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Gifts for all occasions in the Galleria! Subscribe to the "What is the Deal?" mailing list. November 30, 2003 What is the Deal with MBAs? By Jan A. Larson Worldwide shipping company, FedEx, has recently been running a television commercial in which the shipping supervisor of a fictitious company asks a young man, on his first day on the job, if he would help. The young man initially accepts, but when he realizes he is being asked to help with shipping a huge pile of packages, he balks explaining, "I don't do shipping." The supervisor counters, "No, no, no. It's very easy. We use FedEx.com. Anybody can do it." Young man: "You don't understand. I have an MBA." Supervisor: "Oh, you have an MBA? In that case, I'll have to show you how to do it." Voiceover: "FedEx.com makes shipping so fast and easy, even and MBA can do it." I'm sure most people don't think twice about this ad. Why? Because it is the Caucasian male that is disparaged. It should be noted that the shipping supervisor is an African-American female. I wonder what the reaction would be if the roles were reversed? Would this advertisement still be on the air if the shipping supervisor were a Caucasian male and the young MBA was an African-American female? "Oh, you have an MBA? In that case, I'll have to show you how to do it." Not so funny, is it? Now, I'm not out to make a case for political correctness here, although I too am a Caucasian male that happens to have an MBA and could, if so inclined, exercise my right to express offense and outrage. Actually, I find the commercial to be quite humorous because frankly, it is humorous. The young MBA portrays an attitude of superiority and implies that shipping work is beneath him. This is definitely not a good attitude to put on display on one's first day on the job and I must say, is not typical of the people I know that have MBA degrees. On the other hand, this advertisement does demonstrate the double-standard in America when it comes to who is fair game at which to poke fun and who is not. I'm sure FedEx and their advertising agency didn't choose the actors to play the roles of supervisor and weasel-like MBA at random. Undoubtedly FedEx's purpose with this commercial is to emphasize the ease of use of their website and to have some fun at the expense of an unsympathetic character. In the process they do walk a fine line in that they could use no one other than a Caucasian male for the role of the MBA without setting off the alarms of political correctness. -- Send feedback to the author. The "What is the Deal?" column will appears weekly on the Pie of Knowledge website. Guest submissions are welcome and encouraged. To submit an article to "What is the Deal?" click here. To subscribe to the "What is the Deal?" mailing list and receive early notification when a new column is available, click here. The Pie of Knowledge will never, ever divulge email addresses to any third party for any reason unless so ordered by a court of law. Contributions to the Pie of Knowledge are greatly appreciated. 
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