Art, commerce intersect in two exhibits

By Mark Feeney, Globe Staff | December 12, 2007

Two related photography exhibitions - "Ad/Agency," which runs at the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University through Jan. 27; and "Cornucopia: Documenting the Land of Plenty," which runs at the Montserrat College of Art Gallery through Feb. 2 - forthrightly, if not all that memorably, profess their opposition to people buying too much. The experience of viewing them is a bit like walking down a Whole Foods aisle and hearing people with carts piled high lambaste Wal-Mart.

The most intellectually arresting work here consists of three examples from Hank Willis Thomas's series "Unbranded: Reflections in Black by Corporate America 1968-2008." Thomas appropriates advertising images that target and/or include African-Americans. He then manipulates the images digitally to remove extrinsic elements - text, logos, and so on - to de-contextualize them. The results can be both revealing and a little unnerving. Advertising in a market economy strikes a blow for inclusion - if only in the pursuit of profit. The sole color that concerns advertisers is green, the only minorities excluded are those lacking disposable income. As Thomas shows, this can turn inside out (or not) the place of otherwise marginalized groups in society.

Read the entire review here

why it's never just about race (as if that weren't enough)

(forwarded from Hank Thomas)

Stop Intel's Racist Attack - Act Now

I almost fell out of my seat when I saw Intel's new advertisingcampaign. It shows six bowing African American athletes before a chino-clad, oxford-shirted white manager with the slug: "Maximize the

power of your employees."

The ad (shown at left) demonstrates the gross insensitivity of Intel to issues of racial and economic discrimination. Now it's time to send Intel a message that it needs to respect our mores and rules of law.

Paul Otellini, Intel's CEO, made $9.8 million last year. At that paygrade, it's not hard to be out of touch with the values of modern society.

Intel is not just promoting insensitive images, it's also leading a signature drive for a California ballot measure that would eliminate class action lawsuits over civil rights issues. Read FTCR's new analysis of the initiative, sent to CA officials. Please take a moment to send a free fax message to Intel's board of directors now calling upon the company to withdraw that pending ballot measure.

Intel has already apologized over its advertising campaign and is withdrawing it. Now Intel must recognize the insensitivity of its attack on class action system, where the rights of victims of discrimination are vindicated. Denny's Restaurants never would have gotten the message to stop discriminating against African Americans, but for a class action lawsuit.

Intel's pending ballot measure would destroy those protections. Please fax the company today and stand up for economic and racial equality; and forward this message to your friends and family today.

________________________________

Intel's pending ballot measure would destroy the class action system by:

Making it extremely difficult for individuals who are discriminated against to file a class action case because only cases involving economic losses could go forward;

Requiring evidence of wrongdoing before a case can move forward, but taking away consumers' and employees' existing right to gather that evidence;

Allowing lawsuits to be dismissed if a government agency is supposed to regulate the industry, even when the bureaucrats and political appointees responsible lack the resources, or simply refuse, to take action to stop the wrongdoing;

Permitting rich and powerful defendants to delay trials for years by allowing unjustified appeals at the beginning of a case;

Delaying justice, costing taxpayers twice as much and clogging the courts by requiring plaintiffs to file two separate lawsuits if they want to both stop an outrageous practice and receive refunds or be compensated for any damage they've suffered;

Intimidating low-wage employees by requiring individual members of a lawsuit be identified and exposed to possible retribution by their employers for joining an action about working conditions, or refusing to abandon their complaints.

________________________________

Read FTCR's full analysis here.

The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights is a non-profit,

non-partisan public interest group. Contributions are tax-deductible.