Dona DeSanctis, Deputy Executive Director of Sons of Italy (OSIA), sent this to us.
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Here is the transcript of my interview with New York WOR-AM radio's talk show host Ed Walsh on the Sons of Italy's new report "Italian American Stereotypes in U.S. Advertising."

The Sons of Italy thanks Manny Alfano, Richard Annotico, Tom De Gennero, Sal
De Stefano and the many individual Italian Americans who helped us gather and shape the information found in this report.  Mille grazie e sempre avanti!
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ED WALSH, Host:ROSE TAMBURINO, Co-Host: Joining us on the WOR line this morning is Dr. Dona DeSanctis, who is Deputy Director of the Sons of Italy. Doctor, good morning, and thanks for being here at WOR radio.

DONA DESANCTIS, Sons of Italy:Oh, good morning, good morning.
And please call me Dona.

WALSH: Tell me Dona, Rose is not offended by some of this stuff. Why would the Sons of Italy be upset?

DESANCTIS: Well, it's not just one commercial or a movie or a television series.
It's the collective weight of all of this. Yes, I mean, some of these commercials are amusing. They're done by people who are very clever and very highly paid. But remember that  commercials, like movies and television, affect public opinion. And we're seeing that the sheer weight of the number of commercials that present Italian-American women as elderly and Italian-American men as crime-prone is affecting the way the general population considers Italian-Americans.

WALSH: Do you think that if they were to depict Irish-- Everybody's seen
the Irish Spring commercials; they usually show somebody who's walking down a
country lane in Ireland; maybe he's got a fiddle or, you know, some other
musical instrument; sort of a carefree guy.  Do you think if they showed him
instead as a slobbering drunk, crumpled over in a gutter, that Irish Americans
would be upset? How about if you had to sell products which are associated with
African-Americans? If you had, you know, Uncle Remus or Amos and Andy? Do you
think that that would be acceptable?

DESANCTIS: Well, actually, we know that it's not acceptable. I mean, just last week
the Fox TV channel, they were in the middle of a Charlie Chan film festival -
that Honolulu Chinese-American detective from the 1930s and '40s - and the
Chinese- Americans objected to the stereotype, and Fox has taken them off and
interrupted the festival and is no longer playing Charlie Chan movies.

DESANCTIS:  When was the last time you saw a rerun of "Amos and Andy"? And by
the way, what happened to that little chiuaua that said, "Te quiero Taco Bell"? It was taken off the air because they found it was demeaning to have a dog speaking Spanish. So I guess what we're saying, and this is directed especially to you Rose is, doesn't it seem odd to you that every other racial, ethnic and religious group's sensitivities are respected, but your heritage, your religion, your traditions are used to sell pasta and teddy bears in the most demeaning way?

TAMBURINO: Well, I know what you are trying to say, I do. And I guess it isn't fair. But on the flipside of that, don't you think we've gotten a little bit too sensitive, I mean, all around the board? We just don't have fun anymore, I think.

DESANCTIS: Well, you know, you're right. But since we are so sensitive to every other ethnic and religious and racial group's feelings, why are Italian- Americans left out of the equation?

WALSH: Now, let me ask our listeners to weigh in here whether you are an Italian American or not.  212-391-2800 is our two-way talk number here at WOR. Do you think that Italian-Americans are unfairly stereotyped, and if so can you blame the Sopranos for it? Not just "The Godfather" - that was a lot of years ago now - but the Sopranos who, after all, do glorify the mob lifestyle, and do so in very familiar surroundings to those of us who live in the tri-state area.

WALSH:  Or is Rose right? Is this sort of over-sensitivity maybe? I mean, look, the fact is that when they're selling Ragu or Butoni, they're selling a food type which has been popularized by Italian Americans. Right? I mean, by the way, although Ragu pasta sauce may not be exactly the way that Rose's grandmother made it....

WALSH: Some of these commercials though, Dona Desanctis, are pretty funny.
For example, in a Blistex commercial, a swarthy man in a black suit asks another
man if he took care of that thing. The lackey pulls out a tube of lip balm, but his boss tells him only Blistex supplies the protection he needs. 'Believe me, I know about protection' he says.

DESANCTIS: Well listen, I'm sorry Ed. They're all funny, that's the point. You get people to laugh and then they feel good about the product, they go out and remember the commercial and then they buy the product. I'm not questioning the advertising ability or usefulness. I'm just saying, just look at the number of commercials. I mean, our report has about thirty commercials that sell everything from milk to teddy bears using Italian-Americans in a disparaging context.

TAMBURINO: Now, do we have any proof though that the opinions have changed
much since advertising has really jumped on this bandwagon, maybe since the
Sopranos? Or was the attitude basically the same for the last thirty years?

DESANCTIS: Well, you know, the attitude has been the same ever since "The
Godfather" came out in 1972 because that movie is a masterpiece. It's very, very
well done. And, as you know, it's played continuously on television usually on
Christmas Day and Easter there are "Godfather" festivals I've noticed. But
it's also spawned a lot of less well done movies. In fact, the Italian Studies
Institute in New York did a study of the movies that have been made since 1928,

that Tony Danza has perfected. So that's pretty much been the way Hollywood has
shaped the image of Italian Americans.

WALSH: Although, I must say Dona, that "The Godfather" of course was the creation of an Italian-American. Right? Coppola. Starred a guy named Pacino. James Gandolfini is the lead actor on "The Sopranos."

DESANCTIS: Yeah, but let's remember they weren't doing this for free.

WALSH: No kidding.

DESANCTIS: It's like saying, do you think, let's go ask the foxes if we should put a fence around the hen house. They're gifted people, but isn't it also a shame that the only way Italian-American directors and actors can get work is by doing work that has to do with the Mafia?

WALSH: Dona, thank you. Dona Desanctis of the Sons of Italy.

(END)
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Dona De Sanctis, Ph.D.
Deputy Executive Director
Order Sons of Italy in America
219 E Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002

Tel:  202/547-2900
Fax: 202/547-1492
Web:  www.osia.org