Category Archives: Badly Branded
Ashton Kutcher in Brownface for Popchips Commercial
So this is neat. Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) did a promo video for a faux dating website called WorldWideLovers.com–in BROWNFACE. Calling himself “Raj” and pretending to be a Bollywood producer, Kutcher does the Indian-est accent he can muster. He points to a bag of Popchips and goes, “This is the Bombay!” Bah-dah-bah-psh!
If the product placement wasn’t clue enough, a visit to www.worldwidelovers.com takes you to a Facebook app page, presumably launched by Popchips as a clever marketing ploy.
I didn’t laugh once during this video, but maybe you’ll find it funny. You know, if you’re kinda racist. I wonder if Fes would’ve thought this was funny…
Popularity: 1% [?]
Daily Texan Posts ‘Apology’ for Racially Insensitive Trayvon Martin Cartoon
The University of Texas at Austin is my alma mater, so it thoroughly disappoints me when something like the racist Trayvon Martin cartoon is born in our hallowed halls, is published in The Daily Texan, is pulled off the site (not due to the public’s reaction but due to server issues), is put back on the site, continues to spread a crappy message and be a failed attempt to make the students and faculty of UT think about the media and racial issues.
What’s worse is that Daily Texan student adviser Doug Warren, who has spent 30+ years in journalism posted an “apology” on the site today that has been swiftly removed, though the page still pops up on the Interwebs if you search for it. I’ve taken the liberty of making some marginal notes. Just “take a deep breath” before you click on this thumbnail…
The newly minted journalists and self-appointed judges of racism might want to ask themselves what is more “yellow”–actual journalists using neutral language to relay facts, or cartoonists who use racial slurs that drive traffic to their online newspaper?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Asian References I Just Don’t Understand: Coldplay, Rihanna and Bourdain
Princess Taiping of the Tang Dynasty
Firstly, has anyone heard the latest Coldplay and Rihanna collab? It’s called “Princess of China”…and I have no clue why. Can someone (i.e. Chris Martin) explain? It seems like it’s got less to do with China, more to do with Chris Brown…
from MetroLyrics.com:
Once upon a time somebody ran
Somebody ran away saying fast as I can
I got to go, I got to gooo
Once upon a time we fell apart
You hold it in your hands
The two halves of my heartOhhhhh, ohhhhh!
Ohhhhhhhhhh…Once upon a time we’re burning bright
All we ever seem to do is fight
On and on…
And on and on and on…
Once upon a time on the same side
Once upon a time on the same side in the same game
And why’d you have to go
Have to go and throw it all to my faceI could’ve been a princess, you’d be a king
Could’ve had a castle and wore a ring
But nooooo, you let me gooooo
I could’ve been a princess, you’d be a king
Could’ve had a castle and wore a ring
But nooooo, you let me goooooYou stole my star
Lalalalalalaaaa…. [x2]
You stole my star
LalalalalalaaOhhhhhhhhhh…
Cause you really hurt me
No you really hurt me [x2]
Cause you really hurt me
Ooooooooh no you really hurt me[x2]
Secondly, has anyone seen the poster for Anthony Bourdain‘s new show, The Layover? Can someone explain why he’s holding empty chopsticks in the air with one hand and wet shoes with the other hand as a plane flies overhead? That does not look like a “killer time” to me.
Thirdly, has anyone seen the latest NYT Fasion & Style article about the new snaggletooth trend in Japan? OK, I’ll admit that I kind of understand this trend. But I don’t have to like it.
An excerpt from the article:
Dr. Emilie Zaslow, an assistant professor of communication studies at Pace University in Manhattan, who has studied gender identity and beauty in consumer culture, noted that such ever-shifting tastes often have one thing in common: a fixation with youth.
“The gapped tooth is sort of preorthodontic or early development, and the naturally occurring yaeba is because of delayed baby teeth, or a mouth that’s too small,” she said. “It’s this kind of emphasis on youth and the sexualization of young girls.”
I really hope the fang trend has nothing to do with Twilight.
Popularity: 1% [?]
An ‘Entertaining Asian’ for Your Friday [All Up in Yo' BizNazz]
What do you find most annoying?
- The alveolar click and subsequent explanation of it: “Jo!e means Joy!”
- You’re confused about what “a flair for life” means.
- You’re wondering what kind of gadget has a face?
- You don’t what’s so entertaining about chinky eyes and chopsticks.
- The awkward feeling that somehow Asian food isn’t considered “gourmet.”
(Thanks, Kevin)
Popularity: 1% [?]
Fox Sports Cancels The College Experiment After Airing Racist USC Bit
When you assume you can mock an accent, you make an ass out of you and……just you.
A couple days ago, everyone was talking about the racist Fox Sports “comedy” bit involving Bob Oschack trolling the USC campus for Asian kids with accents to ask about their thoughts on Colorado and Utah joining the Pac-1012. The joke? Oschack wanted to give the newest members of the conference a “good, old-fashioned All-American welcome” from Asian kids whose first language is clearly not English. Not ROFL-ing yet? Apparently someone at Fox Sports did. Watch the video below–only if you want to end up with a firmly furrowed brow.
Well, at least no one outside the network approved. Apparently Fox Sports is now cancelling The College Experiment because of the above video, which shouldn’t really be news because, well, what did you really expect was gonna happen? Oschack opens up for Margaret Cho on tour?
It’s amazing to me that White people still think that White people making fun of foreign accents is a hoot. Actually, the people you’re mocking rarely even register that you’re being funny. Really. I tried to show my parents a hilarious HappySlip video (made by funnywoman and master of the Pilipino accent Christine Gambito) once, and they thought they were watching a reality show about Filipinos. My sister and I were literally doubled over on the couch, our bellies tight, tears streaming out of our eyes. And our mother and father sat perfectly still with stone faces, frozen lips, eyes and bellies. No offense, HappySlip. It’s just that Mom and Dad don’t really “get” why their normal, everyday way of speaking is side-splittingly hilare. (For the record, I do.)
So, if anyone wants to make the argument that I need to “lighten up” and “take a joke,” just know that I can. I only prefer it to be delivered by the right person in the right context. Not from some guy who wants to amble around the foreign students’ hangout spots like a creeper.
Popularity: 1% [?]
