The National Republican Congressional Committee this past Wednesday sent out an ad featuring two images, that of Donald Trump and former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick asking voters who they would ‘stand with’.
The email sent by the NRC is nothing new offhand in the sense that GOP backers continue to manipulate Kaepernick’s message — even more so after the quarterback took issue with Nike’s use of the Betsy Ross flag on a pair of shoes, a flag that has been associated with American slavery in the past.
Anyway’s here’s the ad…
Aside from the ad being incredibly lame viewers took notice of the photoshopping techniques used. Trump looks happy and bright as an image of the Ross flag is imposed in the background. Meanwhile, Kaepernick looks angry as the QB looks to glare over at Trump. Viewers however also noticed that Kaepernick’s image also appears to have been darkened, including his skin something that Chris Pack told the Bay Area News Group: “The image was not altered in any way by the NRCC. The image was published as-is from a graphic design vendor.”
However, the problem with Pack’s statement is… well it’s flat out wrong. The image was most certainly darkened as you can see below:
According to Yahoo News, this also wouldn’t be the first time the ad company has been accused or in this sense taken upon themselves to darken the skin of people in ads to somehow fit their racist narrative.
Via Yahoo News:
Political ad makers have previously been accused of darkening African-Americans’ skin in photographs to appeal to racist sentiment. In 2015, a study of negative ads that aired against Barack Obama in the 2008 election showed that the campaign of Republican candidate John McCain consistently darkened Obama’s skin in commercials. That study also showed McCain’s skin was lightened in some ads and found those images appealed to “stereotypes” and negatively affected some voters’ impressions of Obama. During that same race, the campaign of Democrat Hillary Clinton was also accused of darkening Obama’s skin in ads, and liberal critics described it as “using racism” and “race-baiting.” There is a wide body of evidence indicating racial prejudice is stronger against African-Americans with darker skin, and multiple other studies have echoed the finding that some voters respond negatively to candidates with darker skin.
Kaepernick nor his representatives have yet to respond to the ad.
