themattsmith:

Yeah, yeah, the Dodge commercial was not a multi-cultural extravaganza.  But it expressed a sentiment not shared often on national television event amidst commercials yelling in your face about Doritos and shit, using the voice of someone that holds a special place in the hearts of a lot of people.  Can we give them half credit at least before we shit all over it?

i understand why you liked it. hell, i liked it to when i first saw it. it’s a great commercial: it played on our base values to drive brand affinity. that affinity, matt, is what you mean when you say that it “expressed a sentiment.” but take a step back. that commercial was not doing america’s farmers a big favor by spending millions of dollars on a super bowl spot celebrating the white farmer in america. what you saw was a commercial produced by an agency that was paid millions of dollars to develop an ad that would encourage people like us to purchase a car. not appreciate american farmers. 

so, enjoy the sentiment all you want and enjoy the HDR images of actors dressed up as farmers , but do not, even for a second, try to argue that we should refrain from criticizing it because it’s providing some kind of social service to the american people. 

and a note on american agriculture today:

Latinos are the second largest ethnic group of farm operators in the United States, following White Americans. According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, Latino farm operators are one of the fastest growing segments among farmers and ranchers in the country.

Between 2002 and 2007,  Latino operators increased from 72,349 to 82,462, reflecting an increase of 14%, which is twice the 7% growth rate among all farm operators.  Native American/Alaskan operators (124%) and women operators had higher growth rates (28.8%) than Latino farm operators.  Similarly, Latina operators increased by 30.5%, while Latino (male) operators increased by 9.0%.