Seeing as we are in the midst of our civil liberties unit, I found one photo I stumbled upon today on the internet particularly interesting. The photo was of a loofah, with Martin Luther Kings face on it.
I find this product very contradictory. It claims to be a commemoration of the great MLK, but I find nothing complimentary about Martin Luther King's face rubbing away your dead skin cells. The worst part of this product? The other, non-exfoliating side of the glove which reads: "I Have a Clean". Clever spin on words or just cheesy? Definitely cheesy.
Something that I did find quite surprising about this product though, was the fact that it was made by a man from the UK. His name is Sheridan "Shed" Simove and he makes other sort of goof products besides this one. Products such as "The Gaydar" and the "Control a Woman Remote". Most of Shed's products are degrading and inappropriate, but I don't think he necessarily was trying to hurt anyone with this product. I think he was just in it for the cheap laughs and quick bucks. It still is sort of insulting and probably should have never been put on the market. Perhaps since Shed grew up in the UK and not the US (where nowadays, starting at kindergarden the greatness of MLK gets pounded into our minds), he was unaware of how insulting this product could potentially be seen as, especially by Americans.
Interestingly enough, Shed no longer sells the Martin Loofah King on his website alongside his other products. But if you are really dying to get your hands on one, the loofah can still be bought on amazon here.
Interesting post, Chrisantho!
ReplyDeleteI think the most obvious reason this product is so outrageous is the dialect change from Luther to loofah. It's really stunning to me how this product could be on the market, with its blatant comedic stab at southern, and sometimes African American, dialect by twisting Luther into loofah. I'm not normally one to preach political correctness, but perpetuating a shallow speech stereotype by attaching it to MLK Jr.'s name is really offensive to me.