Race- and sex-selected actors in commercials

[gerald neuman]

I think this thread has lost sight of its starting point, which is not
necessarily a bad thing.  But just as a recapitulation, I want to point
out that we began with race discrimination in employment, where in theory
there is no BFOQ defense, and a First Amendment claim that the director
had the right to make an arbitrary (not in the sense of irrational, but
based wholly on will) aesthetic judgment to employ actors of a particular
race.
I confess that I find the conflict between the theoretical (i.e.,
explicit statutory) absence of the BFOQ and the assumed social practice
interesting, which is why I joined the thread.
Once we begin discussing cases in which the employers of spokespersons
have objective reasons for their choices, and in cases in which a BFOQ
defense exists, we have moved away from this initial conundrum.
Which I admit is not necessarily a bad thing.
-- Gerry Neuman