Sprint Aplogizes for Tasteless 'ghetto' comment video Ad

Jonny Kansas

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I even showed up on yours!
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Mine isn't showing any now. Must be some sort of server issue or something?

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Sajo

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Can't say I've seen it in a while, but it's a guy. Maybe short, kinda salt & peppery hair that was originally black/dark. Maybe with a mustache? Stubble, I think either way.

Black T-shirt? Sitting in a chair. Maybe at a table?

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That's an old G+ profile pic. My wife took that pic at a beach side table in Hawaii. Weird that it shows up here.

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Jonny Kansas

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So, are you now known as Jonny FoxKat?

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Has a nice ring to it!

Oh. Maybe it's your Tapatalk profile?! Do you mind if I post it in here, or would you prefer I PM you? I found it.

Do you sign in to Tapatalk with your Google account? That's probably why.

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Sajo

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Has a nice ring to it!

Oh. Maybe it's your Tapatalk profile?! Do you mind if I post it in here, or would you prefer I PM you? I found it.

Do you sign in to Tapatalk with your Google account? That's probably why.

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That's it Jonny. The pic you see and sent me is my Tapatalk profile pic, pulled from my G+ account. I never set that as my DF avatar though. That explains why I sometimes see a different avatar pix for FoxKat...sometimes his G+ profile pic and other times his DF avatar.

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FoxKat

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Frankly I think the original subject of the post is just so infantile. Eventually we won't be able to look at, talk to, talk about or even think about someone else without someone having a meltdown about it, saying we're being disrespectful, ignorant, abusive, aggressive, or whatever other verbs you wish to pin on it. What happened to free speech anyway?

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TisMyDroid

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Actually, I did find the ad offensive. I suppose it is my sensitivities from working with low income minority populations. There are so many false stereotypes associated with low income minorities that it makes it more difficult for individuals to break through those barriers when they try due to those stereotypes. The ad is tasteless. Just my opinion. And no, I wouldn't say it's abusive or aggressive but disrespectful, ignorant, offensive and tasteless...yes. And I agree free speech is perfectly fine but that doesn't mean free speech doesn't have its consequences. You can say anything you want, I get to decide whether I agree, am offended, talk back, boycott, etc. So yes, totally fine for sprint to be dumb enough to decide it was a good idea to release this ad. But the consequences might be that they offend enough people where it hurts their sales.

Sorry all for being the downer here, just my first reaction/opinion.

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pc747

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Actually, I did find the ad offensive. I suppose it is my sensitivities from working with low income minority populations. There are so many false stereotypes associated with low income minorities that it makes it more difficult for individuals to break through those barriers when they try due to those stereotypes. The ad is tasteless. Just my opinion. And no, I wouldn't say it's abusive or aggressive but disrespectful, ignorant, offensive and tasteless...yes. And I agree free speech is perfectly fine but that doesn't mean free speech doesn't have its consequences. You can say anything you want, I get to decide whether I agree, am offended, talk back, boycott, etc. So yes, totally fine for sprint to be dumb enough to decide it was a good idea to release this ad. But the consequences might be that they offend enough people where it hurts their sales.

Sorry all for being the downer here, just my first reaction/opinion.

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Agree, in fact I could not have worded it better as I had similar feelings.

Again, just like with anything it depends on the person whether or not it is offensive. Personally I'm actually cool with ads that push the boundaries but personally that is not what this ad does. This ad just reminded me of the attitudes portrayed in movies during the 60s. Weird because I could understand this coming from Verizon but Sprint, this is just stupid considering the demographics of their customer base. In fact I'm betting the percentage of their minority customers are over 60%.

Yes people can write what they want and say what they want. I am not saying Sprint should have to silence their commercials but I can then respond with me feeling the commercial was stupid in my opinion, that don't make me overly sensitive that just mean I don't like the commercial. Obviously someone in Sprint felt the same way if they pulled the commercial and apologized.



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mountainbikermark

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Agree, in fact I could not have worded it better as I had similar feelings.

Again, just like with anything it depends on the person whether or not it is offensive. Personally I'm actually cool with ads that push the boundaries but personally that is not what this ad does. This ad just reminded me of the attitudes portrayed in movies during the 60s. Weird because I could understand this coming from Verizon but Sprint, this is just stupid considering the demographics of their customer base. In fact I'm betting the percentage of their minority customers are over 60%.

Yes people can write what they want and say what they want. I am not saying Sprint should have to silence their commercials but I can then respond with me feeling the commercial was stupid in my opinion, that don't make me overly sensitive that just mean I don't like the commercial. Obviously someone in Sprint felt the same way if they pulled the commercial and apologized.



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That's kinda racist to assume that by being willing to bet isn't it? Degrading minorities as no better than cards or dice?
I honestly think we've (as a nation) got more important first world problems to discuss and fix than thin skin

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Jonny Kansas

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Actually, I did find the ad offensive. I suppose it is my sensitivities from working with low income minority populations. There are so many false stereotypes associated with low income minorities that it makes it more difficult for individuals to break through those barriers when they try due to those stereotypes. The ad is tasteless. Just my opinion. And no, I wouldn't say it's abusive or aggressive but disrespectful, ignorant, offensive and tasteless...yes. And I agree free speech is perfectly fine but that doesn't mean free speech doesn't have its consequences. You can say anything you want, I get to decide whether I agree, am offended, talk back, boycott, etc. So yes, totally fine for sprint to be dumb enough to decide it was a good idea to release this ad. But the consequences might be that they offend enough people where it hurts their sales.

Sorry all for being the downer here, just my first reaction/opinion.

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No need to be sorry. I'm glad to have a different take on the situation, personally. I'm 100% for being respectful of people, but also feel like there's a point where being politically correct go a bit far.

Your points are more than valid and offer insight that I can admit I don't have from my experiences in life. Thanks for adding to the discussion.
 

mountainbikermark

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Actually, I did find the ad offensive. I suppose it is my sensitivities from working with low income minority populations. There are so many false stereotypes associated with low income minorities that it makes it more difficult for individuals to break through those barriers when they try due to those stereotypes. The ad is tasteless. Just my opinion. And no, I wouldn't say it's abusive or aggressive but disrespectful, ignorant, offensive and tasteless...yes. And I agree free speech is perfectly fine but that doesn't mean free speech doesn't have its consequences. You can say anything you want, I get to decide whether I agree, am offended, talk back, boycott, etc. So yes, totally fine for sprint to be dumb enough to decide it was a good idea to release this ad. But the consequences might be that they offend enough people where it hurts their sales.

Sorry all for being the downer here, just my first reaction/opinion.

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That's not being a downer. That's being a realist. The truth might not always be popular but it's always true. If a customer or potential customer doesn't like something about a business, the best way to boycott or voice displeasure is via the power of the wallet. One of our greatest freedoms in the past was choice of where we spent our money, be it expendable income or budgeted necessities.

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dgstorm

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@FoxKat My original intent in posting it was simply to point out that it was a big PR mistake by Sprint. While I agree that most people will not be offended by what the woman said, the fact that some people would be offended by it, is just bad marketing. This is especially true considering that many of Sprint's customers tend to be lower income as well as T-Mobile customers, which also makes it hypocritical.

I can see both sides. We definitely are becoming far too sensitive to being "PC" all of the time; however, in this instance, it was a case of marketing insensitivity, which is bad business. Sprint's upper level execs should have had better judgement ahead of time, instead of having to pull the ad after it pissed off a bunch of people.
 
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