The first time I saw the original Moo and Oink commercial, I didn’t stop laughing until I had watched it through five more times and played it for everyone within earshot. But after the laughter faded, white guilt crept in and I began to notice a subtext. What exactly made it so funny? As a white person, I had to dig deep and do some soul searching. Was it because of the shoddy production value and that ridiculous song? Or was it because it featured a group of predominantly African Americans “waving” for catfish and “screaming” for ribs in a kind of demented, butcher shop inspired minstrel show?
Could that really have been the intention? The bulk of the employees and patrons appear to be African American, so it stands to reason that the owner could have been as well. But what if he wasn’t? What if he was some racist, old white guy having a laugh and getting rich off of perpetuating stereotypes? Is it okay to laugh if we don’t know the answer to that question?
Maybe I am reading too far into it. I like baby, baby, baby spare ribs- and I’m white. Are certain types of people predisposed to like certain types of food? Or is it like Dave Chappelle said, “All these years, I thought I liked chicken cuz it was delicious”?
