One thing I neglected to mention in class will be surprising to many of you: the "Hilfiger is a racist" thing is an urban legend, a false rumor that circulates as the truth. Please check out the urban legend-debunking website that describes the history of this one:
http://www.snopes.com/racial/business/hilfiger.asp
Anthropologists and folklorists, such as Alan Dundes of U.C. Berkeley, have concluded that such stories and certain types of jokes go around when a population is experiencing a common anxiety about something. What is the something you think this particular urban legend might reveal we are feeling anxiety about? Why is it that it is Oprah, of all the talk show hosts, who throws him off her show?
Also, for those who are really eager to get into this debate, read (in advance) John Berger's important essay from Ways of Seeing, which explores how advertising works on us. This essay might explain why this ad could work on us. Recognize that, while we may not be conscious of how these ads manipulate us into buying stuff, the advertiser gets paid to make these decisions consciously. They do what works. Advertisers are propagandists whose success in a highly competitive industry is to separate as many people as possible from their dollars. And, as with the Nazi Minister of Propaganda quoted on the homepage, the ends justify the means; nothing that is effective is too low.
Why not exploit our deepest insecurities if it sells pants and perfumes?
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