colonial!!! incredible colonial fantasies of white people... sorry, but the advertisement makes me doubt whether jack wolfskin has arrived in 2013.
because there is probably someone there in africa. that really surprised me, and i wondered what exactly was meant by the "no one there."
that old clichés about africa still have to serve capitalist "branding as an experience" is simply weak. weak and dangerous!
because she portrays wise people as conquerors.
because it reproduces racist stereotypes.
exoticism is problematic after all.
colonialism in new, stylish, and young. it naturally sells - still at the expense of those who have always been victims of colonialism. why should i watch white people conquer the world when i can see that in history books?
no one here? all those who aren't rich and white enough to afford leisure "adventures" in jack wolfskin outfits probably don't count. oh yes: except for the sweet little black children. consumer colonization at its finest.
reproduces colonial-shaped images, /whites/ in expensive brand clothes and the people of colour in the familiar white charity look, poor in tin shacks, just as the /whites/ like to have "their africa," so they can feel superior and yet somehow feel good.
yeah adventure, adventure africa is an adventure! it's nice that j. wolfskin has taken a heart and shows with this spot how, especially for many white germans (of course there are also people of color and black individuals fascinated by colonial ideas), but above all white people with fewer significant problems can travel the world, as their passport, money, and appearance allow it. it would be interesting if the empty landscape in the commercial and this phrase "...no one there" would mean in a just counterpoint that africans are not there because, for example, they are traveling to germany to explore the black forest or something else. well... why doesn't that work :) ? it's nice and good if one can afford jack wolfskin stuff... lol, in berlin i see almost only white people walking around with it on the bvg and on the street!!! hmmm, do more of these white people have money?! i know that the phrase "...no one there!" is 'only' meant as a joke. however, the current circumstances in many parts of africa due to colonization are simply too precarious to advertise in this "romantic" way. this means that those who have a non-eurocentric historical knowledge know or feel that this kind of advertising is still very problematic. there is also no spot filmed in warsaw (or in a landscape where jews lived) and then said... hmm no one there, and afterwards, little sweet jewish children are cuddled without their parents.
the ad evokes terrible associations with colonial history: a white man calls out "good morning africa" and then follows with "nobody here," as if africa were uninhabited... this is exactly the image that justified exploitation, colonial occupation with all its terrible consequences including slavery and maafa (or euphemistically: "transatlantic triangle trade").
reproduces racism: "no one here" - which fits into the myth of "no history" "no one lives here, so we can take it" and: the advertising is only aimed at white people, as if there are no black people who buy and wear outdoor clothing.
it is colonial and racist!
because the ad produces colonialist images
1) white men and women 'discover' the african continent (an old project of colonialism, claiming to have discovered the world)
2) black people only appear as decoration - but not as actors, discoverers, travelers.
3) why specifically "africa" (the entire continent) and why only white men and women, who obviously have the time and money to move across the planet in a colonial manner.
4) this applies not only to the ad but also to catalogs of so-called "outdoor" brands that like to mobilize such colonial-racist logics.
reminds me of the painful colonial history....
it is racist. africa is not there for white adults to play with little black children and occasionally jog.
terrible and typical.
basically, "africa" is depicted as one large playground for white people seeking adventure. cue smiling african children playing with these white visitors. it romanticizes the continent, reinforcing the tendency to speak about africa as one undifferentiated mass of land, and it supports the practice of white backpackers who travel and trample in search of adventure and unique experiences (defined on their terms: "none here!" - woo hoo), rather than engaging with the place they are in. it's africa for white people.
i find it totally racist and spreading extreme lies. there are a lot of people on the continent. really crazy, total colonialism in the mind.