#rawtea

This video exemplifies Smirnoff’s evolution of vodka and the malt beverages, like Smirnoff Ice and Smirnoff Raw Tea, designed for women.

This advertisement, “Tea Party” satirizes New England wealth by featuring actors as wealthy, preppy young adults rapping poorly as the fake band Prep Unit (or P-Unit, for short). The song references White Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture in America, however, it is thinly veiled black minstrelsy at some points. Additionally, this commercial sends the message that wealth can only be attained through social constructs of white high brow culture and privilege along with New England geography and Ivy League education.

Similar to the concept of a cake walk on plantations in the South, this video satirizes white people’s inability to dance and rap while showing its theft of black culture. For example, when the women in the video grind on the men in the video, it is comical because the women still appear proper and they are dressed conservatively; at one point, they are wearing a polo shirt with a sweater over their shoulders and another time, they are wearing a one piece swimsuit while grinding. However, this is also an example of black minstrelsy in modern white culture. Grinding is part of white culture through the theft of black culture and dance. This shows the videos tie to black minstrelsy Additionally, I mentioned the theft of the rap style music. At 2:52 in the video, the men attempt rapping. There is a close up on their faces and bodies while dancing, similar to man rap music videos where the artist stands and raps with people behind them. Additionally, at the end of the video, one of the white men kisses the large necklace he wears in the video, just like in rap music videos.