Food has served as a rich vein for racist advertising opportunities. During the 1800s, Irish Americans faced heavy social and labor discrimination. Commonly held stereotypes held that the Irish were greedy, selfish, superstitious, perverted and thieving. It’s unfortunate that a children’s cereal brand, the popular Lucky Charms, none-too-subtly plays into these outdated prejudices. This particular commercial is particularly cheery, but the Lucky Charms leprechaun character is in fact reinforcing racist stereotype.

http://www.adsavvy.org/25-most-racist-advertisements-and-commercials/

Cereal ads have always been deceptive... A few examples:

Trix - A rabbit who has to use disguises to get a bowl from poor unsuspecting kids then gets all excited after eating the artificially flavored and colored corn puffs that he loses the disguise and is immediately nailed. Bottom line: Let the rabbit eat the trix or find some smarter kids who can see through the disguise before he has a chance to steal them.

Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles: Like the Trix rabbit, Poor Barney Rubble has to resort to disguises and trickery to steal Fred's Pebbles but if Fred weren't so darn greedy then Barney wouldn't have to resort to such underhanded tactics. I can also never recall seeing any commercial with Betty, Wilma, Pebbles or Bamm Bamm eating any of it just Fred and Barney, No wonder Wilma and Betty stayed so skinny. :lol:


Cocoa Puffs: Sonny the cuckoo bird is normally mild-mannered until he gets a spoonful of those sugar-coated corn puffs and goes ballistic. At this point Sonny is a danger to himself and any kid within arm's length.

Grape Nuts: Nature nut Euell Gibbons would start these commercials off with a line like. Did you know that some parts of a pine cone are edible? That right there was enough to convince me to never eat anything endorsed by Mr. Gibbons. Why it's called Grape Nuts is a mystery to me as there are no grapes or nuts among the ingredients.


The commercials for the non-kid's cereals are the worst, Have you ever noticed that most of these always include the following:

A family dressed in white robes
All are eating cereal from the same type of bowl and are right-handed
All have a slice of toast with the same size pat of butter in the middle
The milk is in a glass pitcher instead of a jug
The kitchen is absolutely spotless
All have an identical glasses of juice and milk that is filled to the same level which leads me to this question... Who the heck drinks both a glass of milk and juice at breakfast?
And so ends my rant. :soapbox:

I always thought that Lucky was a leprechaun who guarded the cereal in the same way any other leprechaun would guard a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (okay, so this plays into the racist stereotype?). I guess like all commercials that began back in the 60's, they played out like cartoons, with the whole pursuit-and-capture motif of other cartoons (Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner, etc.). Except the kids in the commercials represented the young viewer: Hey, if these characters were so hellbent on keeping kids from the delicious sugary cereals, the breakfast foods must be excellent!!

I don't know if the makers of General Mills cereals had this terribly unsophisticated view of races and ethnic groups back in the 60's--but then again, this was the day and age of such politically correct cartoons as Mr. Magoo with "Cholly" the Chinese charicature and Dick Tracy with the ethnic stereotypes such as GoGo Gomez and Joe Jitsu.


Btw, whatever happened to the old Lucky? :confused:

Never really thought about it really. Just figured they were trying to incorporate the leprechaun as being "lucky" because of the name of the cereal. Doesn't seem to have bothered anyone so far. Otherwise he would have been long gone. It's supposed to appeal to kids, which apparantly works well.

No I don't think it's racist at all. It's just a darn cartoon.

A leprechaun is a mythological creature. Actually a true leprechaun is an evil mischivieous entity,who is /was feared by people. So a happy leprechaun is not stereotypical is he?


Another case of a product stereotype was The Frito Bandito. Remember him? He was pulled many years ago.

Hardly, and anyone who does, needs to calm down and focus their energies on things that really matter in this world.

It was the Irish who came up with the legend of leprechaun's so how can that be racist?

If people have a problem with him, then I'm sure the thought of a rabbit eating Trix would drive them mad. Or they might believe that cornflakes have chicken in them cuz there's a rooster on the box.

Grape Nuts: Nature nut Euell Gibbons would start these commercials off with a line like. Did you know that some parts of a pine cone are edible?

Apparently Peter Griffin knows. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ0Md3WLSjU

No, I don't think so at all. Some people would find racism under a rock.

I dont think its racism or offensive.

my favortie is captian cruch if we buy lucky charms we just pick the marsmellos out and eat them.

Cereal ads have always been deceptive... A few examples:

Trix - A rabbit who has to use disguises to get a bowl from poor unsuspecting kids then gets all excited after eating the artificially flavored and colored corn puffs that he loses the disguise and is immediately nailed. Bottom line: Let the rabbit eat the trix or find some smarter kids who can see through the disguise before he has a chance to steal them.

Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles: Like the Trix rabbit, Poor Barney Rubble has to resort to disguises and trickery to steal Fred's Pebbles but if Fred weren't so darn greedy then Barney wouldn't have to resort to such underhanded tactics. I can also never recall seeing any commercial with Betty, Wilma, Pebbles or Bamm Bamm eating any of it just Fred and Barney, No wonder Wilma and Betty stayed so skinny. :lol:


Cocoa Puffs: Sonny the cuckoo bird is normally mild-mannered until he gets a spoonful of those sugar-coated corn puffs and goes ballistic. At this point Sonny is a danger to himself and any kid within arm's length.

Grape Nuts: Nature nut Euell Gibbons would start these commercials off with a line like. Did you know that some parts of a pine cone are edible? That right there was enough to convince me to never eat anything endorsed by Mr. Gibbons. Why it's called Grape Nuts is a mystery to me as there are no grapes or nuts among the ingredients.


The commercials for the non-kid's cereals are the worst, Have you ever noticed that most of these always include the following:

A family dressed in white robes
All are eating cereal from the same type of bowl and are right-handed
All have a slice of toast with the same size pat of butter in the middle
The milk is in a glass pitcher instead of a jug
The kitchen is absolutely spotless
All have an identical glasses of juice and milk that is filled to the same level which leads me to this question... Who the heck drinks both a glass of milk and juice at breakfast?
And so ends my rant. :soapbox:
Charles, as always, your post is both hilarious and true!! I love it!! :clap :rofl:

The cereal mascot that bothers me most isn't Lucky the Leprechaun at all. It's that fruity feathered Fruitloops pusher Toucan Sam! I mean who does he think he is telling me to follow my nose! He doesn't even have a nose for goodness sake. He's a freakin bird. He has a beak. What gives this feathered freak the unmitigated gall to think he can teach me to find fruitloops by smell when he himself doesn't have a nose. Preposturous I say! And they think this going to make me buy their cereal! And what makes them think I would choose a cereal by smell in the first place? I mean aren't taste and nutrition more impotant qualities to look for in a cereal. In my book Toucan Sam is for the birds. :soapbox: :crazy::happyface

The cereal mascot that bothers me most isn't Lucky the Leprechaun at all. It's that fruity feathered Fruitloops pusher Toucan Sam! I mean who does he think he is telling me to follow my nose! He doesn't even have a nose for goodness sake. He's a freakin bird. He has a beak. What gives this feathered freak the unmitigated gall to think he can teach me to find fruitloops by smell when he himself doesn't have a nose. Preposturous I say! And they think this going to make me buy their cereal! And what makes them think I would choose a cereal by smell in the first place? I mean aren't taste and nutrition more impotant qualities to look for in a cereal. In my book Toucan Sam is for the birds. :soapbox: :crazy::happyface

Yeah I have to admit, I love my bran flakes but I've never in my life smelled them. :lol:

These sugar-coated kids cereals taste great but they're about as nutritious as a soda pop and candy bar from your local convenience store. Speaking of candy, Did you ever notice that most supermarkets have the kids cereals and the candy in the same aisle directly across from each other while the more nutritious fare is way down at the other end? :confused:

These sugar-coated kids cereals taste great but they're about as nutritious as a soda pop and candy bar from your local convenience store. Speaking of candy, Did you ever notice that most supermarkets have the kids cereals and the candy in the same aisle directly across from each other while the more nutritious fare is way down at the other end? :confused:
Yes, I've noticed that myself! :nod:

my favortie is captian cruch if we buy lucky charms we just pick the marsmellos out and eat them.
I actually read online once that back in the 60's, the marshmallow pieces in Lucky Charms were actually advertised on t.v. commercials as "Marbits"!! :crazy: :lol: Like marshmallow bits for short! Like that was reeeeally gonna catch on with sugar-doped up kids!!


Speaking of which, I wonder if there is a correlation between the proliferation of sugar-coated cereals back then and the rise of drug consumption.... :idea:

I actually read online once that back in the 60's, the marshmallow pieces in Lucky Charms were actually advertised on t.v. commercials as "Marbits"!! :crazy: :lol: Like marshmallow bits for short! Like that was reeeeally gonna catch on with sugar-doped up kids!!


Speaking of which, I wonder if there is a correlation between the proliferation of sugar-coated cereals back then and the rise of drug consumption.... :idea:
LOL! I think it was the other way around. The rise of drug consumption led to the proliferation of sugar-coated cereals to satisfy all those people with the munchies!! :lol:

But the Irish isn't a race, so how can it be "racist"? It might be a stereotype, even offensive, but not racist.

Having said that, I don't think Lucky the Leprachaun seems to be that bad anyway.

I think people overreact it's just a cartoon and I wasn't offended by the Frito Bandito either and I'm of hispanic descent. I remember having the eraser. I also liked the Hawaiian punch commercial too though deemed too violent.

Some interesting history behind Lucky the Leprechaun and Lucky Charms:

www.tvacres.com/enchanted_leprechauns_lucky.htm

No, I don't think so at all. Some people would find racism under a rock.

Or Blarney Stone...