In 2011, State Farm achieved television immortality with nothing more than a red polo and a pair of khakis. The iconic “Jake from State Farm” insurance mascot was born in a brief thirty-second commercial featuring Jake Stone, an actual State Farm employee from Bloomington, Illinois. Despite the commercial’s instant and enduring success, Stone never reprised the role, and a decade passed without the character featuring in any official State Farm advertisements. But on one fateful Super Bowl Sunday in 2021, ninety-five million viewers were introduced to a new Jake: a slimmer, cleaner-cut, and most noticeably, blacker twist on the original. The new Jake, portrayed by actor Kevin Miles, is no longer a one-and-done folk hero. Black Jake is an insurance-selling superstar, having rubbed shoulders with celebrities like Drake, Ludacris, Jimmy Fallon, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In his many star-studded television spots, Jake’s Blackness will sometimes pervade the dialogue in a very intentional manner. These incidents are small—often very small—but apparent if you know what to look and listen for. As is the case with a great deal of code-switching instances and African American cultural nods (including “the nod” itself), such incidents are quick, slight, and typically go largely unnoticed. In Jake’s case, they have been as small as an “Alright now” upon parting and an excited, adulatory display of “stank face.” For me (and maybe only me), the miniature, almost imperceptible scale of these gestures begs a disproportionately large question: Why am I so annoyed by their presence?
Jake is not alone: Black cultural cues are beginning to occupy more and more space in popular media. Within the context of commercials, two other pertinent examples come to mind. The first is a commercial for the 2025 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid. It features a completely Black cast that includes a card-playing, Kangol-wearing older gentleman using unmistakably Black turns of phrase to communicate with the hybrid’s driver. “You got gas that fast?” he asks. “Nah, it’s a hybrid. I’m good on gas,” she replies, to which he good-naturedly quips “Okay, Hyundai! Miss Good-On-Gas!”
Where I imagine the average Black consumer may see progress and representation in these commercials, I only find frustration and skepticism. I don’t know that I’m right to feel this way—it’s very possible that seeing and hearing myself on screen more often is unilaterally positive, rendering my complaints useless and contrived. In truth, the only reason I really have for feeling so jaded is that I find it difficult to believe in corporate sincerity, especially when I and those who look like me are the subject.
I have watched myself be mocked, parodied, misinterpreted, appropriated, and forsaken by mainstream media for as long as I can remember, and I’ve developed a kind of skeptical shell as a result. I’m willing to admit that I have trust issues. However, I’m equally as willing to admit that it may be time to work on moving past them. It may be time to welcome the dawn of a new, brighter day.
Featured image courtesy of Shutterstock. Article image courtesy of YouTube.