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1. Mastercard’s ‘Meet the Family’ commercial promotes perpetual foreigner stereotype at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture on 10 Dec 2006 at 10:32 pm

   [...] In one of MasterCard’s recent commercials, initially titled “Meet the Family,” a white/Asian couple celebrates their engagement and makes arrangements for their parents to meet each other. With all deep racial-psychological implications aside, I initially loved the MasterCard commercial, just because an interracial couple (especially white/Asian ones) was finally featured in a commercial, and I found it to be “cutesy” and reminiscent of my own interracial relationship. [...]

Comments

1. Tariq Nelson wrote:

   $6,800 for a ticket from Tokyo…Wow, that’s pretty steep

   Posted 04 Oct 2006 at 2:57 pm ¶

2. Gandalf Mantooth wrote:

   Mr “Suki?” Wack.

   Posted 04 Oct 2006 at 3:00 pm ¶

3. Lyonside wrote:

   I’m on my mom’s computer so I haven’t seen the ad.

   Tariq: I’m guessing that the Tokyo pricetag is for 2 parents to probably the West coast, and the Chicago one is the other set of parents to the West Coast (or east….)

   Bah. It’s Mastercard. They write their commercials with monopoly money anyway.

   Posted 04 Oct 2006 at 6:17 pm ¶

4. merq wrote:

   While I think the White Male/East-Asian Female pairing was the “safest” form of IR relationship they could depict, I’ve still gotta give them props for airing the ad

   … or not, seeing as the bride’s “foreigner” background/parentage played an integral role in the ad concept as a whole.

   Still, it’s cool to see a pair not matched up like a game of Hearts. Someone please tell it to the geniuses behind the Match.com ads. It’s so funny that, for all their happy-joyjoy, “love is lovely, lover” cutesiness, the couples are more segregated than… a game of Hearts?

   Posted 04 Oct 2006 at 9:27 pm ¶

5. RobynT wrote:

   ooh, thanks for posting this. i just caught the end of the commercial during Lost or something.

   i agree with Gandalf–is Suki a Japanese last name? But besides the stereotypical Asian woman/Caucasian man bit, “Brian” hugging “Mr. Suki” is hilarious!!

   Posted 04 Oct 2006 at 10:55 pm ¶

6. hapa peminist wrote:

   I could imagine all the hardcore Bitter Asian Men (in all their glorious monoracialist sensibilities) talking smack about this.

   “OMG whitey’s taking our wimminz!”

   Luckily I don’t have a TV, so I am spared from corporate insensitivity.

   Posted 04 Oct 2006 at 11:44 pm ¶

7. Gandalf Mantooth wrote:

   is Suki a Japanese last name?

   Not really. As a name, the characters for suki mean strange or weird. It’s extremely rare in use. However, do we really think the ad execs who made this knew, or cared? It sounds Japanese, so . . . .

   So this aired during “Lost?” Guess they really know their audience . . .

   Posted 05 Oct 2006 at 1:34 am ¶

8. Way wrote:

   Yellow Fever. Gahhh, it erks me so.

   Posted 05 Oct 2006 at 4:25 am ¶

9. susanc wrote:

   I agree that the hugging bit was hilarious, especially since I’ve seen my mom actually block hugs from people with a “I’m Japanese, I don’t hug.”

   Posted 05 Oct 2006 at 1:05 pm ¶

10. Gandalf Mantooth wrote:

    My in-laws hug me whenever I see them. Perhaps they aren’t experienced in the art, still . . .

    Posted 05 Oct 2006 at 4:52 pm ¶

11. hapa peminist wrote:

    Also “suki” can also mean “like”. That is NOT a last name, I’m sorry.

    

    Posted 06 Oct 2006 at 1:38 am ¶

12. Color Box wrote:

    Wow. They couldn’t have spent, like, two minutes Googling up common Japanese surnames?

    Lazy.

    Also, word about the “safe” coupling. Like I haven’t seen that before. It would’ve really blown my mind, if they had paired an east-asian man with a white/black woman. I’ve been seeing quite a number of couples like that in my area from time to time.

    Posted 06 Oct 2006 at 8:11 am ¶

13. Jenn wrote:

    ring: $9,000
    flight from Tokyo: $6,800
    flight from Chicago: $1,400

    buying a mail order bride that won’t talk back?
    Priceless

    Posted 08 Oct 2006 at 8:11 pm ¶

14. Sherwood wrote:

    Good job Mastercard! You have successfully brainwashed the white males. The truth is that most Asian women born in the US do not even come close to being Asian (hence they don’t possess the stereotypical “desirable” qualities). I guess the white males will find out sooner or later, in dissolution proceedings. LoL

    Posted 19 Oct 2006 at 10:22 pm ¶

15. Matrioshka wrote:

    Why did they cast f**ked up teeth woman as Japanese?

    Suki? Never heard of such a last name. Maybe a mistake of Suzuki?

    Man put hands together for greeting, but that’s like Thai, India greetings. Japanese don’t do that.

    Posted 30 Oct 2006 at 5:01 am ¶

16. Rob wrote:

    hapa peminist, your sarcasm is appreciated as much as a hernia and many thanks for doing all that research and finding out why many Asian men are bitter. Moving on, I don’t find anything really “groundbreaking” about this ad.

    Sure, it’s an interracial relationship but it’s something that the white community has already gotten used to. Why is there so much happiness about the “open-mindedness” of this ad when it’s almost on every show whenever there is an Asian female?

    As hapa peminist pointed out, why must they keep using this “safe” pairing and actually get respect for it?

    Posted 15 Nov 2006 at 8:07 pm ¶

17. Koko wrote:

    I have to agree with Color Box. Why not an east asian man and a black female. i would have liked to see that. why these “safe couples” but i bet if it had been Am and BF then the BF’s mom would have like a huge weave and come from Compton or something and the AM’s family would like have a horribly fake accent and come from China.

    Posted 09 Dec 2006 at 1:57 pm ¶

18. Lydia wrote:

    Mastercard has always seemed desperate to be ignorant. One will always try to “turn the tables” a bit, but still seem to come off incensitive. Race is a touchy issue, and all interracial couples want a chance to be recognized as normal. So is Mastercard now going to promote a black female with a white guy? Or an asian female with a black guy? Or a Latino female with an asian male? Probably not, their ignorance is bliss.

    Posted 21 Jan 2007 at 10:31 pm ¶

19. ryan wrote:

    she doesn’t look like she’s worth $9000.

    Posted 30 Jan 2007 at 4:20 am ¶

20. yokosuberi wrote:

    Albeit rare, Suki is the name of a small town in the mountains of Miyazaki (須木), a surname (寿喜, 寿木,洲木, 須木 or 扮), and a girl’s name (スキ, 好希 or 寿紀). The ad agency for this commercial probably wanted an easily pronounced, two-syllable name that sounded Japanese, not caring whether it was real and widely in use or not. If indeed was the case, then the very common, very Japanese Fuji would have done just fine. *eye roll* The commercial was not only annoying but crass for showing an obvious lack of research and care for accuracy.

    Posted 04 Feb 2007 at 6:03 pm ¶

21. steffon wrote:

    The problem I have with this commercial, no matter how well intended, is that its STILL the ‘white male/minority female’ concept. This isn’t bold, it isn’t new.

    Remember a couple of years back, when Micro Soft had a commercial with that showed a beautiful asian woman and her less than ‘hot’ husband (again, why is it the asian women are FINE in these commercials, and the white men fairly average…I don’t like THAT message, either) had an arguement either the night before or the morning the go out to work.

    She’s in a meeting, still fuming, and she ’sees’ her husband on her text message, where he says ‘I’m sorry’. We actually ’see’ him outside the office.

    The cultural thing is kind of tired, and, of course, the asian man just HAD to be shorter than even the white wife.

    Tired, boring, ’safe’, and racist.

    Next time, why not show an asian MAN and a white woman; about 25% of all asian/white married couples are asian man/white woman. Yet this coupling is RARELY shown in the media (I think I’ve seen it once in a real estate commercial, and that lasted about a week in Chicago).

    Or, how about a black man and a white woman. Again, you see it in SOME movies, and a couple of television shows, but RARELY do you see this in commercials.
    Two thirds of black/white couples are black man/white woman.

    There’s NO excuse for this white male/minority female coupling in the media, particularly since white women are more likely to marry outside the race than white men. The only answer: racism, either conscious or unconscious.

    I’ll be writing in to Visa’s marketing department, and asking that another commercial feature a couple with a white woman and either an asian or black man; I’ll also request that this commercial stay on for the same amount of time that the ‘Mr. Suki/Brian’ commercial stayed/stays on.
    I urge others to do the same.

    Posted 11 Feb 2007 at 11:46 am ¶

22. JimH wrote:

    Get a life folks! Lighten up!

    This ad is only a cutesy commercial that plays on older adults’ (parents in this case) understandable limited familarity with another culture’s unique customs. It’s not a treatise on Race or East-West relations.

    There are alot more important issues to get worked up over in the world – including both Eastern or Western fundamental policies and behaviors – without starting a cultural war over a commercial comedic bit on what appears to be a positive cross-cultural union.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 1:11 pm ¶

23. steffon wrote:

    Jim, though it may not be important TO YOU, it IS important to others.

    Obviously, OUR opinions are important enough to you to interrupt your busy life to comment on them.

    Posted 17 Feb 2007 at 9:28 pm ¶

24. Brad wrote:

    The Ad is accurate as to how it is for two very different families for the first time. By the way my girlfriend is an immigrant from vietnam so god knows this is what it was like for me to meet them for the first time, not sure what to say or act like and the such.

    Posted 18 Feb 2007 at 11:48 am ¶

25. kim wrote:

    Brad…

    are you trying to start an uproar?

    Posted 18 Feb 2007 at 12:46 pm ¶

26. Colin wrote:

    I just don’t get it…why is the girl named “like”? That makes no sense to me…it’s as though they didn’t even try to make an actual name for her…sheesh.

    Posted 18 Feb 2007 at 3:07 pm ¶

27. Brad wrote:

    Kim how am I trying to start an uproar? I just gave my honest opinion that’s all, lighten up

    Posted 18 Feb 2007 at 10:03 pm ¶

28. kim wrote:

    Brad,

    You lighten up, I’m Black.

    Did you see the other thread on this same spot? When I clicked over, I didn’t see that you were in this thread, the first of two, until I’d hit the ‘post’ button.

    If you see the other, maybe you’ll sense why.

    Posted 18 Feb 2007 at 10:56 pm ¶

29. Brad wrote:

    Kim once again all I’am doing is giving my honest opinion and a little background on why I post and give the opinions I do. Listen when I was a kid my family was not rich, we were not “privilaged” I had to go school on the south side, I was the minority in my school. I was socially awkward, It made me an easy target for bullies. Eight years of taunting , shoving, having fag written on your locker, and generally being intimated by mostly blacks, latinos and yes some whites, etc didn’t make me very tolerant. The only reason I didn’t become a overt racist was because of my parents who taught me otherwise. Also there were some nice minorities at my school. Back to my original point, I met my girlfriend during my freshman year in highschool, I met her during a science project. Now some angry asian guys aint going to like this but tough. She was vietnamese immigrant she was very bright and better academically than I was, and sweet & pretty to boot.(I was in love). Look maybe there was a bit of an asiaphile in me I don’t know. But she became one of my best friends after the project and I am not about to say I’m sorry for it. I was a lonely guy growing up, It was great to have a friend who gave a shit about me, she knew I was depressed, she was the only true friend who would call for no reason other than that I was ok and not going to commit suicide. When we first went to college thats when I started to notice the stares. It was mostly from asian guys and some girls. Whenever they stared I stared back at them with my best “bring it on” look. Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t happen all the time and most people (asians too) I run into don’t care that i’m white, but when it does happen or I read some of the garbage on the net it pisses me off and I decided long ago that I wasn’t going to back down to anyone who has a problem with me dating an asian female or me in general whether it be on the street or on the internet. that’s why I post on this site, just to get the some of the feelings off my chest.

    PS Kim I read the other I wasn’t intending to post on it just this specific subject.

    Posted 19 Feb 2007 at 5:08 pm ¶

30. merq wrote:

    “I was socially awkward, It made me an easy target for bullies. Eight years of taunting , shoving, having fag written on your locker, and generally being intimated by mostly blacks, latinos and yes some whites, etc didn’t make me very tolerant. The only reason I didn’t become a overt racist was because of my parents who taught me otherwise. “

    1. I always wonder, whenever I hear white people tell this story, whether they want a cookie for not putting torch to cross right away. Gee, (White) America’s fucked a few of us pretty badly, but I really don’t hear anyone extolling their own “tolerant” virtues.

    2. And Brad, you seem like a decent dude and everything. But I swear to you, if I hear another person use the word “tolearant” in terms of race relations, SOMEONE’S gonna get hurt. You tolerate a roommate’s bad hygiene ’cause you need his share of the rent. You tolerate a neighbor’s occasional loud music because you believe in compromise. Hell, you even tolerate people using the word “tolerance” to refer to race. But you do NOT “tolerate” someone being of a different color/culture than you.

    It’s that kind of self-congratulatory terminology that has led many Americans today to believe they deserve a medal for not being overtly racist douchebags.

    I’m sure you’ll give that some thought, Brad. Being the decent individual you so obviously are.

    Cheers.

    Posted 19 Feb 2007 at 7:50 pm ¶

31. kim wrote:

    brad: Also there were some nice minorities at my school.

    Kim: I always find it funny when one can acknowledge that one was in the minority in a situation, but then fail to see that one’s usage of the term ‘minority’, meant here and in general to refer to demographics, has been subconsciously used to blanketly define ethnic and racial groups other than White.

    Anyway…I understand your speaking up for yourself. So, I hear you.

    Posted 19 Feb 2007 at 8:10 pm ¶

32. Brian & Akiko wrote:

    I don’t know anything about this website but… My name is Brian and I’m from Chicago. My wife’s name is Akiko and she’s from Tokyo. We use Mastercard to buy tickets and her last name ends in -uki. It’s our first major role on network TV. The coincidence cracks us up. Anyone have a copy of the commercial?

    Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 12:02 am ¶

33. Brad wrote:

    Merg, Kim, Thank you for the responding to my comments. Merq no offense to using the term “tolerance” . It was always the term I heard used in referance to race relations. Peace out.

    Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 11:51 am ¶