OTTAWA – An ad parody of the Lakota arthritis pain TV commercials broadcast on Astral Radio’s CKTF-FM Energie 104.1, Gatineau, did not violate the broadcasters’ code of ethics, says the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.
The segment in question contained a mock interview with one of the program’s hosts posing as the spokesperson for the Lakota pain relief products. The other hosts questioned the “Lakota Indian” about his products. There were also references to eating “hot owl”, to his “fat barefoot wife” and to “that welfare bum with feathers”. A listener complained that the parody segment was discriminatory towards aboriginals.
The Quebec Panel examined the complaint under the Human Rights clause of the CAB Code of Ethics, which requires that broadcasters ensure that their programming does not contain any abusive or unduly discriminatory material which is based on race.
Based on previous CBSC decisions, the panel concluded that, although the sketch did present some stereotypical commentary regarding aboriginals, it was primarily a parody of the television commercials (Ed note: which are weird enough to seem a parody unto themselves anyway) rather than an abusive attack on aboriginals as a group. The panel made the following observations about the broadcast:
“The panel readily understands the offence found by the complainant in the expressions “B.S. à plume”, “grosse femme nu-pieds” and “on mange du hot hibou ce soir” [“welfare bum with feathers”, “fat barefoot wife” and “We’re having hot owl tonight” (translations)]; however, it does find equally that those comments parody the commercial rather than aboriginal people in general or even the individual in the commercial in particular,” says the release.
“It recognizes that the television advertisement for the products has itself led the charge into the aboriginal cultural environment. That commercial has chosen to play up the association of the medicinal compound with the Lakota tribe and with nature. The panel notes that the expression “hot owl” is a harmless link to the communion with nature represented by the entire Lakota approach to the advertised product.
“As to the expressions ‘fat barefoot wife’ and ‘welfare bum with feathers’, the panel readily concedes the rather tasteless choice of a satirical tool but it concludes that the parody only carries the theme established by the commercial itself to a logical, or perhaps ridiculous, extreme. While lightly stereotypical, in the view of the Panel, the expressions ‘fat barefoot wife’ and ‘welfare bum with feathers’ evoke more of the tickling, than the bludgeoning, approach,” it concludes.
