SOPRANOS - MILLER LITE AD GETS NO "PROTECTION" FROM ITALIAN-AMERICANS

MILLER LITE AD GETS NO "PROTECTION" FROM ITALIAN-AMERICANS

MillerCoors has pulled a series of ads touting Miller Lite's "taste-protector cap," in which Sopranos star Frank Vincent portrays an apparently Italian mobster offering "protection" to bartenders and convenience-store clerks, Advertising Age reported today (Thursday). The ads were decried by several Italian-American organizations for what they described as ethnic stereotyping. In an interview with the magazine, Lou Rago, president of the Italian American Human Relations Foundation, said that he told executives of the brewing company, "Look, if you agree with us you wouldn't have two black actors doing Amos 'n' Andy , if you agree with us you wouldn't have two Polish actors pretending to be stupid, and if you agree with us that you wouldn't have two Hispanics pretending to be gangbangers, then you agree with us that this is wrong." MillerCoors, he said, responded, "'It's Americana," ... I said, 'So was Amos 'n' Andy.' "

04/06/2009