In this extremely controversial commercial, a Volkswagen Polo is driven to a busy area by an Arab man. The Arab man sets off a bomb in the car and the bomb doesn’t hurt anyone or anything outside the car, which is inferring the new car is super durable. The subject of Arab or Islamic people being terrorists is a hypersensitive subject in today’s society. After the 9-11 attack at the World Trade Center, the stereotype has been a touchy subject. This commercial is promoting the stereotype that many Arab people are suicide bombers and terrorists.
Volkswagen tried to reinforce a cultural stereotype about Arab people being terrorists by setting off a suicide bomb in a busy area. While the commercial does not say the man’s culture, they make it pretty obvious it portrays the typical Jihad style bombings we hear about on the news. What makes the commercial’s portrayal so effective is how the man gets in his car just to drive to a busy restaurant to set off the bomb. The man wanted to kill others while killing himself.
The stereotype of Arab or Islamic people being terrorists is a stereotype that nobody wants to admit, but is definitely alive in today’s society. In airport security, Muslims or Arabs are known to more likely get “randomly selected” for additional screening. After the tragedy on September 11, 2001, the media emphasis on Arab’s and Muslim’s being “violent” just pushed the stereotype even more. The dominant ideology that most Arab or Muslim people are terrorists is so large could also be due to the size of the Arab American and Muslim community. They take up only about 1% of the total U.S. population, so the negative stereotype is much harder to dismiss.
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