Let's Have a Lesson in Racial Profiling

Okay, I promised myself that I wasn't going to get too soap-boxy and preachy with this blog, but this is just too good to pass up.

As you may or may not know, Chicago is one of THE MOST racially and economically segregated major cities in the world, and nowhere is that more apparent than on the CTA red line. The red line runs from the far north (and predominantly middle to upper class white) side to the far south (and predominantly middle to lower class black) side, and it's no coincidence that there are twice as many stops north of downtown as there are south.

So, I walk onto the red line this afternoon and find this:
















(Just for clarity's sake, it reads, "Your Dad's House in Milwaukee?")

Now, I had to hold in my laughter: I couldn't believe what I was seeing. This is a cell phone advertisement that is ingeniously geared towards a specific market, the aforementioned middle to lower class black market. How do I know this? First off, the use of the phrase "Dad's House" makes it seem like the intended targets parents do not live together. Secondly, I also know, from growing up in Kenosha, WI, that there is a large black, lower class population in Milwaukee.

Of course, this cell phone company wasn't about to let the other half of the train go unadvertised to. On the opposite side of the train (the side facing you if you were to get on at one of the three stops in Lincoln Park, arguably the nicest neighborhood on the north side), was an identical poster that read, "Your Baby Sitter Next Door?". Poor people generally don't get babysitters; so, this one was geared towards the middle to upper class white folks that would be getting on the train in Lincoln Park.

These advertisements do not stop here. They had to include that new up-and-coming class of citizens. The spanish-speaking crowd.
















Now, I'm not dissing on this cell phone company at all, and I probably should've somehow blocked their logo on this last picture. This company is genius. I'm dissing on the city of Chicago for being so segregated; though, it is rather entertaining.