Salesgenie.com president Vinod Gupta has apologized for two offensive SuperBowl ads featuring animated pandas that spoke with painfully stereotypical “Chinese” accents and an “animated salesman named Ramesh who speaks with an Indian or other South Asian accent.”:
“We never thought anyone would be offended,” said Mr. Gupta, who developed and wrote both commercials himself.“The pandas are Chinese,” he said. “They don’t speak German.”
Still, “if I offended anybody,” Mr. Gupta said, “believe me, I apologize.”
Mr. Gupta says his company will pull the panda ad.
An Ad With Talking Pandas, Maybe, but Not With Chinese Accents [New York Times]
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Actually that Chinese search was fruitful. Russell Peters makes an amusing point.
@Coven: Having an Aussie accent certainly isn’t a bad thing. Works better with women than a stereotypical Chinese accent. Unless of course you live in a cave and have never heard of “funny” accents.
Think of it this way – Not all accents are treated equally in society.
I think the offensive part reflects the fact that for years, chinese people were portrayed as having round faces, buck teeth, short black hair, 2 inch thick glasses, and were dumber than bricks. And white people aren’t the ones who were offended.
I personally am offended when media portrays americans as snobby rich white people.
@noquarter: I think you misunderstood me. I was making fun of the type of people who say things like “No one has the right not to be offended.” Definitely not agreeing with them.
@rjhiggins: I’d say you were wrong. There are a bunch of chinese fast food places in Silicon Valley (maybe further) called Mr. Chau’s. The commercial has an animated dude who looks and sounds more stereotyped than those pandas. Of course, some thin skinned asian group got their panties in a bunch and complained. Turns out it was the owner’s natural voice and he liked the commercials. So don’t be too sure about yourself and your overly PC views.
@mikelotus: For a member of a superior race, you certainly don’t write very well. Try capitalizing words now and then.
@Shadowmist: Well said.
Somebody help me, please. On this NY times page, four videos are available. Two from Salesgenie.com, one from Bud, and one from Taco Bell.
Why are only the first three labeled as using stereotypes? Other than the admittedly ignorant slur with the “seven kids” line, the four videos are, to me, pretty much equal.
What am I missing? Or, am I missing anything?
@witeowl: Obviously, more than four videos are available, but you should be able to figure out which four I’m talking about.
@witeowl: Well, mariachi bands are a Mexican tradition. I’m pretty sure it’s not implying that all mexicans are mariachis. I’m not sure which stereotypes you’re referring to in the Taco Bell ad.
Stereotypes (and if they’re offensive or not) is a personal choice. Maybe Ramesh has seven kids. I don’t see why it hasto imply anything about Indians as a whole, or what makes it a slur.
@rdldr1: Do you have any problem when they show the stereotype “white trash”? Bet you don’t.
@belisle: OK, so do you find any of the four as having offensive stereotypes? The Panda commercial doesn’t imply that all Chinese people sell furniture, are stupid, or are panda bears. The immigrant Bud commercial doesn’t imply that all immigrants practice Santeria.
Why are people offended at the first three, but not the fourth? I just don’t understand what (aside from the one item I’ve already mentioned) makes all but the last offensive.
I’m honestly stumped, by the way; I’m not being argumentative. What is the difference? I just don’t see one.
@Shadowmist: And yet, you’d probably also be bothered if they showed characters with Chinese accents as having superior intelligence. (Indisputably a very common, and arguably equally damaging, stereotype.)
The fact is that there are smart Asians and dumb Asians, and everything in between. This statement applies to every ethnicity/nationality from German to Phillipino to African. Why is it that dumb characters are only allowed to have “white American” accents?
@Shadowmist: @rjhiggins: My jaw dropped open at this commercial for the reason you mentioned – chinese accents on chinese pandas is fine, but accents that sound just short of “me put pee-pee in your coke” – for fuck’s sake
Hell I’m of Asian decent and didn’t find the commercial offensive at all
My white friend on the other hand thought it was highly offensive to asian people…what a world!
@witeowl: Personally, I’m not offended by any of the stereotypes. And I’ve never been offended by jokes that mock any of my cultures.
But I have no heritage in any of the cultures in question, so I defer to them: I count 3 people who claim Chinese descent in the present discussion of over 100 comments. Of them, two were offended by the way the pandas were portrayed and one said China will make white Americans their slaves.
(Also note that they’re pandas who came from a zoo. Pandas eat bamboo. And they probably can’t spell “sofas” properly. I wish somebody could ask Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing what they think, but they’re dead.)
@El_Guapo: You’re right that he’s not sorry. I believe his reason:
Still, “if I offended anybody,” Mr. Gupta said, “believe me, I apologize.”
Then he hopped on his flying carpet, folded his arms in front of his chest (after adjusting his turban) and sped off into the clouds.
if i was president, i would declare that “all things living must not have accents.”
i bet THAT would make everyone happy!
@belisle: I was speaking of a german shepard with a thick accent bossing people around a la WWII Germans(or the movie portrayal of them). With the yelling and the raising of the voice at the end of sentence. While it might not get the Germans pissed off, I am sure that a certain segment of the Jewish population would be highly offended.
As for the Chris Farley skit, how many years ago was that done? It didn’t seem like he was doing an impression, as it was pretty much his character in almost EVERY sketch he does. But as to the dating, many years ago, it was OK to portray a dumb black nappy headed character in overalls with big lips talking jive in children’s cartoons. Let’s see Spongebob swing that nowadays. Hell, lets see a tv/radio host say the previous sentence, and not get fired/fined.
@Its The Beer Talking: I’m also offended that the GEICO gecko has a british accent when he is clearly a day gecko from some tropical local, most likely with spanish speakers or an african dialect of some sort.
I would find that hilarious. someone should have a commercial with a german shepard speaking with a german accent@Git Em SteveDave:
AMEN, comeon this isn’t Mr Rogers neighborhood. Show your disapproval with your wallet. I’m offended by that horrible music they put on the new Hershey candy bites, I really hate it, so I don’t buy the product. There are quite a few commercials that I hate, so I don’t buy their product. Probably just a local commercial but the Eastern Auto (your job IS your credit) is particularly stereotypical. It mostly shows black men with huge amounts of gold jewelry hanging from their necks, yet the commercial has been on the air forever (well it seems that way)All this PC stuff is like nursery school…”let’s make sure we don’t hurt anybodys feelings, everybody share, and take a nap. (hey wait, I WOULD like to take a nap)@Voyou_Charmant:
@selectman: Well-put. It’s not the accent that’s offensive – it’s the combination of accents and setting. There’s nothing offensive about a panda with a Chinese accent (a real one, not a caricature) per se, but combined with the other elements of the commercial it definitely crossed a line.
@rjhiggins: Exactly.
I’m still waiting for Notre Dame to be forced into changing their mascot.
If this commercial is offensive, so are those Flo-nase commercials, with the Hispanic sounding bee? How come no one’s complaining about that? Weird.
You guys suck so much the commercials were not racist at all, and I seriously think you guys should get your head examined what may be racist though is people thinking that it is racist.
@olivia2.0: Why was the bee Hispanic though? There is no specific reason why a bee should be Hispanic. But the panda commercial was offensive because of its allusions to smart Asian people and dumb Asian people, and using accents to distinguish one from the other.
These commercials were not offensive at all, or maybe I am just a horrible person. I thought they were somewhat funny, not the best by far.
People just love pulling the race card and get all offended no matter what.
People these days are just looking to be offended. I am surprised TV still exists. How about when horrible actors fake accents on TV shows? Should we cancel those? Come on people, get a life. Calm down, go outside, enjoy the weather, and shut up.
@UpsetPanda: Because its Antonio Banderas. He is the spokes-voice and he is speaking in his natural voice maybe?
@Nemesis_Enforcer: Seriously? Antonio Banderas is the spokesvoice for the bee?
Often, offense for people lies not in the ethnicity of the accent, but the quality of it – such as, exaggerated and fake Chinese accents being more likely to offend than an authentic (or indistinguishable from such) one.