Caravggio Ad w/gratuitous Sopranos reference

Sounds like more unimaginative ad writers trying to ride the coattails
of TV darling "The Sopranos".


Dominic

-----Original Message-----
From: ladolcevita_italianinelmondo@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:ladolcevita_italianinelmondo@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2004 5:36 AM
To: ladolcevita_italianinelmondo@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [ladolcevita_italianinelmondo] Digest Number 1025

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 07:09:01 -0500
From: "Ben "
Subject: RE: More on the Caravaggio Ad in the New York Times

Salve.
Does anyone know if the ad in question can be seen online or can you
post the exact text? It would make it easier to comment.

Grazie.

Ben Lawton

-----Original Message-----
From: l.bonaffini@worldnet.att.net [mailto:l.bonaffini@worldnet.att.net]

Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 7:40 PM
To: ladolcevita_italianinelmondo@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [ladolcevita_italianinelmondo] More on the Caravaggio Ad in the
New York Times


I am posting my entire exchange with Nina Ozlu, Vice President,
Government and Public Affairs, Americans for the Arts. As it is
painfully clear,she frankly admits that it would be impossible to use
negative stereotypes for other groups, but does not explain why it is
all right to do so for Italian Americans.

If you would like to write to her, her address is nozlu@artsusa.org

Luigi Bonaffini



I was frankly appalled today when I came across your Caravaggio ad in
the New York Times.

It is not enough for Italian Americans to be constantly bombarded by
Hollywood and the media with the usual vulgar mobster stereotype, now we
are getting it from an organization like Americans for the Arts. Mind
you, I am not implying any malicious intent on your part, but this ad is
misguided, ill-conceived, and downright offensive. I am assuming that
you meant to suggest that not all Italian names are mob connected, and
that Italian culture is much more than that. Considering the fact that
only an infinitesimally small percentage of Italian Americans are
involved with organized crime (0.002%, as close to 0% as you can get),
it is really very hard to understand why an ad about Caravaggio by a
cultural organization should have to mention the Sopranos. And if that
were not enough, you mention Mario Puzo's novels and, finally, you
administer the coup de grâce, scraping the bottom of the barrel, with
"Fuhgedaboudit".

No matter what you intentions might have been, the only effect your ad
will have will be to reinforce the ugly stereotype of the Italian
mobster and the fact that if you talk about Italians, then you must
mention the Sopranos and the Mafia.

This ad was a terrible mistake and you need to pull it immediately.



Mr. Bonaffini,

We've received wonderful praise for our ad series, including several
Italian-American organizations. The point of the ad is that most
Americans don't know who the greatest artists in the world are and by
using pop references through word association, it really helps to make
the point. Our ad campaign won the highest prize by the National
Association of Newspapers for our arts education campaign.

This campaign has been in place for 3 years and you are the first person
to have interpreted the ad as an offense towards Italian-Americans,
which clearly was not our intention.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. All opinions are welcomed.

Sincerely,

Nina Ozlu

Vice President, Government and Public Affairs

Americans for the Arts



Dear Ms. Ozlu,

I want to thank you for your prompt reply.

Again, I do not in any way question your intentions, only the choices
made in the ad, and the need to use negative stereotypes to make the
point. To be more blunt, if this had been an ad about Isaac Stern, would
you have said : "No wonder people think Isaac Stern is a Jewish
Shylock"? How about a Spanish singer? "No wonder people think Amancio
Prada is a kingpin" If the answer is no, as I think it is, then you need
to ask yourself why it is all right to use negative stereotypes when
Italians are involved.

Since you say that several Italian American organizations praised the ad, I will post it on a couple of Italian American forums and we'll see
what they say.

Luigi Bonaffini




Actually, you should take a look at our entire print ad series. We do a double play on artists' names through similar sounding pop references. I think you'll then see how the examples you bring up would never happen
for MANY reasons.

Martha Graham - snack cracker?

Louis Armstrong - 1st man to walk on the moon?

Man Ray - a poisonous jellyfish?

Tchaikovsky - gesundheit?

Thanks for getting back to me. Nina





I'm afraid the examples you give confirm without a doubt what I said to you. They are not similar sounding pop references, as you suggest, because they are harmless wordplay and not one of them alludes to an ugly negative stereotype, except for the Caravaggio ad. You rightly say
that the examples I gave you would never happen for MANY reasons, and I of course agree. It is no doubt unthinkable to use Jewish or Latino stereotypes, and rightly so because they are vulgar and offensive, yet you could not think of a single reason why using the mobster stereotype
is inappropriate.

Thanks again for your response.

Luigi Bonaffini



At this point, we are going to have to kindly agree to disagree. My
points are not changing your mind and your points are not changing my
mind. The only thing we do agree on is that there was no intention to
offend Italian-Americans.

Thanks, Nina

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 14:40:39 -0000
From: l.bonaffini@worldnet.att.net
Subject: Picture of Caravaggio Ad

I have put a picture of the Cravaggio ad on my website.

Luigi Bonaffini

______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message: 3
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 13:55:29 -0500
From: "Ben "
Subject: RE: Caravaggio Ad in the New York Times

The ad is both entirely typical and absolutely outrageous. Your letter says it all, but nothing will change until the perpetrators are hurt financially. In the meantime I trust the various Italian American local and national organizations must bury Nina Ozlu and American for the Arts
with letters of protest.

Saluti cordiali,

Ben Lawton



-----Original Message-----
From: l.bonaffini@worldnet.att.net [mailto:l.bonaffini@worldnet.att.net]

Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 9:41 AM
To: ladolcevita_italianinelmondo@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [ladolcevita_italianinelmondo] Picture of Caravaggio Ad

I have put a picture of the Cravaggio ad on my website. You can get it
at http://userhome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bonaffini/caravaggio.jpg

Luigi Bonaffini


________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message: 5
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 16:58:01 -0500
From: "Ben "
Subject: CARAVAGGIO AD IN NY TIMES

Dear Ms Ozlu,

Professor Bonaffini and Mr. Fiore have posted on a number of Italian American message boards their correspondence with you regarding the Caravaggio ad that ran in the New York Times of June 20 (see below). Your replies to Professor Bonaffini, culminating in “we are going to have to kindly agree to disagree,” are simply not acceptable. If you honestly don’t understand what is wrong with your replies, go see Spike Lee’s BAMBOOZLED. He has done a wonderful job of lampooning replies such
as yours. While I would like to believe that your campaign and your replies were simply naïve errors, the public affairs person in the film is clearly revealed to be deliberately and programmatically racist. But even you, however subconsciously, reveal that you are aware of the
defamatory nature of the ad when you write “I think you'll then see how the examples you bring up would never happen for MANY reasons” in response to Professor Bonaffini’s suggestion that an analogous campaign about Isaac Stern might say “"No wonder people think Isaac Stern is a
Jewish Shylock"? How about a Spanish singer? "No wonder people think Amancio Prada is a [drug] kingpin."” Among the “Many reasons” for which the defamation of Jewish Americans, Hispanic Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, etc. “would never happen” is that there is
no doubt that Americans for the Arts would have to grovel as it begged for forgiveness and that you would be instantly terminated.

I join Professor Bonaffini and Mr. Fiore in inviting you to pull the ad immediately. I also join them in asking you identify the Italian-American organizations that have heaped “wonderful praise” on
your ad series and to share their comments with us.

Cordially,

Ben Lawton


New York Times, Sunday June 20th

NO WONDER PEOPLE THINK CARAVAGGIO IS A GUY ON THE SOPRANOS.


It's hard to believe. Here's a 16th century Baroque master whose bold naturalistic painting style first created a sensation, then a movement, A guy whose life was filled with the turbulence and excess of more than a dozen Mario Pugo novels. This guy who, while troubled, ultimately found redemption and immortality in his art. But does the average kid on the street even know
who Caravaggio is?

Fuhgedaboudit.

Too bad. Especially when you consider how much our children ca earn from the conflicted life of a great artist like Michelangelo Caravaggio.

Hee grew up in less than ideal circumstances. Most of his family died in the plague. Much of his youth was misspent on the mean streets of Rome And as a young artist he struggled for years a living. He was angry. Yet the angry contrast' between light and darkness in his work is the very
reason why it now hangs in countless museums around the world. If nothing else, it's a case study of the importance of having art as an outlet. Unfortunately, one we're fast removing from our kids' lives.

(Caption of a painting by Caravaggio)
Honestly, he wouldn't last ten minutes on the Sopranos




I am posting my entire exchange with Nina Ozlu, Vice President, Government and Public Affairs, Americans for the Arts. As it is painfully clear,she frankly admits that it would be impossible to use negative stereotypes for other groups, but does not explain why it is all right to do so for Italian Americans. If you would like to write to her, her address is nozlu@artsusa.org

Luigi Bonaffini



I was frankly appalled today when I came across your Caravaggio ad in the New York Times.

It is not enough for Italian Americans to be constantly bombarded by Hollywood and the media with the usual vulgar mobster stereotype, now we are getting it from an organization like Americans for the Arts. Mind you, I am not implying any malicious intent on your part, but this ad is misguided, ill-conceived, and downright offensive. I am assuming that you meant to suggest that not all Italian names are mob connected, and that Italian culture is much more than that. Considering the fact that
only an infinitesimally small percentage of Italian Americans are involved with organized crime (0.002%, as close to 0% as you can get), it is really very hard to understand why an ad about Caravaggio by a cultural organization should have to mention the Sopranos. And if that
were not enough, you mention Mario Puzo's novels and, finally, you administer the coup de grâce, scraping the bottom of the barrel, with "Fuhgedaboudit".

No matter what you intentions might have been, the only effect your ad will have will be to reinforce the ugly stereotype of the Italian mobster and the fact that if you talk about Italians, then you must mention the Sopranos and the Mafia.

This ad was a terrible mistake and you need to pull it immediately.



Mr. Bonaffini,

We've received wonderful praise for our ad series, including several Italian-American organizations. The point of the ad is that most Americans don't know who the greatest artists in the world are and by using pop references through word association, it really helps to make the point. Our ad campaign won the highest prize by the National Association of Newspapers for our arts education campaign.

This campaign has been in place for 3 years and you are the first person to have interpreted the ad as an offense towards Italian-Americans, which clearly was not our intention.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. All opinions are welcomed.

Sincerely,

Nina Ozlu

Vice President, Government and Public Affairs

Americans for the Arts



Dear Ms. Ozlu,

I want to thank you for your prompt reply.

Again, I do not in any way question your intentions, only the choices made in the ad, and the need to use negative stereotypes to make the point. To be more blunt, if this had been an ad about Isaac Stern, would you have said : "No wonder people think Isaac Stern is a Jewish Shylock"? How about a Spanish singer? "No wonder people think Amancio Prada is a kingpin" If the answer is no, as I think it is, then you need to ask yourself why it is all right to use negative stereotypes when
Italians are involved.

Since you say that several Italian American organizations praised the
ad, I will post it on a couple of Italian American forums and we'll see
what they say.

Luigi Bonaffini




Actually, you should take a look at our entire print ad series. We do a double play on artists' names through similar sounding pop references. I think you'll then see how the examples you bring up would never happen for MANY reasons.

Martha Graham - snack cracker?

Louis Armstrong - 1st man to walk on the moon?

Man Ray - a poisonous jellyfish?

Tchaikovsky - gesundheit?

Thanks for getting back to me. Nina





I'm afraid the examples you give confirm without a doubt what I said to you. They are not similar sounding pop references, as you suggest, because they are harmless wordplay and not one of them alludes to an ugly negative stereotype, except for the Caravaggio ad. You rightly say
that the examples I gave you would never happen for MANY reasons, and I of course agree. It is no doubt unthinkable to use Jewish or Latino stereotypes, and rightly so because they are vulgar and offensive, yet you could not think of a single reason why using the mobster stereotype
is inappropriate.

Thanks again for your response.

Luigi Bonaffini



At this point, we are going to have to kindly agree to disagree. My points are not changing your mind and your points are not changing my mind. The only thing we do agree on is that there was no intention to offend Italian-Americans.

Thanks, Nina


Ms. Ozlu:

Luigi Bonaffini has shared his recent exchanges with you regarding the above referenced ad by posting them on several Italian American message boards.

Mr. Bonaffini did a more than adequate job in addressing the double standard that's so pervasive in pop culture specifically regarding how one, particular ethnic group (Italian Americans) are abused with impunity in a manner that no one in their right mind would do with other groups. So I will not elaborate further.

For the sake of clarity, however, would you kindly elaborate on your response "...I think you'll then see how the examples you bring up would never happen for MANY reasons"...one of those many reasons wouldn't be "good taste and sensitivity", would it?

Additionally, would you be so kind as to identify which Italian American organizations voiced approval of the ad? Perhaps if we can contact them, they'll be able to help us understand and correct our hypersensitivity. Regards,

Don Fiore

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________