Last month, workers quickly took down Samsung ads at South Station that basically called people in Mattapan phone thieves. Earlier today, Malia Lazu found a couple new Samsung ads also at South Station, that basically do the same thing, only this time swapping in Worcester and Ruggles.
With the first case, it was possible to think that they were just the work of some careless intern on the West Coast looking at the ends of a subway line, but there's no way to innocently pair Worcester and Ruggles - you really have to think about it (and for train purists, the ads don't even show Boston-area trains).
@SamsungMobile #knox marketing is #racist and classist again!! Just drop this campaign. @BostonNAACP1911 pic.twitter.com/kWJ4ioxrF9
— malialazu (@malialazu) September 20, 2017
Lazu also photographed Samsung ads in New York City that show the company's ad agency knows how to market their crap without getting racist about it.
Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!
Ad:
Comments
Maybe Sob Story guy got
By Optimistic Cont...
Wed, 09/20/2017 - 10:03pm
Maybe Sob Story guy got cleaned up and works for Samsung's ad agency now.
Good for him!
By anon
Wed, 09/20/2017 - 10:40pm
I'd imagine his grandmother, dead or alive, and his parole/probation officer greatly appreciate this. Anyone I'm missing?
Doesn't he have a baby
By Stevil
Wed, 09/20/2017 - 11:26pm
He has to visit in a hospital in Burlington?
And not a person, but a flat tire which was the start of his problems?
Oh crap, I've officially lived downtown too long!
Hope he made it to halfway house in Worcester!
By anon
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 9:14pm
Poor guy was just out of Walpole and just trying to get to a bed in Worcester like every other day when i used to see him.
And jeez, dude, maybe you won't lose your phone if you don't throw a hissy fit and flop around on the T car floor when nobody buys your BS story.
The photo shows a guy
By anon
Wed, 09/20/2017 - 10:41pm
The photo shows a guy reacting like he forgot something on the train. How is it racist?
Read the words of the ad
By adamg
Wed, 09/20/2017 - 11:50pm
If you're from the Boston area, consider how a phone on the Worcester Line would get to Ruggles - it's the Mattapan conundrum all over again (and if you're not from the Boston area, welcome to the area, hope you have a nice time here).
Can I ask you a question..
By anon
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 1:09am
Can I ask you a question.. how often are you in Roxbury? And not Mission Hill, or Longwood, but H-Block.
Ziegler Street?
Crawford?
Dare I say, even, Blue Hill Ave?
You do a great on this site job Adam. But I'm a minority, living in Boston, and I personally think you guys are reaching on this one. It's just an ad. Chill, everyone. Dude just lost his phone on the train.
Point taken
By adamg
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 7:11am
I'm actually on Blue Hill Avenue fairly often, it's how I get to Dorchester or to places like Newmarket Square.
Zeigler? Not so much, I'm in that area when I go to meetings at the Bolling Building, which isn't that often.
But I spend even less time in Charlestown or East Boston, yet still write about them.
Take three
By Sock_Puppet
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 7:32am
I hear Samsung's third take on the ad is going to be
You got off the plane in Geneva
But your phone is on Geneva Avenue
Take four
By Kaz
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 9:00am
You're at the Brookline Town Meeting at Harvard and Washington
But your phone is at Harvard and Washington...in Four Corners
I approve
By Sammy
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 1:35pm
As a Brookline resident, I laughed out loud at this one. How about this one:
"When you're in Brookline Village but your phone goes to Hancock Village."
Take 4 (a)
By anon
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 9:22pm
Beat me to it. Here's mine:
When you're going to Harvard this fall but your phone went to Harvard Street in Dot.
ok
By cinnamngrl
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 9:25am
I hear what you are saying about that there are just 2 places here. And unlike the last ad, Ruggles is a station, not a neighborhood. If they had said Annuciation or Whittier, then it would be targeting people that live in public housing. There is theft on the mbta, and it perpetrated by people of all ethnic backgrounds. Ruggles is also next to North Eastern U., another place with a lot of phone theft.
By "Read the words of the ad", you mean...
By SomerVillain
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 7:31am
By "read the words of the ad", you mean "read the words of the ad while ignoring the picture", another way of saying "take the words out of context". So yes, take the words out of context and with sone effort you'll be able to find the racism.
Thank you for whitesplaining.
By anon
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 9:44am
Thank you for whitesplaining.
Thank you for assuming they
By 963258741
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 11:52pm
Thank you for assuming they are white. Racist.
Nope
By adamg
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 9:59am
First, the picture itself makes no sense, because that's not even a train you'd see in Boston, and in any case, I was responding to somebody who said he didn't get what was wrong with the photo.
But aside from that, the words combine with the photo to send the message: "Haha, sucker, I got your phone and now I'm on the way to Ruggles to do unspeakable things to it."
Somehow, Samsung has managed to advertise this product (which is not just another phone finder, but a lock-my-data-against-evil-people tool) in New York without referring to places where black people live and where phones could only go if somebody stole them.
OK, so a train not seen in
By anon
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 1:09pm
OK, so a train not seen in Boston should be 1 clue that the creators of the ad are not from here and have no knowledge of our first class public transportation system that is the envy of world class cities around the globe.
how a phone on the Worcester Line would get to Ruggles
By Ron Newman
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 10:49am
Train pulls into South Station from Worcester, passengers all get off but one of them leaves his Samsung phone behind. The dispatcher sends that train set back out to Franklin, Providence, or Needham, so it then passes through Ruggles.
nope
By cinnamngrl
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 11:29am
The employees assigned to a train park their cars at the end of the line (or other places along the line). If they send a train out in another direction, those people can't get home.
just like planes, equipment isn't randomly deployed in all directions.
But equipment doesn't care
By KSquared
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 11:57am
I've definitely come into South Station on a train that then left 10 minutes later heading on a different route. MBTA also does that with buses.
not often. what routes?
By cinnamngrl
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 12:40pm
not often. what routes?
I thought I came in on a
By KSquared
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 1:14pm
I thought I came in on a Needham train that then became a Fairmount train. But, I did catch that train at Back Bay, so it also could have been a Franklin train or a Stoughton train. It was a while ago.
Can't answer for the trains....
By XenaKat
Mon, 09/25/2017 - 3:31pm
...but I do have experience with busses changing from one route to another.
The first time was back in the late 1980's when I worked at the Dedham Mall. My friends and I would be coming home after working the closing shift at the mall riding on the route #34 (or #34E, I can't rember for sure), and take it all the way to Forest Hills. From there we would all wait for our connecting busses.
Two of my friends and I noticed that it was often the same bus, and same driver that was driving the route #32 that we would subsequently get on to go home. We became friendly with the driver, and especially in the cold weather he would let us stay on the bus as he drove it in to the Arborway, went in to use the rest room or check in with the supervisor, then come back and drive out to do the route #32 (and as a bounus, he wouldn't charge us the second fare. There were no free transfers at the time, so that made us very happy).
I have also encountered busses changing routes many times since then, usually in the early mornings or at night after 10 PM.
58
By cinnamngrl
Tue, 09/26/2017 - 9:04am
Was a bus in Watertown. When I got off the night shift I could get on the 58 for $.60 and ride it all the way to Boston but it turned into an express that Newton circle
That bus line still exists
By Ron Newman
Tue, 09/26/2017 - 9:41am
but was renumbered to 558 a decade or two ago.
But now it's express
By cinnamngrl
Tue, 09/26/2017 - 11:56am
But now it's express throughout the route
But now it's express
By cinnamngrl
Tue, 09/26/2017 - 11:56am
But now it's express throughout the route
Equipment isn't randomly deployed
By roadman
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 5:37pm
But it often is shuttled between lines during the course of the day. So an in on Worcester, out to Providence (via Ruggles) scenario is indeed possible.
Well, Sorta...
By Div2Supt
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 7:00pm
Crews and trains switch lines all the time. An engineer friend of mine in the course of his day visits such scenic and exotic locales as Kingston, Fairmount and Franklin. To ensure people and trains get back to where they started there are also non-revenue moves (very early morning/late night). Also note the stops at the Southampton Yards (near Newmarket Station) and BET near North Station for crew swaps and relief.
Needless to say, I am very thankful to not be a Commuter Rail crew scheduler!
Easy
By pmall
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 11:20am
Orange Line southbound to Back Bay, get on commuter rail west, forget phone on Orange Line. Done.
But then...
By Kaz
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 2:23pm
Why isn't your phone on the way to Mass Ave or Forest Hills? Why Ruggles? Why not Stony Brook or Jackson Square?
I've lived in the Boston area all my life
By roadman
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 3:50pm
And my immediate reaction to these ads was "Boy, that's dumb."
Calling an ad campaign "racist" just because it mentions a specific neighborhood, regardless of the makeup of that neighborhood, only discredits those working to address REAL issues of inequality and racism. And you're giving the company that placed the ads lots of free publicity as well.
As the saying goes-Pick your battles wisely. IMO this battle is a poor choice.
Calling an ad campaign
By Scratchie
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 3:56pm
That's nonsense. Mentioning a specific neighborhood in the context of crime is exactly what reinforces the stereotypes about those neighborhoods and the people who live in them.
"Free publicity" is the stupidest possible argument against this sort of thing. I couldn't tell you which phone company placed this ad without scrolling up and I'm commenting on the article. I couldn't tell you the name of the ad agency if you put a gun to my head.
Exactly...
By Div2Supt
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 7:17pm
If you have lived in Greater Boston in the last thirty years you will be well aware of the stereotypes with "that part" of the Orange Line. In high school I had several white friends whose parents warned against -- if not expressly forbid -- riding the Orange Line south of Back Bay Station. Old stereotypes, just like any other bad habit, die hard. Honestly, it is great if more people currently do not associate Ruggles Station with marauding bands of scary black people. But let us not act like the historical associations have ceased to exist.
P.S.
Do any of us sincerely believe that Northeastern University notes in its admissions and other promotional materials that it is located on the northwestern frontier of Roxbury? They know that parents of prospective students have access to The Almighty Google. And they know what many of the results, unfortunately, have to say about the neighborhood.
Ruggles station, to me, is ....
By Ron Newman
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 7:32pm
just the easiest station to bike to from Somerville if I want to take a Franklin, Needham, or Providence Line commuter train.
That's not where we are today
By Kaz
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 7:06pm
The drinking fountains don't say "colored only" any more.
There are some people, places, and things where overt "holy shit" n-word level racism still exists. But those are much more obvious and don't need much of a discussion to call out. Well, they didn't before the current president and his ilk made more of that somehow less despicable for themseves again.
But the seriously insidious racism is the systemic ones where:
White is the default.
When discussing crime it's always assumed you mean "those people" or "that neighborhood".
We have unnecessarily specific phrases like "the concerns of the white working poor".
Even sensors on sinks and hand soap dispensers aren't tested on dark enough skin tones.
I can't even account them all because they don't affect me the same way they do darker skinned people who want more systemic fairness and some goddamned soap without needing to wait for a white friend.
And, no, I don't think the ad people or the soap sensor people were being racist by design. But that doesn't prevent there from being an adverse effect based on racial difference. Indifference to that was naivety. Continued indifference is relying on privilege or being racist.
You forget that Adam is
By 963258741
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 11:54pm
You forget that Adam is professionally offended by all that he sees. This is, after all, Trumpland that we all live in...
Doesn't make sense anyway
By anon
Wed, 09/20/2017 - 10:41pm
Worcester line is out of North Station...are they envisioning a future with the North-to-South station connector?
Um, no
By adamg
Wed, 09/20/2017 - 11:54pm
The Worcester Line is out of South Station. But it's a different line than any of the lines that go through Ruggles, so the not making any sense part makes sense.
It makes sense...
By bosguy22
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 8:48am
If someone at the ad agency is just picking random stops on a subway map and there's actually zero racist intent.
nope, I don't buy that. They
By cinnamngrl
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 9:27am
nope, I don't buy that. They picking places with comparative differences in crime (or at least types of crime).
Oh really?
By bosguy22
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 11:47am
Worcester is known for its low crime rate? Please.
I was kinda thinking the same
By Metoo
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 12:17pm
I was kinda thinking the same thing. Worcester isn't exactly Disney Land.
Hah!
By Div2Supt
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 7:23pm
Yeah, waiting for the bus at the WRTA terminal has always been suspenseful.
It makes Winter Street downtown look like an idyllic spot to take your beau a-courting!
nope. I don't buy that.
By anon
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 1:17pm
nope. I don't buy that. they're clearly just picking random station names.
[citation needed]
By 963258741
Thu, 09/21/2017 - 11:55pm
[citation needed]
Sure (sort of)
By Waquiot
Fri, 09/22/2017 - 9:17am
As far as property crime (the type of crime referenced in the ad campaign) goes, Worcester is slightly less safe than Boston, 29 property crimes per 1000 population versus 23.
But after the first error...
By XenaKat
Mon, 09/25/2017 - 3:40pm
After the first time there was a protest over racist over/undertones, intentional or not, the ad agency SHOULD have reassigned that particular ad campaign to someone who lives in Boston and would be able to pick stations that wouldn't offend people. Or drop that particular campaign all together.
But they didn't. They just made the same boneheaded mistake all over again, and people got offended again.
Samsung should drop this particular ad campaign and possibly the ad agency. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt the first time that it was an honest error due to the ad agency being unfamiliar with Boston, but since they did not replace them, or insist the agency come up with a different ad, or actually consult with a Boston resident...I feel that Samsung just doesn't care who it offends.
That's probably not true of Samsung at all, but that's what's coming across to me by doing this again.
You people
By June
Wed, 09/20/2017 - 10:57pm
Stop being so damn sensitive I'm black and really don't see anything wrong. The minority sympathizers most likely had more of a problem with this than the actual minorities did. If only they'd take on some real race issues.
Pages
Add comment