So, we just learned about Diwali – a popular festivity celebrated by Indian people around the world! We learned about 2 Hindu deities, Rama and Sita, and the demon Ravana who abducted Sita.
But it seems as though many people are not aware of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Why do I say that? Well the notorious Cardi B has committed the ultimate blunder. Remember how I said that there are several Gods and Goddesses in the Hindu religion? Well there is a Goddess named Durga. She symbolises positive energy, especially a powerful feminine energy that is used to combat negative forces. (Meaning she is a powerful Goddess – a powerful woman who wields a lot of strength and valour.) She protects her devotees from evil and demons. Durga is the goddess in the two pictures below.
Now that we know a little about Durga, we can get back to Cardi B. Last week she modelled / advertised for Reebok shoes and clearly looked like… none other than Durga. This is also known as a little thing called Cultural Appropriation. What is cultural appropriation? Cultural appropriation is when a culture (or person/group) take another culture or religious elements / ‘thing’s,’ like: ideas, icons, symbols, artifacts, images, art, behaviour, music, styles, rituals, etc. are taken from a culture (and generally misused).
Please answer the following questions below. Your post should be roughly 15-20 sentences.
1.So what do you think about what you saw?
2. Do you think that Cardi B is genuine in her apology or is it because she received so much backlash because of it? Who do you think is at fault for this- Reebok? Cardi ? The advertising teams?
3. How is this advertisement a form of cultural appropriation?
4. Given what has been happening in society today with BLM and other racist/prejudiced events being discussed, do you think that celebrities should pay more attention to what they put out in the world as they can be role models?
By: Maya Azreille Gorio
1. Well, it is irritating on how people do disrespect other religions and mock or steal religions for their use. And if my religion was being used for advertisement, it would be very insulting if my religion was being mocked or used by others without our permission and I’d be very triggered. Who wouldn’t honestly?
2. But she did apologize. These days, it’s hard to apologize and realize that the person did a mistake so good for her. For me, I have two thoughts. That she either is saying this from the heart, or the she just did this for her reputation. I think and hope that she really did say her apology from her heart and didn’t do this for her reputation. On what it said in the video, she did know that she was going to act as a goddess who’s a very strong feminine idol. If I was in Cardi B position I would also be ok with that because she’s a very powerful women, like me. And she did apologize and said that she should’ve done research on what she was going to be. And nobody really doesn’t search up what their going to be when they’re asked for advertising. So, I think she does have an excuse for that, but she decides to apologize instead of saying “it’s not my fault” or any of that. I don’t think the original people asked her to apologize because she did say that the company said that she will be acting as a real strong female god. If the company was controlling her to say that, they wouldn’t add that in.
3. Well, if your part of your culture was used for advertisement for shoes and isn’t even based off your religion it can be irritating. And, it’s like the company just stole a part of your culture, with no alert or any heads up. They just stole it just for a darn shoe advertisement. It’s like how the Nazi stole the swastika for their needs.
4. I think that they should be searching up about things just like they have just for the respect for other races cultures and religions. But I don’t think that they should do it for their reputation. I think that that reason is corrupt a lot. Lots of people are very protective with reputations they don’t apologize by the heart and understand their mistake, they just apologize just so that people would like them again. So, I think they should just do it to realize how bad discrimination can be.
1.So what do you think about what you saw?
I feel shocked because I realized that it isn’t even her religion and it was very rude. I think she should have done at least a little research before doing the photo. I saw that a famous person named Cardi B did a photoshoot advertising Hindu a queen.
2. Do you think that Cardi B is genuine in her apology or is it because she received so much backlash because of it? Who do you think is at fault for this- Reebok? Cardi ? The advertising teams?
I think it was only because of the hate she got. I don’t think she was genuine because don’t do something that you don’t know much about, she should have known in the first place and researched a little bit. She is only saying that so she doesn’t lose followers she has done so many bad things already and doesn’t learn. Also even if the photo team gave her the idea she should of told them she didn’t want to.
3. How is this advertisement a form of cultural appropriation?
It’s because many people are from different religions that follow cardi b and maybe when they saw that picture at first, they didn’t know what it was but thought it was cool, so they did research on it and maybe liked it and wanted to try it out.
4. Given what has been happening in society today with BLM and other racist/prejudiced events being discussed, do you think that celebrities should pay more attention to what they put out in the world as they can be role models?
I think celebrities should do a little more research to see if there if anything bad about it or wrong. Black lives matter has been getting noticed more lately and more people have been protesting and talking about it also spreading the message and other religions.
1.
Seeing that Cardi B was being disrespectful towards another culture is a little frustrating, but truthfully it isn’t very surprising for me. There’re quite a few celebrities that generally get a lot of backlash for cultural appropriation, like in this case. However, in my opinion, what I saw on both articles was a sincere apology. Why? Well, some people say that lies tend to be extremely detailed, but I believe the opposite. Cardi’s apology was very detailed, and it seemed very sincere. She even promised to do her research in the future, and this was a small part that made it very believable to me. My point is that if she does follow through with her promise, then we know for sure she isn’t lying. But if she continues to be disrespectful, then she may be facing a lot of backlash, and for celebrities that a big deal, because they rely on their fans to keep their status alive. So, if Cardi B’s lying, then she could very well end her career. I don’t think she would risk that, so overall, I think that her apology was genuine, or maybe I’m just too forgiving. I can’t help it. It’s my nature as a Canadian.
2.
As I mentioned before, I believe that her apologizing was real and genuine. Also, I think that Reebok is responsible for the backlash that she received, because in both articles it was mentioned that Reebok told Cardi that she was going to represent a powerful female deity, but they didn’t specify which one. So, it seemed to me that Reebok chose the theme, and didn’t do their research properly, which led to them using cultural appropriation.
3.
In the articles, a bunch of angry tweets were displayed. Here ais one examples of the tweets: “People are saying Cardi B is paying homeage to our hindu goddess Durga. So as a Hindu I want to say that: 1-Wearing a shoe in a temple is prohibited 2-Durga maa is not to be used as an aesthetic 3-Durga maa is NEVER depicted bare bodied 4-THIS. IS. NOT. HOMAGE. IT’S. DISRESPECT.” This tweet caught my eye because it specified what part of the photo was disrespectful. Personally, my family isn’t religious whatsoever. So, this was helpful for me to understand why it was a form of cultural appropriation.
4.
Yes, definitely because celebrities are in the public eye a lot more then “average” citizens. They are looked at as role models, and inspiring, so what they post and do hugely affect the internet. What they bring awareness to usually gets viewed a lot more too. So, in my opinion, they should be using their fame for good.
Recently, a rapper named Cardi B was part of an ad campaign for shoes. The ad was of her with many arms, like Durga (A Hindu God). She was also holding a shoe in the ad. Many people are mad now because they think that it was disrespectful of her to use a cultural symbol in the incorrect way. Since then, Cardi B had issued an apology. So now for my opinion. I think that people are taking this campaign too seriously, it seems like people care too much about things that they should just brush off. People need to focus on more important issues, for example: Covid 19. So I don’t think that this situation is a problem, because people could easily ignore the ad. I think the apology was good, because from what I can tell, Cardi B didn’t know that what she was doing was wrong. I think this is an example of cultural appropriation because Cardi B was adopting this style and using it in a different culture. I think people should think more about what they do, although people should also be able to accept minor things that they might think are offensive, as long as it isn’t too bad.
So we at least I just saw a girl with a lot of arms in a Diwali art also she is in a portrait with some fancy art next up we have some girl called cardi B who is also trying to advertise her art k. So she looks like a crappy drawing of the first picture lets face it. Should she apologies well that greatly depends if she intertidally copied it then she sure as heck should apologies if she didn’t mean to copy then what’s the point of apologizing if she didn’t copy it what’s the point of giving a nice apology just say “I came up with this art myself now F off” Why is it an advertisement for the well you know what short answer it isn’t the photo quality of the picture is mostly just meh there isn’t any good photocopying and other stuff. Yes I mean there are several millions of people who watch them man are kids so if they do something bad their audience will follow but several celebrates are doing better so that’s good.
Some more extra detail:
1. I said its a Diwaili portrait which is true but another thing I have noticed is that she is in what I think she is gonna do something maybe kill someone with every thing I see in her hand the Cardi B one has 2 hands together also has a FN sign nice! Also the two hands together creep me out.
2. Like I said this depends however there is another factor I wanna take if she didn’t see it before and just made it her own she doesn’t deserver backlash since I dont think Cardi B is in to Diwaili she just tried to advirtise some cool art for her next concert.
3. I change my mind on this I think this is trying to cultural exchange somehow although it ain’t good enough I think she is trying to show stuff about a god also she is also trying to advirtise the diwali art on her hand and the dress kind of looks like it however it isn’t a good cultural advirtisement.
4. They should obviously but not in a form of that is offensive in a form like they are simply trying to spread don’t put some false information also as this can cause kids to do stupid stuff. Keep real life stuff either not very often or only on twitter this can prevent kids from complaining about the type of content they make. So they can do if done right.
1. I think that was disrespectful, because that was making others culture fun and Cardi B was copying a Hindu Goddess to get money, getting money with copying is not allowed and it is rude to people who got copied.
2. I think Carbi B was trying to apology to Indians, because she copied a Hindu Goddess. I think everyone who made this picture fault, because Reeboks needed to stop Cardi B to take that picture and advertising teams was helping Cardi B making the idea of the Hindu Goddess.
3. No, because this picture is making Hindu Goddess fun so that means making people who believes Hindu Goddess fun, making people fun and getting money is not cultural appropriation.
4. I think society has to get treated like everyone else, because society makes lots of mistakes like everyone else.
1.When I saw it, I feel bad, because candi B copy the India celebrate god Durga by doing an advertising on shoe company, so she will get money. A lot of people from e country will be angry, because of the copy god Durga like they are making fun of them.
2.I don’t ink she is really saying sorry to the people that think it is bad, because she is not say it truly. I think it is all their fault, because the people that do the averments don’t need to copy the god dauga, and candi B don’t have to do the averment for them like if someone said jump of a bridge you don’t have to so you must control herself by not doing what the people tell them to say, because they can’t fourse her.
3.it is not culture appropriation, because they are copy the India celebrate by putting this add to the whole word, so billions of people will see, so they must think what they do or else they must pay the stuff they do like copy the India celebrate, and when they get famous, they more people will see it, so the problem will get worse and worse.
4.the celebrities should pay more attention, because they can change the BLM, and more because maybe they have a lot of power or money, so they can support the people that need help like the homeless people that need food shelter or cloth ETC…. they are very important people in the world.
I think Cardi B did was disrespect but most of the tweets or messages. It said the creative team were telling what Cardi B what to do so I think most were Cardi`s fault but some goes to the creativity team as they had told her she`s going to dress as a goddess. She tried to defend herself as saying ‘’it was homage’’ but someone had said rule in the Hindu culture. After this I saw a new small detail, she had done research before this as it even said in a tweet SHES supposed to represent DURGA as boh have critical voice. This is proof she had done research or the team so that means that either she had lied or that the research team has lied, or they didn’t tell her about it.
With Cardi B apology I don’t think it was genuine apology at the same time it might because it might’ve been forced, but I don’t think it was a sincere one. I think Cardi B apologized only because of so much backlash she even said it was homage, but she wasn’t paying any respect saying this because someone said her holding a shoe wasn’t respect, Durga cannot be an aesthetic. So, I don’t think its genuine. At the same time, I think it was as the crew wrote that what the god should represent not what the god was so maybe she was telling the truth that it wasn’t on purpose as all the post Cardi B didn’t write so mixed emotions if she actually telling the truth.
This culture is an appropriation because it was a goddess Durga it wasn’t only this that was evidence the crew even said a god that represent women strength femininity and liberation. After I heard this, I wondered how she can think of 8 arms, so she has done the research but maybe no one said it was Durga that was who she represented. it was clear whatever she was representing it was Durga as it was said in a tweet that went with the picture. It was only for their use not to show respect to the culture and they were trying to defend that it was homage not it wasn’t Durga.
Much more famous people should pay more attention on what they put online because many people may see this action and may see and think that this action is alright so many people might disrespect a culture just because others are doing it as well. Maybe kids will see this to so they might do the same and effect people in the future. Much more famous people will have more impact as all their actions are taken to account so any wrong move may be the latest news. All famous people are role models as all of them have done something to be famous so if something wrong happens everyone will either say backlash or just do the same move as they had done. In every culture or movement, they should do research beforehand or know the topic in the back of their minds.
I think for what I saw in Cardi B picture is disrespectful for their religion and it’s not good for black people or Indian people because for their goddess. And for what I saw in her video apology is good but don’t do it again because some people think is not fair for the people of that culture.
-I don’t think she was being genuine because I can’t believe that she didn’t know it was a religion and others culture because she even said that its cool for her culture and maybe she’s apologizing because other people purse her to apologize. I think whose fault is it is Cardi B because she said that she’s happy if her culture would do that and she didn’t even care about another people culture.
-It’s from a Hindu goddess that she copies for advertisement to sell shoes for a big company and make money from it.
I think for what’s happening in BLM it should be more pay attention for what they are saying in advertisement and more attention for what they saying to be a model in the future. And for what’s happening today should be more careful because we need to respect other cultures.
And if they did it on my culture, I will be mad because no one like to be destroyed our or their culture because no one likes to destroy them and another people culture. We will be mad because what if we did it to your culture how will you feel if we did it to your culture or religion.
And for cultural advertisement their form is not good for people who’s buying it because if Indian people who wants to buy, I think they would not buy it because its hurt for their feelings.
And for what I saw in her picture is she’s holding a shoe and a dollar sign in her eyes its not good if your goddess is being a high company model.
Hi, my name’s Yasmine Azizi and today I will be talking about how Cardi B did something called “culture appropriation”. Today I will be talking about what she did. Cardi B modelled for a Reebok shoes and looked exactly like the Hindu goddess Durga.
1. I saw Cardi B and Reebok being disrespectful towards Hinduism. But at least they owned up to their mistake.
2. Honestly, I do not think they were sorry. They acted extremely fast so that they couldn’t ruin their reputation which was smart, but they did not mean it in their apology. I think it’s both of their faults. Cardi B’s for not realizing and Reebok’s for telling her to pose like that and bring all that hate on her. Before posing for this she should have researched Hinduism because she and the company disrespected the religion, beliefs etc.
3. It is a form of culture appropriation because Cardi B looked like a Hindu goddess named Durga. People were upset about this and Cardi B acted quickly and apologized on her Instagram stories and people said it was “meaningful”, but I don’t think it meant anything.
4. Yes, they should pay more attention to the world around them and be more aware in this society. They should also pay more attention because a lot of kids look up at these celebrity’s and they aren’t being incredibly good role models.
That’s all for now and by the way everyone knows the best rapper is Nicki Minaj.
Love, Yasmine Azizi.
Today I will be talking about Cardi B modeling as a Hindu goddess, Durga.
I think that Cardi B should have researched what she had signed up for. She should have thought about what she was doing. She knew that she was representing a goddess, she didn’t think about which goddess, the religion, the background etc. She disrespected someone else’s culture/religion without even knowing it. She was disrespecting Hinduism, then she apologizes right away, she said that “and though it was dope, if people think I’m offending their culture or their religion I want to say I’m sorry. That was not my intent. I do not like disrespecting nobody’s religion. I wouldn’t like people to offend my religion”. She stated that “I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful”, she didn’t even research what she was doing/modeling for. When she apologizes, she said that even though it was dope, that isn’t the best apology in my opinion. She should have explained what she had done wrong and why she did what she did. I think its Reebok’s fault and Cardi B’s fault. Reebok should have been clearer when explaining to Cardi B what she was modeling for, Cardi B should have researched what she was modeling for instead of just modeling for Reebok as a goddess. This advertisement is a form of cultural appropriation because she used the Hindu religion to advertise a shoe. She used someone else’s religion to sell a shoe. Not only did she disrespect other people’s culture she copied on of the goddesses. She also didn’t care to research the goddess. Celebrities need to be more cautious of what they put out in the public, some people look up to celebrities, they can be people’s role models etc. Celebrities always need to be cautious and careful. Since many people look up to celebrities, they can do something bad and their fans can think that its fine because their celebrities. If a celebrity puts something negative/bad into the public they need to apologize for it, not because their company is telling to because they recognized that they did something bad. Not just celebrities everyone needs to cautious about what they put out in the public. Hopefully she realizes what she did was wrong and will not do anything like this again.
1. I think I saw Cardi B apologize to Hindu because she did something very disrespectful. She said it was dope doing that but it actually really insulted people. It made me feel very bad for people who were insulted because she was disrespectful.
2. I don’t think her apology was genuine because she said it was dope as you all know, this is only my opinion. I think it is Cardi B’s fault that upset people.
3.It is cultural appropriation because she used a Hindu goddess to sell shoes to people. She misused a goddess as something to make money from.
4. She should have paid more attention to what she did because she was not a good role model. So many social movements like Black lives matter are happening in the world and many are racist right now. I hope this stops in the future In the end I hope she realizes what she have done in the near future.
Recently, a rapper named Cardi B was part of an ad campaign for shoes. The ad was of her with many arms, like Durga (A Hindu God). She was also holding a shoe in the ad. Many people are mad now because they think that it was disrespectful of her to use a cultural symbol in the incorrect way. Since then, Cardi B had issued an apology. So now for my opinion. I think that people are taking this campaign too seriously, it seems like people care too much about things that they should just brush off. People need to focus on more important issues, for example: Covid 19. So I don’t think that this situation is a problem, because people could easily ignore the ad. I think the apology was good, because from what I can tell, Cardi B didn’t know that what she was doing was wrong. I think this is an example of cultural appropriation because Cardi B was adopting this style and using it in a different culture. I think people should think more about what they do, although people should also be more forgiving for little things like the shoe ad, because these things can just be ignored. So overall I don’t think this situation is as big of a deal as people make it out to be, and people these days just look for problems a lot more so they can react, so I don’t think it is that big of a deal.
Hi, today I will be talking about how Cardi B was disrespectful to a god named Durga.
So when I heard about this I was really, really shocked because this is very disrespectful to Durga and Indian culture. This especially really hurtful to me because I am Hindu and Cardi B not being educated, or knowing what she is doing is not respectful to me. Imagine if someone took your culture and made an add out of it. Cardi disrespected Durga who is a GODDESS. To also she disrespected many traditions, for example, you do not wear shoes in a temple and she was advertising reebok shoes.
I think that Cardi’s apology was because she was genuinely sorry but also how much hate she was getting. I think this because in her apology she says that she is a feminist and loves that Durga is the goddess of war, strength, and protection. But, everyone knows that every celebrity cares about their reputation and I think that Cardi B was trying to save that. She still might not be fully educated enough and was not fully genuine in her apology. I believe that it is the advertisement teams and Cardi B’s fault. The advertisement teams should have not told Cardi B to advertise the shoes like that. They should have known better since this was going to be able to be viewed all around the world plus how their reputation will go plummeting down. Cardi should have been educated about this too since she was the person who was advertising Reebok shoes. Cardi is a very big celebrity and has millions of fans, I can’t imagine how many of those fans are insulted, hurt, and feeling disrespected.
This is a form of cultural appropriation because Cardi B, advertisement teams, Reebok just ripped away a part of a culture for an advertisement. They stole something that did not belong to them and did something very inappropriate. This is like repeating how the Nazi’s stole the swastika from Hindu culture.
I think that celebrities should pay more attention and be more educated about what they say in the world. They have so many fans who believe, support, love them and listen to them. They should be role models for us. Think about it, if all the famous people in the worlld were not prejudiced, racist, discriminating, plain old rude (just described Trump) we would have far less problems in this world.
So these are some of my thoughts about this topic. Hope you enjoyed it! 🙂
I think that what was happening with Cardi B using the Hindu goddess Durga as an aesthetic was disrespectful to the Hindu religion in many ways and was not the best thing to do especially with all the attention she would get. She was a celebrity, and she should’ve known better because for people like her, every single thing that happens in your life is broadcasted worldwide. What happened was like a beacon especially since people who have never heard of her had to get involved just because she was disrespecting their religion.
I do not think she was genuine in her apology. The fault is on her for thinking that she could just steal something that didn’t belong to her and use it as hers and hope no one will notice. It’s better to be sure than to just guess and hope for the best. The only reason because she apologized and tried to make it sound sincere at the same time was because for a person like her, if she didn’t apologize a lot of people would stop liking her. Then her popularity will be lowered and a bunch of drama that she clearly wants to avoid.
I think that this is a form of cultural appropriation because she is clearly taking inspiration from Durga, if not stealing it completely, and using it as her own without crediting the source in any way, shape, or form. Another reason is the fact that she is trying her best to camouflage it and make it look like an accident or a coincidence that what she had was one-on-one to the Hindu goddess, Durga.
I think celebrities should pay more attention as to what they put out on the internet nowadays because that way they influence social media and what happens to the world around us. If they post something racist then most people will most likely be with them and start a war or a protest or something. Anyways, the point is that they have a big impact on society and what happens in the world. They have a lot of control over us that can be used against themselves. With great power comes great responsibility.
1. After reading both articles, I think that the cultural appropriation is very clear. It was said in the comments that wearing shoes close to the idols of the gods. I would be deeply offended if someone used my culture to make money. Through the articles I could tell people were very unhappy. Religion, cultures, beliefs, etc aren’t supposed to be used randomly.
2. There could be three reasons why Cardi B apologized. She could have apologized because she truly felt bad about what she did. She found have done it for reputation or because she didn’t want people to sent anymore comments about it. However she did apologize which is something not often seen in now days. It’s hard for celebrities to stand up to say sorry. However the problem is people think she didn’t mean it. She didn’t sound very sincere. I don’t expect people to forgive her that quickly. If some one mocked your religion a quick sorry isn’t going to make you forgive them right at the moment. I think it was both the rebook and Cardi’s fault. They should be more careful for how they advertise things. Cardi should have researched about the god.
3. I think it is culture appropriation because Cardi is posing with a shoe which is forbidden in Hindu culture. She is using a religion to make money. She thinks the goddess was like her but it was really different. She should have learned more about it.
4. Celebrities should be more careful because there is a lot of attention put on them. The world can see what they are doing. If they did something good the rest will follow. Since all the attention is on them they can make changes and lead groups.
Osu
1. I think the way she disrespected Hinduism was awful, and the fact she did it for money makes it even worse in my opinion. Neither Reebok nor Cardi thought before they acted and I think that was very immature. Cultural appropriation is not a thing to joke around with. Although sometimes people have genuinely not meant what they did, they cannot change the fact that they did it, and it hurt many many people.
2. I think Cardi was partly genuine in her apology, but there was also a part of her that just didn’t want the hate and attention the partnership cost her. Her dressing up and the editor make her look like a Hindu goddess, all the people that participated in this case are obviously at fault for this. Some people more than others. There truly has to be something wrong with these people to even THINK about getting dressed up as a cultural practice or treasure, for frickin’ advertisement! I am so disappointed in this world sometimes, and I really hope something will change.
3. Dressing up as religious figures from another culture is awful, and everybody that does it should be punished and have them know what they did wrong. That is cultural appropriation. And Cardi B did exactly that. She dressed up as the Hindu goddess Durga.
4. Not only celebrities, but other people too. I have asked my whole family if they heard of what happened and none of them heard about it. There should be way more attention to this case and not only this case, but many other cultural appropriation cases. I am very mad that a lot of people don’t pay attention to cultural appropriation and IMO think it needs way more attention. And nobody is doing anything about it, besides some normal people. And celebrities have way more power than normal citizens because their voices gain more attention and are heard more. We also haven’t learned about cultural appropriation or really anything related to religion, and I think this is also a big problem that needs to be fixed.
Sincerely, Apollo
Hinduism deems it is very offensive to represent goddess Durga alongside something as symbolically impure as shoes in hands. It is extremely disrespectful to have shoes on you when you are praying or representing a Hindu god/goddess. People who act as goddess Durga or other gods/goddesses remove their shoes when they are doing a play so that they do not accidentally disrespect goddess Durga or the god/goddess they are acting as. To see Cardi B, someone who has quite the image/reputation right now, do cultural appropriation, is very rude and surprising to me. Any religious symbols should not be used as a marketing gimmick, as it can lead to a lot of hurt feelings and misunderstandings.
I think that the apology Cardi B gave was quite sincere, as she sounded as if she regretted her decision and really wanted to go back in time to decline Reebok’s offer to advertise as goddess Durga. I think it is both Cardi B and Reebok’s fault for this. Most of all, I think it is the advertising team’s responsibility to study and educate their clients about the advertisement and its depiction. It is of utmost importance here, that the advertising team should have thought of religious sentiment. It would also be Cardi Bs duty to have researched about the role that she was asked to represent. Reebok should also have studied the situation with more sensitivity, as it is a commonly known fact that Hindus remove their footwear before entering any holy place, their homes, and temples.
This is a form of cultural appropriation as Cardi B is dressed up as goddess Durga. She was disrespecting the goddess and a lot of people who worship the goddess by saying she is paying homage to goddess Durga but is holding shoes which is an irony. She is oblivious to that fact, as she thought she is going to be on the Footwear News magazine, and everyone will buy the Reebok shoes which she is advertising, and it will be a huge success. The fact that Reebok also released this advertisement during the week of Diwali, shows that they were looking to cash in on the festive season, however they failed miserably due to their cultural insensitivity. If you look closely at Cardi B’s arms, you can see the word “Hennessy,” which is a type of alcohol. To relate alcohol and goddess Durga in the same picture is very inconsiderate and lacks grace.
I really think that celebrities should think more before they take advertisement offers because they can really hurt people’s sentiments if they do something inappropriate, like how Cardi B didn’t research about what she was portraying and got in some trouble. If other celebrities do something like this too, since a lot of people look up to these celebrities, there could be a lot of trouble as these role-models of the world are now being disrespectful to ancient cultures. The celebrities could also end up accidentally offending people who have a certain skin colour or body type and have another big protest like BLM happen. If celebrities want to continue having a fan following, they should choose their projects, photoshoots and words more wisely.
I think what I saw was not ok, it was extremely disturbing to see a coloured woman making a mistake like this, like, are other people’s religions represented that little that a woman who knows discrimination can make this mistake? Although she did apologize, that apology was not enough. She seemed to brush it off like it wasn’t that big of a deal, I think if she were to apologize, it should at least be sincere. But she did actually apologize and promised to educate herself more in the future (which is more than I can say about some people), and while yes, she can’t change the past, she should’ve at least done some research. However, I do not think it is Cardi B’s fault alone, it is also because other religions and cultures are not being recognized enough and others are making the same mistake. If people are not learning about other cultures, they won’t know anything about them. They can disrespect a culture without even knowing. While it is still Cardi B’s fault, it is also society’s fault for not educating others, if we had just given more appreciation had been given to other religions, this wouldn’t have happened. This is a form of cultural appropriation because she took a religious element from the Hindu culture, she did not use it for anything that related to Hinduism, she used it to advertise SHOES, SHOES!!!! This is not even remotely related to Durga (the goddess which she was posing like) or the religion, it did not mention the religion and was not “paying homage”. Its, also Reeboks fault for letting this happen, they didn’t realize this mistake and they were the ones who suggested to do a goddess theme, using someone’s religion as a theme for an ad is revolting. we cannot solely blame Cardi B but the people who influenced her as well. I think celebrities need to be more careful about what they do and say because so many people see what they do and may give them wrong impressions or tell them that things like that are ok. But these things aren’t, it is extremely disrespectful to that culture, it’s using what is important to them as a joke basically. She didn’t do it on purpose, but it is still not ok, just because it was accidental doesn’t mean its ok. They need to be extra careful and do more research about everything they do; they should be role models. Those with no platforms on social media or anywhere else who does know what is right or wrong and have done their research, they can’t make a huge difference, unlike the celebrities who have hundreds or thousands of people watching them. Although they are still human and do make mistakes, they must be more careful. Overall, this is a horrible thing to do, I hope nothing like this happens again, but this will probably happen again knowing how flawed our society is. This is why it’s important to learn about this when we are young, so we don’t make this mistake.
I think that Cardi B is just really disrespecting the Indian culture even if it wasn’t actually on purpose. The Hindu goddess is very important to some people, but she’s literally here taking the “ideas” from the Hindu goddess, and advertising for some shoe company?! I think it’s pretty irresponsible of her to not do enough research before the advertisement she did.
I think Cardi B was pretty genuine in her apology. (I hope.) Although, I think that she only ever apologized was do to the backlash by everyone, and for her reputation. If no one ever said anything about her disrespecting the Hindu culture/goddess, she would’ve never realized what she did, or even apologized. I think it’s mostly the advertising teams’ fault that led to this. Since the advertising team already knew it was a goddess, they probably already knew that the goddess is a part of the Hindu culture. I’m not completely sure if the advertising team even researched about this, but it’s definitely either way their fault if they didn’t, or if they did. I also think it’s a bit of Cardi B’s fault for agreeing to this advertisement without researching about it too.
I think this advertisement was a form of culture appropriation because they were not respecting the Hindu goddess at all. In fact, they have never asked permission from the culture to use they’re ideas at all. So they’re literally stealing the ideas from the culture without thinking about what consequences this may lead them to. Like, how would you like it if someone just decided to disrespect your culture? It also kind of does seem like Cardi B is using the Hindu goddess like an “aesthetic” if you just look at the magazine/picture itself.
I think a lot of Celebrities should definitely pay more attention to what they put out in public. Lots of people look up to them as their role models, so they should be aware of what they do. If they act like what Cardi B just did, people may learn from them, and that will definitely won’t lead to anything good.
Cardi b being offencive?
Wow again, it never gets any better, the copying of cultures (culture appropriation ) is just getting worse. And i have heard people say “what do you mean?! It is going away day by day.” No it is not, the reason people think that way is because people don’t notice it because it is so normal now.
A little info on her. Cardi be who is also known as Queen B id a american rapper that wrote that WAP song, and she has done many photos shoots with big companies but one this one Turned out with a twist.
Now more than ever people like Cardi B don’t even know what they are getting themselves into. In the photo she is posing as a goddess that is really important to the Indian culture, and as a colored woman i really think that she sound know better. She does state that she cannot change the past but she can help the future. And i think that she is right but Reebroke should do an apology because most people when getting a photo shoot they have no clue what will happen or what the out come will be. They owe a lot of people a big apology because what they did was really bad. And i bet that they did do the research because the representation in between the goddess and Cardi are very similar. So they know what they were doing, and probably did know that what they were doing was wrong but still went through with the post. But her apology could have been better, but she is only human and people make drastic mistakes.
This is a form of cultural appropriation because she used another culture will actually celebration of light good and evil and brought it into an advertisement offending many of her fans that celebrate Diwali and even the ones that don’t because of the consequences that she will receive hopefully she will do more research going forward. Using one culture even if it’s yours at a point where it’s only convenient for you is cultural appropriation and even for being a star like her self, the influence that she has on may people massive. And in many ways cultural appropriation can be showed but almost mocking a goddess is truthfully really selfish.
Black Lives Matter women’s rights a chance to save the world and many more movements are going around if you don’t support them that’s your choice if you do that’s also your choice. With her popularity she should know A lot of people look up to her if their fans or not. She also should know everything about that interview or photo shoot or advertisement whatever you’d like to call it. She should know what the photos gonna look like at the end or what she’s posing as at least she should get the photo before it’s posted so the whole world can see that she was a part of cultural appropriation. As a coloured woman and living in today society with the harassing, bullying, and racism that she would not wanna be apart of that. But just for moment put yourself in the shoes of influencer. Everybody’s looking at you all the time everything is judged written down made to the whole world can see it and you’re told not to make any mistakes yes she goes to pressure like everyone else. Just put away the money and the fame and the amazing holidays but that stress, pressure and probably many sleepless nights she is human you know and let’s be honest the creator of that look is the one in charge and should’ve known that that was offensive. So I will put 15% of the problem on Cardi B and 80% on the creator and 5% on Reebok and a Company because every style or new advertisement is looked at before being posted so the company had its faults in this.
Gordon: I think that cardi did not know this arm thing was already use in a religion. Even though this is quite racist and disrespectful. It might of bin Reebok fault because they might have made the ad and thought of the design to put multiple arms and hand. They make look more full and flashier to make it pop out more so people can see and might buy it. This is very inappropriate to the Hindu religion. Hindus people might get offended by this ad. Celebrities should watch what they a posting in social media. If this continues to happen, they make get banned or the social media might have to shut down. If you are a celebrity lots of people can see what you are posting more than if you are not. If she did not apologize in time, she might have lost a bunch of followers or something like that. Cardi might accidentally show the people in public a bad example. Thing like that kids can see so they must be good role model. This action might cause others to do that. Which will lead to a big problem to the Hindu religion. this multiples arm thing dose look like something that is from a religion so they should of check it out before using it.
I think the issue is a disrespect to the culture, the culture that Cardi B last week modelled / advertised for Reebok shoes, which she tried to imitate Durga, a Hindu goddess told in India. According to the image of the advertisement it really is a disrespect because goddess Durga doesn’t look anything alike (yet similar with the multiple of arms). Cardi B therefore broke many rules that is against the culture and tradition, such as wearing a shoe in a temple, which is prohibited and yet she was making an advertisement for a shoe company (Reebok shoes) even though it was prohibited and disrespecting to the culture. In my opinion, if someone disrespect my culture, mocking it, and making a poor job on it, I would also be enraged like how some of the Hindu cultured people feel towards Cardi B.
I think the fault should be blamed at Cardi B along with the advertising teams that was part of creating this advertisement since it was their fault for making such an advertisement and not to think twice when they were doing it. The main fault should be blamed on the one who thought of making this kind of advertisement at first, wither he or she knew what they were doing, they should take responsibility.
I don’t believe Cardi B is exactly (half-half) sincere for her apology because even if she never knew goddess Durga, she should’ve been able to tell it’s something traditional from a certain culture and therefore research it but, of course mistake like this always happens. Plus, it’s kind of unlikely that she doesn’t know Durga since she is the one imitating her. If she really didn’t know, I suppose the advertising team must’ve known either way. Which is why I suppose she is lying in part her apologization and telling the truth that she meant no harm because I don’t think anyone would ruin their own reputation so. I believe she only apologized just so she could protect her status and advertising teams (not that she was completely lying but I suppose she wouldn’t apologize if she didn’t need to). Even she didn’t know anything about goddess Durga she really should’ve done more research and look out for her actions. Either way, what is done cannot be taken back so, it doesn’t really concern me if she knew or not.
This advertisement a form of cultural appropriation because they didn’t ask for permission of the country to imitate goddess Durga and they were taking the imitation for their own use and not giving credit to which the culture they stole to imitate. This is probably part of reason why people are angered by this action. Even though, they didn’t meant harm, there is possibly no way the advertising team didn’t know what they were doing was wrong and could raise complaints unless they really aren’t considerate for their actions. To add on, the way Cardi B was dressed was an insult to the Hindu culture.
Given to what has been happening with BLM, celebrities really should pay attention and think twice of their actions to show a good example and role model to their country. We don’t want more causes of disrespect and hatred between different people and places. The BLM is already a severe and heavy subject so, celebrities really need to think twice and make no more trouble more their own country or world. Even though maybe Cardi B and her advertising teams didn’t meant any harm, they still need to give the Hindu culture people an explanation and therefore make sure they don’t make the same mistake again.