This is the same guy who sold lists of gullible seniors. And he also didn't take it seriously.

Pandas are chinese, and if were are going to have talking animals they are bound to have accents.

What about the one where the Indian gentleman was the phone guy, they showed him having like 8 kids, and being pushed around by a asshole white guy? I cringed just as much at that one as I did at the Panda's.

Maybe a company that sells your info to telemarketers and the like should just keep their crappy advertising out of TV.

I wasn't offended by either one. He needs to stop losing sleep and sell something.

I could see offense being taken because of the stereotypes being overblown. But beyond that, I say let the animals from CHINA be CHINESE. And as far as the salesman goes, is it a bad thing to have diversity and equal opportunity in commercials? It's not like he was driving a cab...

@Lo-Pan: Pandas may LIVE in China, but they don't have to have that accent. What if the add showed German Shepard's bossing around other dogs in heavy German accents. I'm guessing there would be offense to that.

Maybe if we dress the pandas as pimps that would help.

@Git Em SteveDave: Let's just make the Dukes of Hazard well-spoken gentlemen, problem solved?

@Git Em SteveDave: I wonder when accents became something that people shoudl find offensive.

@Git Em SteveDave: Panda's don't talk either. But Chinese people do, and they generally would speak with that accent if English was their second language.

I can't believe all of the commotion about this. It's not like the panda's were saying, "Ah so! Me so solly!". What, did people expect them to speak with the same inflection as their local news anchor?

This is why you NEVER let the boss unleash his alleged creative tendencies outside of his immediate area of expertise.

EVER.

They were both bad, but I thought they were less offensive than previous years' ads from Salesgenie - in which the stereotypical white guy's kid loves him more since he went to Salesgenie and started making more money. It ends with him driving up in a new car and giving her a pair of puppies.

I didn't see the panda ads, but I cringed my way through the "Indian guy" ads. Very poor taste and a total waste of money. A dumb, vaguely racist cartoon is the best they can do for the Superbowl?

@GITEMSTEVEDAVE

Would a Kangaroo or Koala speaking with an Australian accent be deemed offensive? What about that cute little Chihuahua from the Taco Bell commercials? Didn't think so. Leave the Chinese Pandas be.

My thing is that if you prohibit other "stereo-types" from being shown, why allow others. You know the world we live in, and the outrage anything causes. It should have been a no-brainier. Maybe you reap what you sow after this and this. Profiting on the elderly is bad.

I find it kinda funny that Vinod Gupta has to apologize for offending people with a stereotype of his own culture.

I'm more offended by the crappy product he sells, quite frankly. :)

@DrGirlfriend: @Its The Beer Talking: Talk to Opie and Anthony, and how they get fined/punished for using accents. Even acting on their best behavior.

I just thought Asians were smarter than that.

@Git Em SteveDave: It wasnt just the accents though. It was the bad spelling on the signs, the bamboo furniture and car, the crappy merchandise and the way they were shown being stupid. I cringed as I saw it, and almost everyone I know did to.

They do worse than this on the Simpsons... I don't understand all the fuss.

Translation:

We're 'sorry' *wink*.

If their ads hadn't been racist, nobody would be talking about SalesGenie.com. They got just what they were looking for.

Vinod, please do the needful.

I went and watched those commercials after I saw so many people complaining about them on this site. They were crappy ads, and they were definitely not worth the (2.5 mil?) that they cost for the slot, but they were just barely borderline offensive.
I was a little more horrified that the black guy got sucked into the jet engine on the "beer that makes you fly" commercial.

As soon as I saw the Ad, I knew that someone would overreact to it the same way they overreacted to the accent of the peddler at the beginning of Disney's Alladin.

Waaaa!

There are 2 things wrong with this issue:

One, that people are so easily offended by stuff like this.

Two, this guy thinks he's fooling anyone with, "I didn't know it would be offensive."

He knew, and it is generating the desired after-commercial buzz that everyone wanted.

And regarding animals with accents, I seam to recall a Scottish Terrier in Lady and the Tramp who wore a kilt and talked with a thick accent, two Siamese cats with accents, and Spike accusing Droopy of hitting him with a shillelagh in a thick Irish accent.

Times have changed. People shout RACISM very quickly now.

I'm offended that the ads were so painfully stupid. Where's my apology, Mr. Gupta? I think I lost brain cells watching that crap.

I saw these commercials and I thought the other ones I saw were a little more offensive. [www.youtube.com] This salesgenie ad showed an indian man and talking about his large family. I thought his voice/family size were a bit stereotypical and when I was watching the superbowl ads with my friends they joked about someone probably creating a lawsuit over them. Oh well.

salesgenie.com sell like hot curry

Why the outrage? If you don't like it, don't use the product, voting with your wallet makes you appear much more mature then some morally outraged cry-baby.

@Its The Beer Talking: @Tracy Ham and Eggs as played by Walter Mondale: I agree with you, Ham. It's funny how the "smart" panda psychic didn't speak w/ an accent. But the "dumb" Pandas, who were eating their own merchandise, and the female panda screaming at her husband, they had the accents. Hrmmmmm.

Marketers are so hard up for cash they are expanding their own advertising budget? Old news to me. Consider that the focus market is so flooded with companies holding tens, if not hundreds of thousands of addresses in their lists, it's a small wonder why we don't get nailed with more junk mail than we are now.

Opt out of their mail lists by sending your contact info to help@salesgenie.com.
Half your week's wages says that the mail box will be full.

If I call you a panda, is that some sort of slur? Can somebody please explain why a panda with an accent (French, Italian, Chinese, whatever) is offensive?

I was watching the Super Bowl and for both these ads I thought, "Someone is going to be upset about this." Very stereo-typical. Do they not have to get the ads approved by anyone at the TV network on which they air?

@shan6: Hey, I don't think a show like that could be made now-a-days. Just think about how they censor Warner Bros. cartoons because the characters may be "too" stereo-typical. I am not a member, or a supporter of the PC police, by now means. But if you want to be taken seriously, Rev. Al, etc...., be consistent, and don't let some things pass, and others not.

The GEICO gecko, with his accent, offends me to no end. :P

He should apologize for such awful adds, who cares about the accents those commercials were bad.

@Amy Alkon: I'm not being offensive, and please no one take it that way, but if I called someone a "monkey" or "gorilla" , would that be a slur? It's in the context of the thing. And this context was bad. You are portraying foreign accented animals/people as dumb, until that is, they get help from someone else. Remember the outrage last year when they portrayed K-Fed as a fast food worker?

I just thought the ads were terrible. Not offensive

@Amy Alkon: In this P.C. day and age, people have decided they have the right NOT to be offended. Which they actually don't.

But to answer your question, the reason I think some people would have been offended was the way in which the accent was used. It was came off sounding very "Fa-ra-ra-ra-raaaaah"

@Imaginary_Friend: Totally.

I hate that crappy flash-style animation that is beginning to pop up everywhere...like on those stupid e-surance commericials that constantly run. It looks like it should be on nickelodeon or something

Rofl- I actually told my wife (during the 8 kids one) "I can't wait for the consumerist post about these".

And lo and behold, here we are. Personally, I didn't think they were offensive, but then again, I think it's hilarious to refer to myself as whitey. But rest assured, I take myself very seriously.

BFD. People offended by this have too much time on their hands. Its just a commercial and a stupid one at that. I'm really tired of all the political correctness now a days. Get over it.

@G0lluM: Speaking of which, did anyone watch american idol last night?

Gramarous, gramarous, Frossy, Frossy!

@AndyAgent87: Is it wrong to find the e-surance chick totally hot??

@G0lluM: I'm pulling out my copy of 'A Christmas Story' right now.

The problem as mentioned earlier, is that one can only poke fun of certain groups, not others.