Erin Gloria Ryan at Jezebel
takes some well-deserved pokes at the racist idjits at Club Sun Tanning Salons who pushed this theme:
In honor of Thanksgiving, a chain of tanning salons in Alabama and Florida has launched a holiday-themed ad campaign that is both offensively stupid and stupidly offensive. "The Indians brought more than just 'CORN' to the first Thanksgiving," reads the copy, "they brought SEXY 'COLOR'!" Ugh, the unnecessary quotation marks. Ugh, the insensitivity. Ugh, the idea of indoor tanning. I feel like I'm getting brain cancer. [...]
As you can see, Sexy Indian is also wearing authentic fringed stilettos, which historians agree is part of the traditional dress of Sexy Indians when they taught Sexy Pilgrims how to tan back in History Days. After the tanning sesh, Sexy Indian and Sexy Pilgrim had a traditional Sexy Girl-On-Girl Makeout To Get The Boys' Attention. Then, the traditional Thanksgiving pube waxing. Then, sexy genocide, and hundreds of years of sexy exploitation of the sexy Indian women's daughters and granddaughters by the descendants of the Sexy Pilgrim, the sexy scars of which still linger to this day in Sexy American culture.
Ye gods.
Late Wednesday, David Arnett, Club Sun's marketing director, removed the ad from the company's website and Facebook homepage and posted a nopology in which he claimed:
In response to the recent post from Jezebel.com, the ad I created showing a Native American and Pilgrim in costume was in no way intended to be offensive or racist. I sincerely apologize if it offended anyone. I myself am Native American and I am very proud of my heritage and skin tone. The thought process behind the ad was simply a play on my own sexy 'color'. Again, I apologize for any offense and misunderstanding.
No, David, there was no misunderstanding. We caught your meaning right away.
It's not an "if" you offended anyone. You did. Period. Your nopology doubled down on the offensiveness. What's pathetic is that you didn't see anything wrong with your ad in the first place. If you really do have Indian ancestors, you ought to be apologizing to them. And your mother, too.
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UPDATE: As it turns out, not only is David Arnett not really sorry, he also didn't really remove the offensive ad from the company's web site, as you can see by clicking on it and scrolling down. And just in case he scrubs it, this is what that section of the page looked like at 7:40 p.m. Pacific Time: