From The Archives
Designers and Social Justice
Do designers assume enough responsibility for the impact they have in shaping our social climate? Especially for designers and art directors working in corporate environments, where do we draw the line between serving the needs of our client and serving the needs of our greater community?
I pose this question in light of the recent uproar regarding a line of graphic T-shirts sold by Abercrombie & Fitch that depicted images of slanted-eye men in rice paddy hats doing laundry and pulling ricksaws. They featured caricatures of Asians that clearly referenced racial stereotypes and historic antecedents of discrimination. The corporation has since pulled the shirts from their stores and have apologized by saying that they never intended to offend the community. Rather, they said that the shirts “were designed with the sole purpose of adding humor and levity to our fashion line... The thought was that everyone would love them, especially the Asian community. We thought they were cheeky, irreverent and funny...” Self described as a “powerful lifestyle brand . . . providing high-quality merchandise that compliments the casual classic American lifestyle,” A&F is known for it’s reliance on visual imagery of mainly all-white models in sexually charged compositions to target its 14-22 year old, upper-middle class demographic.
While A&F might not have had malicious intentions, their visual messages absolutely reflect an organizational structure of exclusion. Some say this is completely blown out of proportion and that we as a culture need to lighten up and find more humor in the situation. I find that to be a poor excuse for someone who can afford $30 T-shirts and lacks the sense of historical injustice that goes along with being part of a disadvantaged group in this country. There’s got to be more that we can do to empower ourselves as communicators so that we don't continue to marginalize or discriminate against subsets of our community.
I am interested in hearing what other designers thought about this episode, specifically the relationship between artistic intent, interpretation and responsibility. More importantly, how can we as a community of designers begin to maintain a critical dialogue about issues of race and class? The struggle for social justice and fight against institutional racism and economic inequity should take place in all arenas, including design. Cutting-edge work will always push the boundaries of what’s right and what’s wrong. As complex as issues of censorship and freedom of expression get in the creative world, we can't ignore the hand our profession has in influencing popular culture or deny our accountability for how we use that power.
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I'd like to preface this response by saying that I'm only a student, fairly new and inexperienced in design, politics, and social commentary, but I guess I still had thoughts on your posting.
I attended a great lecture on Thursday sponsored by AIGA Wisconsin featuring Paula Scher, which I might add was inspiring, motivating, and very, very helpful. Before the lecture, media company Smoking Monkey did a parody of the Apple Computer ads that were irreverent, funny, and very well-received.
One of them featured an Asian caricature, very similar to the one you described in the A&F shirts. He was buck-toothed, with misshapen gumline, slant-eyed, and incomprehensibly speaking gibberish, which could only be deciphered by his gestures as vaguely relating to the Apple computer.
Now when that parody commercial came on I felt uncomfortable, felt they had stepped over some line, and looked over to my Asian-American friends to see how they were reacting. In essence, I was suddenly very sensitive to the content of the message.
But I wasn't so sensitve to the previous mullet redneck white trailer trash caricature, or the mustached cowboy Texas rancher caricature, or Amish caricature.
The designer parody was the most popular one because of course we can all laugh at ourselves.
At the end was one portraying Jesus as a Mac user who was able to get a grip on things because of the Mac, which I found somewhat disturbing because of my Christian beliefs. I personally found that to be somewhat offensive and unnecessary- people were poking fun at beliefs I held.
But I didn't say one word about it, and I certainly don't feel like a coward for not saying anything. They were having fun and poking fun at our overly-sensitive society. I could sit there, take it in context and enjoy the joke, even though it was an irreverent portrayal of something I believe strongly in.
I think that all of those jokes were fine. I think they were fun. And I think it's great that they did them. And sure they were offensive- they were meant to be. They were poking fun at people. But they also knew, or at least hoped, that we could take a joke. So who am I to say that the Christian caricature or the Asian one were inappropriate? They weren't any meaner than the mullet or rancher or amish ones; I just don't happen to affiliate with those groups.
So, in essence, I think A&F made a good business decision to pull the shirts, but I disagree that they needed to or even really should have. It was meant as a joke, and if it's offensive then I think that reflects more on the recipient than the author.
If we all spend our time getting offended over every comment, then we'll never be happy. We could get up in arms over practically everything if we tried hard enough. I think we should all lighten up and take things as they're intended, or if they bother us, just ignore them. Obviously, I try not to offend, but I'm sure that if I'm truthful I'm going to end up offending someone, especially if I'm trying to make a joke or some social statement.
We're all very different from each other in a lot of ways and we all have our eccentricies, foibles, vices, and faults. The real test of our character lies in how we relate to others. We should apologize all over ourselves when we offend, but we should also not demand an apology. I guess it's just about trying to see things from inside someone else's shoes.
I'd be curious to know if I'm dead wrong by the way. -
Thanks Willy for taking noticing and caring to bring this kind of racial graphic issue up for designers to be more responsible and sensitive too. I find those t-shirt designs insulting to all Asians...not even funny in anyway. I wonder does AF hires Asians in their design department??? Considering AF already has a reputation for being "corporate bigots" for not hiring minorities as their sales people in their stores. I hold the creative director and marketing director responsible for making a bad bad call on letting these images be used as t-shirts and sold to the public. But AF knows there's a generation of young people who are not aware of these racial overtones in the t-shirt messages. I refuse to let my two teenage daughters buy any products from that company.
I am a Asian American graphic designer, originally from San Francisco and been practicing in the industry for over 30 years....Yes I was there and participated in the late 60's protesting against the war in Vietnam and anti-race issues. I've had my share of people making derogatory anti-Asian name calling as well..but never from the people from the design profession.
There was a time when Asian Americans would rally together and demonstrate or voice a noticable complaint to any company that had products or services that may offended the Asian community in anyway. I don't see that happening anymore or don't hear as much about it...When I first move to NYC (mid 70's) I came across a newspaper ad in the NY Times for Bloomingdale's Oriental rug sale...guess what the image was...a guy dress up like Charlie Chan standing next to the rugs...I was a bit shock, but I didn't hear of any protest from the NYC Asian community...I was wondering how did the art director or marketing people get away this idea to sell rugs??? Should I give them a benefit of a doubt for being racially naive? But this was a ad for a very fancy high class store! I always thought creative people are more aware of what's happening in the world and more sensitive...duhh! I wondered did the photographer realized what he or she was shooting? But in many ways in our industry money does have a strong control on moral decisions...what about those art directors and designers who create packaging designs and ads for cigarette companies? I know, that's a whole other issue and forum.
Anyway back to the subject in hand, I feel the young Asian Americans in the New England area are not as sensitive to these radical issues, but I maybe wrong...It could very well be a generational problem. My parents were immigrants from the '40's because of the Communism take over in China. Being borned and raise in this country I understood those radical problems and was able to do something about it. But my parents couldn't because of their language barriers and fear of being deported. I remember how they wanted their children to be as westernnized as possible so we will have better opportunities without the fears they had...
Maybe the stererotyping for Asians has become less negative? Before we were were considered dirt cheap laborers, railroad builders, sweatshop employees, laundry workers, cheap cooks, gardeners, etc. Now the stereotypes are computer geeks, math wiz, marital art masters (especially in the movies), dot com entrepreneurs and even good designers. Maybe Asians don't feel offended "as much" by these stereotypes, so we "egg-roll" with the punches.
In many ways we are now facing very similar events and issues that we had from the 60's ..the anti-war movement, distrust of government, the right and responsibilty to vote, and the discrimination of various minority groups, as you pointed out....but have we learned anything from the past to serve the present?
Willy, as a seasoned designer to a young designer, I truly appreciate your willingness to bring this issue to light again and I hope future Asian American designers, like yourself, as well all other designers take a stand on important social issues and make a difference. Thanks. -
The previous poster is naive in thinking that a parody ad depicting Jesus using a Mac is in any way as offensive as racist depictions of ethnic minorities. His interpretation is simplistic and does not show an understanding of the systemic nature of racism in this country or of the privilege afforded to white people (yes, even mullet-bearing white people -- see http://www.utoronto.ca/acc/events/peggy1.htm for more info on white privilege). I wish I didn't have to "spend time getting offended over every comment", and believe me I try not to let the insensitivity and ignorance of others get the best of me, but as a non-white person, I have experienced overt and covert racism and the feeling of invisibility that comes with living as an "other" in a predominantly white society.
The issue of artistic responsibility is one that I have been grappling with for a few years. My distaste of what I perceived as blatant social irresponsibility by the advertising/design world caused me to leave the industry and my position as a senior art director at a big agency last year to work towards my masters degree in social justice-based art education. Willy Wong asks a very pertinent question -- where do we draw the line? I still consider myself a designer and art director, yet can no longer play a part in perpetuating the capitalist structure that corporate design and advertising thrive on. (This is how I feel personally, but am by no means suggesting that all people who work in the industry are bigots).
Malicious intentions or not, I wish more people, including those in the ad/design world, would take it upon themselves to become educated in the complexities of racism and use their knowledge to create awareness and empathy in others. While creating t-shirts with slanty-eyed Asians on them may seem funny and campy to some, to others it is a stark reminder of the terrible racism experienced by Asian-Americans in this country. I wonder, did the designers at A&F think at all about the Japanese-Americans who may have had relatives who were put into the Internment camps during WWII? Did they think at all about the posters and flyers that were handed out during that time depicting the exaggerated features of Japanese people in order to encourage "tattling" by people who knew of a Japanese-American family who had not been turned in? For some enlightening info and images about this, see http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/foster/lifemag.htm
As producers of culture, artists and designers should feel responsible for what message they send out to the general public. I do not believe in censorship; I believe in discourse. But this cannot happen unless we create awareness of these issues and are willing to look at the industry and our artistic practices through a critical lens.
Thank you, Willy Wong, for bringing it up. -
I think it is easy to be offended at images of Asians in the media, especially drawings, because usually they are so obviously ridiculous.
And yet I once confronted someone about being insulted by historical, cartoonish drawings of Chinese people doing various things in a book about Chinese character etymologies. The book was for young learners, and the point was to enliven the etymologies with drawings. Yes the characters were in traditional costume, and there were lanterns, and silk worms, but these are the common images that people have come to expect and that in fact are part of a history, and since it was a book about history (that of the characters), the cartoons were correct. (I found several drawings that I thought showed the illustrators were conscious of social and cultural issues.)
In the case of the A&F ad, however, we can see the joke is not only aimed at a social group, but a social class. Willy Wong's indignation is therefore more than apt, since he seems to be conscious of the social group's willful ignorance about social injustices that we all know consumer behavior often supports. I'm glad to hear that people are sensitive to these issues, and always disappointed to see people lazily patting themselves on the back about their own superiority, or even their own stupidity (Bush "looking for WMD" under the furniture in one notorious video), because it's an act that often hides ignorance and violence. What's more disgusting here is the shirt was probably made in Bangladesh. -
I think Seth White makes very good points. We shouldn't take everything to heart. I mean, you can't make everyone happy. There is always someone who will be offended by something. This is one thing, that will never change. People are different and have different opinions, such as the sense of humor.
I don't understand why you're so offended by something as simple as a shirt. I don't think they had any malicious intentions by drawing this particular caricature.
Do not get me wrong. Your arguments are good and I understand that some may find it offensive because of various historical reasons, but to accuse the design company of racial discrimination, just because they printed a stereotype (that is common in the whole world) is ridiculous. Racial discrimination is a very serious offense.
I mean, this slanted eyed guy with his straw-hat IS the stereotype the world has of Asian people, just as they think that all Germans are blond, wear leather-trousers and drink beer or that the English are sophisticated gentlemen and ladies, whom always drink tea and carry an umbrella, because apparently in England it's raining every day. If I was German, should I be offended by the trousers? Or the beer (because I like tea better)? If I was English, should I be offended by the rainy cloud? Or perhaps the tea (because this time I like beer better)? A stereotype is there to show differences in a humorous way. They are ALWAYS exaggerated. Not every English guy is a gentlemen, not every German is blond, not every French is gay,... Why being offended by something like that? If I draw a picture, I don't want to study the whole history of the world, to make sure no one could get offended by it. This will never work.
I think you should really lighten up. No one means any offense by drawing these caricatures. They are common knowledge and shouldn't be taken as racial discrimination.
There are some things that should be taken seriously and there are other things, that really make you look petty and small-minded if you complain about it. Not everything is meant as an insult of a minority. It is meant to be funny and making such a big fuss about something so stupid (it's a stupid shirt. Why would anybody argue about a stupid shirt? It's beyond me.) It only shows, that people are small-minded. -
i think design can be very powerful. for example if you create a kick ass design for a t-shirt with a political message (or somethin similar) in it and many people identificate themself with it and wear it so often they can, you can create a hype with it. sometimes it is the simple message that rocks (remember this little sticker "shit happens"?). Designers can be opinion makers. think of the power you had...
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I am a new designer looking for help from AIGA as how to handle a similar problem in a current project.
I volunteered to design a logo for my son’s new, public school not expecting to encounter racial controversy. Their mascot is a train. When I mentioned creating a logo to the principal, she shared with me that she wanted lots of travelers on the train. The school colors are orange, green, and purple. The design process got a little complicated at this point- more than I had volunteered for.
I created gingerbread type characters (male and female equal, handicap children represented) all having orange skin, green hair, green shirts, and purple pants. I used a circular pattern and an equal distribution of color to emphasize school unification. All the faces are the same- similar to the Wal-Mart smiley. I felt that the emphasis should be on unity, equality, and teamwork. I thought my solution covered all the “politically correct” bases.
I have been asked to make changes to the characters’ skin to make them more ethnically diversified so that the children can relate the children represented to themselves.
The can of worms has been opened. This is the point where I want to crawl in a hole and die. No matter what I do now, someone is going to be offended and my name is going to be associated with the design.
As a new designer, I want my work to be an ethical representation from the design community. Any suggestions as to what I should do? The logo is posted in my profile if you would like to look at it.
T-shirt 1
T-shirt 2
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