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The Dangers of Stereotyping
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Examples
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Consider three examples of stereotyping …
1.
Pearl Harbor & the Titanic
2. A Breakdown in Communication
3. Product Marketing Gone Bad
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Pearl
Harbor and the Titanic...
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An airplane takes off from the airport. The captain is Jewish and the first officer is Chinese. It's the first time they've
flown together and it's obvious from their silence that they don't get along.
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After thirty minutes, the Jewish captain mutters, "I don't like Chinese."
The First Officer replies, "Ooooh, no rike Chinese? Why dat?"
"You bombed Pearl Harbor. That's why I don't like
Chinese."
"Nooooo, noooo... Chinese not bomb Peahl Hahbah. Dat Japanese, not Chinese.
"Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese...it doesn't matter, they're all alike."
Another thirty minutes of silence. Finally the First Officer says, "No rike Jews."
"Why not? Why don't you like Jews?"
Jews sink Titanic."
"No, no. The Jews didn't sink the Titanic. It was an iceberg."
"Iceberg, Goldberg, Rosenberg, no mattah...all same.
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A
Breakdown in Communication
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An Italian, an Irishman and a Chinese
all get jobs at a construction site. The foreman gives them the
following instructions.
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Pointing to a pile of sand behind them, the
foreman tells the
Italian "You're in charge of sweeping".
He then points to the Irishman and says "You're in charge of
digging".
Finally he points to the Chinese and says "You're in charge
of supplies."
"I'm going to be gone for a while and when I come back,
I expect to at least see you guys have made a dent in
that pile".
The boss comes back two hours later to find the pile of
sand untouched, and the Italian and Irishman standing by.
He walks up to them and shouts "What the heck have you
been doing for the last two hours, and where's the
Chinese guy?"
The Italian tells him "you put us two in charge of
sweeping and digging, but we don't have a broom or a
spade.
You put the Chinese guy in charge of supplies, but he's
disappeared."
The boss looks round and searches for the Chinese.
Suddenly when the boss approaches the pile of sand, the
Chinese jumps from behind the sand and yells:
"Supplies!"
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Product
Marketing Gone Bad
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On April 18, 2002, the San Francisco Chronicle ran the following headline on the front page, regarding the explosive new products launched by Abercrombie & Fitch:
"ABERCROMBIE & GLITCH
Asian Americans rip retailer for stereotypes on T-shirts"
Slogans on these T-shirts included:
Comment from representative of Abercrombie & Fitch
"We personally thought Asians would love this T-shirt," said Hampton Carney, with Paul Wilmot Communications in New York, the public relations firm where Abercrombie referred a reporter's call.
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