees fan? Who is the odd party here? The transgendered individual portrayed in the ad, the person who came up with this ad campaign, and/or the company that used this ad to promote their product?
Andrea James
Wonder if they’d do the same ad where the guy got dropped off in another poverty-stricken part of town?
Christie Karis
I believe this is a poor commercial in all respects. They waste 25 seconds with gibberish that neither intrigues nor sells. Then they use the homophobic gimmick to grab the viewer’s attention for a three second attempt to create name recognition by viewing the Adidas logo. It’s a shame that Adidas participates in this. Obviously homophobic! Obviously crass.
Lynn
The only thing offensive here is that awful wig on the "local" at the end. On the contrary, I'm thinking it's a positive note for the transgendered person to be portrayed in a positive light, initiating conversation with an inquiry as to the tourist's welfare.
Chris
This ad is bad in too many ways to count. It brings nothing to the advertiser. If the last second or two of the ad, as the Adidas logo is featured, was clipped, would you know what the ad was advertising?
Chip Dawes
This wasn't a swipe at the gay or transgendered community. This was a swipe at John Rocker (and people that agree with his assessment of the evils of diversity). I say good on 'em.
Stuart Carroll
I'd assign this to the positive, or at least neutral category. I used to live in the neighborhood where that was shot, and that drag queen looks like many that I saw around there. This is another commercial that pokes at the striaght mindset - putting an obnoxious het into a gay situation and making no bones about how frightening that is.
David Hall
Who's the butt of the joke here? If anyone should be offended, it's those south of the Mason-Dixon.
Lilith Mitchell
As both a transgendered woman and a Southerner, I'm not sure what to make of this ad. Especially since the actor playing the southerner has such a blatantly fake accent--and the cadence of someone who's lived in NYC his entire life! And don't get me started about the masculine voice of the punk tranny at the end! I hope New Yorkers aren't as arrogant as this ad implies. It'd certainly discourage me from visiting again.
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