Comments

1. Rob wrote:

   This ad was just as surprising as the Asian American family by Home Depot.

   Long story short, you had a cute young girl looking around the kitchen and proclaiming to her father that there’s something wrong with the floor and cabinets.

   The father, a hip looking young guy who was eating a bowl of cereal looks up and asks: “The floor and cabinets? What’s wrong with them?”

   “I don’t know. They just look kinda old.”

   The little girl walks out past her mother who gives her some cash as she bribed her daughter to say that to her father so they could go to Home Depot for home improvement.

   I have to admit that it brought a huge smile to my face. What’s sad is that something so simply like this makes me happy.

   Posted 02 May 2007 at 8:08 am ¶

2. Lyonside wrote:

   I liked that the Baskin commercial messes up the “overachieving perfect student” Asian stereotype. Kid is failing, and gramps doesn’t care – yeah, not exactly the BEST message, but cute for what it’s selling…

   Of course the insidious side could be that the commercial is meant to call up that stereotype and flip it for “humor,” sort of a “We have ice cream so good, it makes THEM not care about grades.”

   Or, they could have just picked a cute kid and casted a grandfather to match.

   Only way to tell, maybe, would be to get a look at the original commercial script or casting call.

   Posted 02 May 2007 at 8:24 am ¶

3. Rob wrote:

   While true, I think it’s important to note that their race had nothing to do with what they were selling. It could have easily been played by any race.

   The problem these days with media is that they write race into the role.

   Posted 02 May 2007 at 10:39 am ¶

4. Lyonside wrote:

   Rob: you’re right in that the commercial COULD have been played by anyone.

   However, as many actors can attest, too often “no ethnicity required” means that no non-white ethnicity is hired. “Generic” still means “white” to many people, consciously or subconsciously, and if you cast an ethnic minority, you then have to consider the “message.” Verizon made a big deal about including using a fictional Latino family in a series of ads and commercials – the year or 2 BEFORE the big illegal immigration debates and protests, when people were only talking about how Latinos were outnumbers African-Americans in the census. Deliberate? of COURSE – Verizon wanted to be on top of the “wave,” and look hip in the process.

   Would they do it now? Not sure, but don’t kid yourself. Physical appearance is a HUGE factor with advertising, especially TV.

   Posted 02 May 2007 at 12:26 pm ¶

5. kim wrote:

   Very cute commercial.

   Will look for the casting info.

   Posted 02 May 2007 at 3:01 pm ¶

6. Yori Kim wrote:

   I’m happy to see a commercial like this, it’s cute-and I’m glad that no stereotypes have been in this commercial………….it’s just a simple and cute commercial!

   please do not be offended, as to I did not mean to offend

   Posted 02 May 2007 at 3:27 pm ¶

7. Yori Kim wrote:

   ack, I said cute twice! . But I do agree with you Lyonside, race DOES play a big part in the media…and that’s awful……….but I’m just glad in some media it doesn’t.

   please do not be offended, as to I did not mean to offend

   Posted 02 May 2007 at 3:30 pm ¶

8. Koko wrote:

   Kudos to Lyonside + Rov. You said it all. I guess all comments have been made.

   *I can never get here first…

   Posted 02 May 2007 at 3:56 pm ¶

9. mireille wrote:

   I have noticed a a wave of different ethnicities playing a variety of “generic” roles in commercials lately. They are all acting “normally”, devoid of any regional or foreign accents and generally seem to be playing upper-middle class. This could be cause for criticism, though I would likely do the same if they played up the ethnic differences because it likely be either stereotypical, exploitative or both.

   This ad is extremely cute and is doing its job because it makes me want to go to baskin robins. There isn’t anything particularly objectionable about it because we don’t know the background of the casting and the end result was affective.

   However, has anyone seen the new ad for Kraft’s “Asian” salad dressing? It is of an attractive white woman eating a bowl of salad with her ethnically ambitious (exotic, but not “too foreign” just like the dressing itself!) boyfriend. Beside her is a fortune cookie. She opens it up, finds an engagement ring and pounces on her boyfriend.

   I had no idea what to make of this ad. I always roll my eyes when things are marketed as being “Asian” flavored (I was under the impression that there was different culinary traditions throughout the continent, maybe it’s just me). I found it interesting that the Asian in the ad was male and played as someone who was not sexually neutral. I suppose that’s positive. I shook my head at the fortune cookie, though.

   Posted 02 May 2007 at 4:07 pm ¶

10. Eun-jung wrote:

    I saw that commercial! There is also the new Hot Pockets commercial with that weird old “typical Asian guy” dressed in an ethnic outfit with a long white beard who slams gongs to alert the boys in their house that it’s Hot Pocket Time.

    I thought was a little ridiculous.

    Kudos to the Baskins Robbins commercial though. I thought it was adorable. Makes me laugh everytime I see it.

    Posted 03 May 2007 at 7:20 am ¶

11. Lyonside wrote:

    Actually there’s a Hot Pockets commerical is totally racist – not sure if it’s the same one – the same old man talks in pidgin English, tells the white teenager that he doens’t want the girl, he’s just hungry, and then puts his arm around the girl, who looks less than thrilled, while the kid obliviously eats the sandwich.

    Great, so you’ve got an Asian man talking bad English, manipulating the white man, and then making unwanted moves on the white woman? *sigh*

    Posted 03 May 2007 at 9:53 am ¶

12. susanc wrote:

    I can’t stand that Hot Pockets commercial! Something about the Kung Fu master character just makes me cringe!

    But I must say that I liked the Home Depot commercial that Rob mentioned. I thought it was pretty cool that you get to see an Asian family portrayed as a typical American family.

    Posted 03 May 2007 at 10:21 am ¶

13. Rob wrote:

    Same one, Lyonside.

    Posted 03 May 2007 at 10:45 am ¶

14. Eric wrote:

    I gathered up some youtube links for those who haven’t seen some of the other commercials:

    Kraft “Asian Dressing”
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=NcNz8lhbnMo
    This was cheesy but relatively innocuous. I had never seen it; I suspect it’s not targeted at the 18-34 year old male demographic which I fall into.

    Hot Pockets “Date”
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=jnQf3QEu938
    Check the related videos for more “kung fu master”. I’ve seen more offensive things, but these just failed to make me laugh.

    Amp’d Mobile “Busted”
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=s26z6I8RBFs
    This one has gone unmentioned, but completely destroys the Hot Pockets commercials in the funny department.

    Mountain Dew “Master”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAUMYBG-6rs
    I don’t know if this one is offensive or not, seeing as how it shares that “kung fu master” theme with Hot Pockets, which apparently is. I didn’t this was but maybe I was biased because I liked the punchline.

    Starburst “Berries and Cream”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYX_zhlTDr8
    I threw this in just for comparison, since I wondered what the comments would have been like had this been a non-white character. Is it ok to laugh at this? Because it gives the Amp’d commercial a run for its money, imho.

    I couldn’t find the Home Depot commercial, though I’ve seen it and thought it was good. As for the Baskin Robbins commercial, it seems like kind of a stretch to look at this particular one negatively.

    Incidentally, the parents of a friend of mine live next door to the founder of Hot Pockets, in Newport Beach, CA. They are Taiwanese. I doubt they’ve seen the commercial but I wonder how that would go over in a neighborly conversation.

    Posted 03 May 2007 at 2:01 pm ¶

15. Bianca Reagan wrote:

    I love that Baskin Robbins commercial! It’s so cute.

    I like the Home Depot one, too, because I recognized the guy from the Cingular commercials with his friend at the basketball game. And I think that woman might be from the Washington Mutual commercials from a few years ago, where she can’t stop telling the truth.

    Posted 03 May 2007 at 5:50 pm ¶

16. Andy wrote:

    Rob and Eric, I took a very bad video capture of the Home Depot commercial and uploaded it.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGMmA47TZCM

    Posted 12 May 2007 at 7:18 pm ¶

17. Angel H. wrote:

    I love those Home Depot and Baskin-Robbins commercials!

    Didn’t Verizon have a commercial a couple of years ago with a white family sitting on their porch complaining about their cellphone coverage. They look enviously over at the happy Indian family next door. “Why can’t we get Verizon like the [Patel?]’s”

    There some part in the commercial where Dad says “I’m sure Grandma has forgiven us for leaving her stranded.” Grandma ignors him.

    I’ll try to find the commercial on YouTube.

    Posted 12 May 2007 at 10:06 pm ¶

18. AZ wrote:

    Agreed, good ads. The dad in the Home Depot ad looks veryt familiar. Any idea who he is or how to find out or what else he’s been in? Thanks. AZ

    Posted 05 Nov 2007 at 6:51 pm ¶