Week 3

Weekly Blog 3
HUMN 341-F3
David Frantom
Professor D. Schottenstein


I was going to change off of the ongoing topic on my blog of Barak Obama. That is, until I realized that this week was concerning rituals and stereotypes. With one of the latest things to come out of this Democrat primary contest, how could I change now?

There was an ad that was run by the Clinton campaign (2008) on their website www.hillaryclinton.com shortly before the March 4th primaries. It showed Barak Obama darker than he is in life. Why? Why would someone do this? I believe it to be stereotyping.

I believe it to play on the fears of many white voters, to bring up racial issues in the sub conscience. I am sorry I cannot imbed this video on the blog. It can be found at
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/video/145.aspx . I am also enclosing a side by side comparison of video stills, showing Barak at the debate, and one of the “darker looking” stills in the Hillary Clinton ad (Limbaugh, 2008).

This is not new. I am also showing a photo of a Time magazine cover, showing a picture of O.J. Simpson much darker than he is in life (Limbaugh, 2008). Why? To bring up the fears of white folk of a black man, so I believe.

I was going to go to something else but, you can see, this was too good not to comment upon: An example of a negative stereotype, used for an attempt to have a positive effect for her campaign. I have to say, “Shame on you, Hillary.”


Hillaryclinton.com. (2008). Retrieved March 6, 2008, http://www.hillaryclinton.com/video/145.aspx

Limbaugh, R. (2008, March 6). “Huge See, I Told You So.” Retrieved March 6, 2008, from http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_030508/content/01125106.guest.html