Plow & Hearth Sells Racist Stereotypes
From A Rake's Progress
I don’t normally go counting the number of black or Asian people in the
catalogs I receive. But as a customer of Plow & Health I began to notice
that not a single person of color appeared in the catalogs they were sending me.
I counted up the photos and the number of whites versus anything else. The score
was 100 whites to one African-American child. So I wrote a gentle, questioning
letter to Peter and Peggy Rice, owners of the company. (See copy below). I
received a phone call soon thereafter from a kind woman in their marketing
department, who admitted that there were some problems with diversity in the
catalog, but that the Rice’s were certainly not racists and that the catalogs
would soon show greater diversity in the models it used.
A year later, I am still getting their catalogs and, in fact, the situation
has gotten worse, not better. The recent Holiday 2006 catalog hasn’t a single
person of color. If anything, the models appear whiter and blonder than ever.
It’s a marketing production the Klu Klux Klan would be proud of!
So I called the company. I ended up speaking with a telemarketing supervisor
named Kyle. He took great offense at my accusations, especially given his
background as an “Hispanic and Native American.” While I thought it noble
that the Rice’s employed “black folk” and other ethnic groups to work
behind the high walls of their direct marketing empire, the “face” they
present to the outside world is still one of pure-white Americana. Kyle, I
suggested to him, was no better than the black sharecroppers who worked the
Master’s fields while all around him society continued on in its racist ways.
Kyle was not impressed with my analogy and hung up — not the most professional
way for a customer service supervisor to handle an unhappy customer.
So, what is to be done? I have looked through several other recent holiday
catalogs and the story is quite similar: very blonde, very white WASPS and nary
a black, Asian, Hispanic, or Native American in sight. For me there is only one
solution: DON’T BUY FROM RACISTS! Maybe when they understand that not only
minorities, but white people as well, are offended with their Nazi ploy to get
us to part with our cash will they call up a few modeling agencies that
represent beautiful people who happen to come from places other than England,
Germany, Denmark, or Sweden!
If you care to write to the Rice’s, their address is listed below.
– Frank
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
October 25, 2005
Peter and Peggy Rice
Plow & Hearth
PO Box 6000
Madison
,
VA
22727
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Rice:
I have been a customer of yours
for a few years. I’ve bought some lighting, a bookcase, and some other items.
Your products and my house are a perfect match. I like to keep a traditional,
country-looking home.
Being traditional, however,
does not mean being bigoted or racist. As I went through your
Holiday
2005 catalog, I started to notice that all of your models were white. I decided
to take a count. Out of 101 images of people or parts of people (hands, ankles,
etc.), everyone appeared to be white with the exception of one child in the back
of the catalog. (I have conceded that an argument can be made that Santa Claus
is traditionally white.) A ratio of 100 to 1 is not exactly the ratio of
African-Americans in this country, not in
New Hampshire
, and certainly not in
Virginia
.
I would guess that where you
are and in the city that produces your catalog, it is possible to find
African-Americans or Hispanic models. Why don’t you use them? Unless you are
deliberately excluding them and are indeed bigoted or racist, I don’t see why
you wouldn’t. I would bet that it would not hurt sales and might even open up
demographic markets you have not considered. At the very least, it will allow
people like me (a white, over-educated son of third-generation European
immigrants), to believe I am buying from a progressive, self-aware organization.
I hope you will consider making
some changes to your catalogs.
Sincerely,
Frank Marafiote
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