Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Bacon as "Unanimous Food"



A new Oscar Mayer commercial depicts an unhip father trying to fit in with his son and his friends (one of whom is a boy of color) to finagle a piece of "bacon."  The first thing that strikes me as potentially problematic is Oscar Mayer utilizing a white male to make light of nonwhite culture.  Equally problematic, however, is the assumption that flesh consumption is "unanimous":  "When it comes to common language  we all speak bacon."  This slogan not only hints at a racial divide, but also works to normalize Nonhuman Animal consumption.  "Bacon" is not a unanimous food; it is a food of the privileged and a product of immense suffering and injustice.  It may not be accidental that all of the actors are male (as women are more likely to be vegan or vegetarian).  This could be normalizing male consumption patterns as universal to everyone, thus devaluing "feminine" concerns with Nonhuman Animal exploitation.

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