[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1277028475103583370[/googlevideo]
What problem could I possibly have this ad? I will gladly answer that question. The problem I have with this ad is as follows.
Before I get into my argument I’d like to point out that I’m no different than many Americans. I speak native German and English and to a certain extent French (oh my god did he say French? yes he did) and I’m definitely interested in learning another language, perhaps Spanish or Italian. Out of that reason I think it will come as a surprise to you when I say I can’t stand walking into a store and not being able to communicate my needs in English because the person working in the store can barely speak the language, but that’s just me. Some people don’t mind it, I do.
What I do mind is when corporations take aim at a diversity in language to use that as their campaign slogan. What America needs, is more exposure to things that are different, even if it means you can’t pronounce the word!! I could get real extreme here and say that I think the Ad promotes hate speech and ignorance, but that’s bit far fetched.
I know you may be thinking, Arno - that’s a paradox - you don’t like hearing spanish in a store but you are against the DD ads that clearly is trying to make the point that English, is the language spoken in this country. The notion I’m getting from the ad that’s almost a Redneck kind of way of dealing with companies such as Starbucks “Dem fancy fritalians” - something I would expect out of the mouth of Larry the Cable Guy in and not Dunkin’ Donuts. I think the ad plays to the part in US citizens that don’t like foreign things, or things they can’t pronounce. I’m sure this ad receives different types of responses depending on where in the US you show it. In NYC this ad will probably be looked at much more different than let’s say Nebraska due to the exposure to Foreign influences NYC enjoys, whereas Nebraska is realivtely safe from any type of external involvemen, especially if it doesn’t have to do with farming.
The bottom line is this, corporations shouldn’t mock other languages and that’s what DD is doing in this ad. They’re trying to ridicule Starbucks and other companies for expressing their products in a different language. Does that mean all items that don’t sound english have to be changed? Does that mean the German restaurant down the store can’t call a Schnitzel a Schnitzel? Excuse me Dunkin’ Donuts, excuse me but I’m not scared of dialects, no matter what language. When I walk into a Dunkin’ Donuts I get greeted in English and I have no problem ordering a Latte, cappucino or any other ‘exotic’ bevarage as that.
This article was written by Arno - Author's Website
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Glad I’m not alone in my hatred for this particularly xenophobic DD ad. Of course…I don’t see how you can order a “Caffe Latte” in English any way…
Thanks… You said exactly what I was thinking when this commercial surfaced… Anyway, it’s a coffee shop and haven’t all genuine coffee shops tried to bring some diversity into their system? One thing I read while looking through some forums about this is the sizing system though. At starbucks, they have tall grande and venti. I think it’s fair that the chain can name their own sizes, I haven’t heard anyone complain about coldstone creamery and their “Like it, Love it, Gotta have it” sizes.
Totally. *$ gets a lot of flak about their “tall” being the standard small. Keep in mind, 20-30 years ago “Short” was the standard small. Americans weren’t happy with an 8 and a 12 oz latte. It just evolved that way. It made more sense to just keep naming new sizes than rename the old ones. Whatever reasons people want to have to dislike the company {which I’m not exactly knocking. Difference of opinion.}, lingo just doesn’t belong on the list.
this ad is offensive and a microcosm of what’s wrong with the way so many americans think–if it’s not anglo-american, it’s bad.
i didn’t think the jab at nebraska was necessary to make your point, however. i mean if we’re trying to be accepting of things that aren’t considered true-blue american, let’s also be open-minded about the people who live in this country, and try to stay away from generalizations.
Jeremy,
You’re absolutely right about that. I’m a very impulsive person and I sometimes say or write things that later on I find out of place, on the other hand I think it’s cheating for me to go in and change things after the fact. I hope I don’t get more heat from our fellow Americans in Nebraska, hehehe.
cheers
I think that most of you are missing the point of this ad. If you’ve ever spent significant time (more than a year) in a non-English-speaking country, you know that this game cuts both ways. Merchandise in stores from Brazil to Korea have products labeled in English - not because they have anything to do with America - but because merchants want them to seem sophisticated and have a foreign mystique. In fact, much of the “English” seen on these foreign products has been comically misapplied in a way that would be apparent to anyone who speaks the language natively. The point of this ad is not to poke fun at foreign languages, but to imply that the use of such language by certain coffee shops is disingenuous. “Fritalian” is a jab at the comic misapplication of foreign language in an attempt to seem high-minded and sophisticated.
I understand that adding an another-language-sounding word is kinda goofy if you don’t know the language but that’s not my impression of the tone of the commercial in the least. If it was, they would have left out words like “Mocha” that are established coffee culture lingo, not just corporate B.S. made to sound exotic. They kept “Latte” but everything is just crazy. That’s not exactly a sentiment that I can embrace. I do see where you are coming from and I will mull over it for awhile before I blatantly agree or disagree. It just seems, to me, that the commercial in question has gone off in the wrong direction if that was their point.
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