Excited
In a completely unrelated post, 8Asian readers have been weighing in on the SalesGenie.com ads which aired during yesterday’s Super Bowl. As such, I thought I should give the topic its own post.
The basic consensus seems to be that two of the cartoon ads by SalesGenie were offensive to Asians.
The first one, which aired during the First Quarter, is called “The Worst Salesman” and features a sales boss yelling at his sales employee Ramesh (presumably of South Asian descent) for not generating enough sales. Ramesh, in an “Indian” (South Asian-type) accent, mentions that he has seven kids, and he goes to the SalesGenie website and generates 100 new leads, makes a bunch of sales, makes Employee of the Year and accepts his award from him boss with his wife and seven kids standing beside him.
Here’s the ad, if you’d like to watch it for yourself:
The second ad, called “Peddling Pandas,” aired during the second quarter. The cartoon features a pair of pandas, who own Ling Ling’s Bamboo Furniture Shack. The signage for the store is in a nice typical “chopstick” style font and the pandas speak with bad “Chinese” accents. They need help selling their bamboo furniture, so they call a panda sales genie for help. The sales genie panda has no such Asian accent, by the way. The results are so wonderful that six months later, the pair of pandas now run Ling Ling’s Bamboo Furniture EMPORIUM and the owners can take their convertible and their pair of baby pandas to the see the bears at the zoo.
So the question I had was WHAT AD AGENCY WROTE THIS CRAP!?
The answer is: NO AGENCY DID.
According to an article published in late December 2007, “Salesgenie.com Ready to Reclaim Crown as Super Bowl’s ‘Worst Ad’ Champion” the copywriter and creator of the concepts for these ads were none other than Vinod (Vin) Gupta, the founder of SalesGenie.
For the record, Mr. Gupta is of Indian descent, hailing from Uttar Pradesh.
So for everyone who is up in arms and asking “Who could be this insensitive and racist?”
The answer is: one of our own is responsible for this.
I don’t even know where to begin my personal commentary on these ads, so I’ll just say this racist or not, these ads are definitely stupid.
I guess some people will do anything to make a sale.
And, as the angryasianman says…
The worst part is, the company was apparently trying to make these commercials the worst Super Bowl ads possible: Salesgenie.com Ready to Reclaim Crown as Super Bowl’s ‘Worst Ad’ Champion. They succeeded. And here’s the sad truth: any sort of controversy these ads stir up will likely just give more publicity to a no-name company that nobody ever gave a crap about in the first place. We can’t win.
I want to hear what you have to say on this…
UPDATE: More coverage:
BlogCritics
Salon
Jason Calacanis
Conde Nast Portfolio
New York Times/The Board
UPDATE on 2/5/08: OCA disappointed with negative imagery in Super Bowl ads
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this is news to me that an asian wrote that commercial .i'm not even sure if indians condsider themselves "asian". which is a whole nuther can of worms i guess :/
nice article guys.
Yes, it is.
What good is having power if you're unable to exercise it? It's the same as not having it to begin with. It's the end result that is important, not the process. If you don't act on your desires, you'll never realize your plans, correct?
I disagree, Robert. It's not the same.
People, regardless of what race/ethnicity, need to voice their opinions when they feel they've been disrespected. If people just sit quietly by and do nothing, then they are not exercising their options, so if I'm not saying/doing anything, then I haven't even begun to show my value/leverage. Why? Because I haven't used it.
The voice is a powerful weapon. So is money......
Neither will be known, though, if they're not used...........
Also, just to add one more small point, I always hear this phrase: "Well, we tried." No one gives a shit if you tried, it's about what you've accomplished that matters. When you write up a resume, do you put what you've actually accomplished in life? Or do you put all your attempts?
It's about end results, not attempts. Is anyone surprised that Asian Americans haven't made that many social gains? Hell, I'm not.
Lana, that's the same as not having any value or leverage.
I think everyone, at some point, needs to work in the financial industry for one reason alone; it shows you how brutal people and *real* some people can be. Life isn't complicated, folks. There is a rhyme and reason to everything and how the world ends up the way it does.
I don't mean to be harsh but the more I observe the Asian American community and how it "troubleshoots" issues, the more I sit back and laugh. Not only are the solutions to problems wrong but they're also on a completely incorrect tangent.
Again, you're completing the roof to the house with no foundation. You're replacing brand new windshield wipers on a busted windshield.
Just want to point out that it is very possible to be racist towards your own race. They're loads of self hating people out there in every race.
Asians/Asian Americans do have value and leverage...they just don't exercise it.
21st century people. If you don't show that you're worthy of respect, no one will.
This is so embarrassing/humiliating that it was written by an Asian.
Maybe I'm just the odd man out and desensitized by working in the financial industry but I think this is a perfect example of people needing to grow a thicker skin. While it might be racist and offensive, no one listens to a scrub with no value.
Here's the simple formula to being acknowledged:
When you have no value, you have no leverage. When you have no leverage, you become someone else's bitch.
Asian Americans have no value which is why no one gives a crap. Pardon my French. Yes, I'm a 20-something Asian male, not a white guy in disguise.
It might be sheer coinincidence but when the conversation switches to women over here, all the white guys here refer to Asian women as "pandas." Alas, the things that Asian women don't know when the doors are closed.
come on bertie. i forgot the smiley face to indicate it was a joke. :) hyperbolic hitler references always make threads more fun.
Google "Godwin's Law"
Proven time and time again! :)
@Akrypti:
Mein Kampf was pretty frickin cost-effective too.
Let's hear it for cheap racist acquisition marketing! Huzzah!
"'It was judged to be the best by the real pros,' says Gupta. 'Our ad was one of the few to feature a call-to-action, driving more than 25,000 people to the Salesgenie.com website. If it positively impacts business like it did last year, we'd be thrilled to be the worst again.'"
SalesGenie made $3 for every $1 it spent on the SuperBowl ad?!
This guy's a friggin' genius, in a way......
Link: http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.as...
Result of Gupta's "cheesy" and "racist" ads:
"more than 25,000 new registrations and creating buzz that lingered for nine months. He said Salesgenie made $3 for every dollar it spent on the ad"
Sorry;
I didn't get around to teeing off on the network. FOXX aka the station of the KKK.
The ad agency should have advised the client in the branding and identity campaign but in this case abdicated their responsibility to Vin Gupta.
Hope his sales crash and the genie gets kept in the bottle.
I typed this before, (my post got lost or something) and I'll type it again:
You have a voice, use it. If Asians/Asian Americans would SPEAK UP (I mean REALLY speak up) then people, regardless if they're 'one of your own' or not would think (and probably not) do stupid crap like this.
If you don't like, don't just complain amongst yourselves. Do something. Speak.Up.About.It! Make your voice heard in this society. Write letters to companies, boycott companies, etc.
These ads we're so dumb that this was the time during the telecast that I got up and either refreshed my drink, got food, or went to the loo. What a waste of time. If you are going to spend your marketing $$ on animation, at least make it memorable and good. It was just crap.
a,
I am aware of what role and ad agency plays, but I was simply pointing out that it wasn't some white hipsters who dreamed up the concept. Ultimately, the man responsible: the one who came up with the idea, who wrote the copy, who paid for the ad is Vin Gupta.
While the ad agency's part in all this should not be absolved, it could be argued that they were simply following directions of their client. A weak argument, but an argument nonetheless.
Following your train of thought of blaming the ad agency, why not blame the network for allowing this to air?
It's easy to blame all kinds of people, but the fact remains that the owner of the company purposefully used these stereotypes to garner attention to his company.
And unfortunately, he's succeeding.
Efren;
I control the ad and marketing budget for my company. No way in h!!! will I use Sales Genie.
I agree with NativeSon. It was offensive and we, Asian Americans, are not whining but in fact, voicing our opinions when they need to be voiced. This certainly is one of those situations. When the 1st ad appeared, I just sat through it thinking how offensive and stupid it was but didn't say anything. When the panda ad came on, I was thoroughly disgusted and said to the small gathering at my house, "What the hell was that, wasn't that offensive?" Everyone (multi-ethnic but mostly caucasian) agreed and said that it was pointless and offensive.
jozjozjoz;
The ad agency as in most "creative" ad settings would take Gupta's story line and then flesh it out with concept boards, sketches for presentation to the client and would have overseen the animation.
The ad agency would have hired the voice over actors responsible for the Chop Suey "ah so" dialogue.
Yes, Gupta is a Uncle Tom and as insensitive as those people at the ad agency.
But the Ad agency is equally as guilty and should have known how offensively and patently racist their "creative output" would be viewed by typical viewers.
Well, the ads have succeeded. We're talking about it, people are going to use their services, and it's memorable because it strikes nerves that these companies know are still raw.
Maybe it's time for us to really reconsider what our options are that will hurt these companies the most--the pocketbook--besides doing useless boycotts (which provide more publicity and increased sales which is completely counter to what I assume we want) and ineffective switching around of the old guard while keeping the same corporate culture intact (like the Details debacle). Maybe getting the stockholders, etc. to see that this won't be tolerated?
Just some thoughts...
a,
As noted above, the creator of the ads was not "a bunch of thirty something white guys," but rather an Indian-American businessman who was deliberately trying to get attention by doing a bad ad.
The ad agency Creative:Mint is located in San Francisco.
Daniel Grace
855 Sansome, Third Floor
San Francisco
415-362-9991
daniel.grace@creativemint.com
Probably staffed by a bunch of thirty something white guys trying to look u00e2u0080u009chipu00e2u0080u009d with 2 day old stubble, narrow hipster glasses and funky striped shirts.
They must have been spending too much time in Chinatown looking at the u00e2u0080u009cexotic cutesyu00e2u0080u009d Asian women and the heathen VC Asian men during their u00e2u0080u009ccultural tripsu00e2u0080u009d to the Chinese greasy spoon restaurants on Kearny Street.
Typical TV and print Ads:
White guys, one token black and one token Asian women for eye candy and exoticization.
White guy with Asian women looking like she u00e2u0080u009cfeels so luckyu00e2u0080u009d to be with her "White Knight"
The pandas with "Chinese" accents were absolutely insulting and racist.
Too sensitive? How would you react to an ad with a gorilla speaking with an African-American "ghetto" accent?
How about a talking bean with a Hispanic accent.
Not funny. I'm Chinese. I've been around Chinese-Americans my entire life.
I've traveled to China many times.
I've never heard anyone that sounded like the stupid pandas in the commercial.
I think most issues have already been brought up so I don't have much to add, but I will make a point on "voice":
Voice, ok we know it's an Asian American who did it! But that was not apparent in the ads, so the voice argument and bad comedian thing doesn't really flush since the majority of Americans who saw the ads are more like "hah, Asians are foreign and lame" or "WTF was that ad about?" So if all sorta falls flat and pointless.
There probably was a time when I would've been a bit bothered by these ads, but I didn't really find them offensive. Maybe it's because I've been in NYC with all my very un-PC friends? I dunno, but I basically just shrugged the ads off as "duh."
I agree with tien though. Even bad press is good press. They're probably loving the fact that their ads are being written about.
The one with the jumper cables on that guy's nipples... now that one got me squirming and rubbing my nipples in sympathetic pain. OW! (I forget what they were trying to sell though...)
On a side note, wasn't there some discussion that we should support "one of our own" even if we disagree with them, for the sake of Asian unity? (Heh, yea, I had to go there...)
That's also my main reason why I rail against all these Asian American clubs because they exclude people based on race. After all, why bother even having a community if we don't look to other people within our race as part of a community.
Also, the ads were pretty stupid and lame but what surprises me how whiny Asian Americans really are. The bitching and complain about this ad doesn't take priority over bigger community issues out there that affect the community.
It's like people are trying to build the roof before you even have a foundation.
I agree with Akypti. The ads were just dumb and intended to be dumb. A group of us were watching the Super Bowl commercials yesterday, and when the panda ad came up, we just stared at the screen in confusion. "I don't get it," was the general response. "What are they trying to sell?" was the next response. Then my girlfriend piped in, "What was up with that accent? That was so fake and dumb."
Also, why is this ad writer considered "one of our own"? I never understood why we must claim someone based on the color of their skin or from their place of origin. I'll claim people (sorry to mangle a MLK quote but here it goes) based on the content of their character. So yeah, I don't claim Mr. Gupta as my "bro" or my "cuz", b/c he appears to be a putz.
Racist Superbowl Ads:
Token Asian women as eye candy and stereotyped images of Asian men.
The most notable ad was the horribly unfunny and tasteless Salesgenie ad, with Pandas speaking in Chinese accents. Someoneu00e2u0080u0099s going to be apologizing tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that.
How about the racist ad with the Indian and Asian guy? Canu00e2u0080u0099t remember who the hell the ad was for.
Typical trash ads developed by advertising firms with a bunch of white people with racist attitudes towards minorities.
Look closer at the ads.
Token Asian women catering to white guys
Dweeby Asian guys that look like they play with themselves for entertainment.
If they had an ad with a donkey speaking with a spanish accent you would find LULAC up in arms.
The ad agency Creative:Mint is located in San Francisco.
Daniel Grace
855 Sansome, Third Floor
San Francisco
415-362-9991
daniel.grace@creativemint.com
Probably staffed by a bunch of thirty something white guys trying to look u00e2u0080u009chipu00e2u0080u009d with 2 day old stubble, narrow hipster glasses and funky striped shirts.
They must have been spending too much time in Chinatown looking at the u00e2u0080u009cexotic cutesyu00e2u0080u009d Asian women and the heathen VC Asian men during their u00e2u0080u009ccultural tripsu00e2u0080u009d to the Chinese greasy spoon restaurants on Kearney Street.
Typical TV and print Ads
White guys, one token black and one token Asian woman for eye candy and exoticization.
White guy with Asian women looking like she u00e2u0080u009cfeels so luckyu00e2u0080u009d to be with a White guy
The commercials are tasteless and would appeal only to a very particular social class of people. I won't be up in arms about any racist implications these ads may have. I think they're retarded the way I think that MTV show Jackass was retarded.
meant to write, "The target of the joke is _a caricaturing of the Chinese_, not the Chinese."
I will admit I haven't read your post yet, but I just wanted to immediately comment to say that the second that ad started, my immediate reaction was "Oh my god! Is this the most offensive ad ever? What the hell is this?"
These ads are just sad. Aside from the tired and unnecessary ethnic stereotypes, they're just boring and stupid. And were they so cobbled together at the last minute that one agency couldn't have done them so they'd at least look consistent? The style of the Ramesh ad vs. the panda ad is wildly different for no apparent reason; it just smacks of poor conception and execution all the way around. I have to wonder though--had the characters been white trailer trash rednecks, would there have been a similar outcry about ethnic stereotypes?
The fact that you guys and presumably a bunch of others are writing about these ads show just how effective they are..I didn't catch them the first time around, but as someone who works in sales I may give these guys a look at.
The target of the joke is _a caricaturing of Chinese_, not of Chinese. That's the same kind of knowing that makes the William Shatner schtick on the Priceline ads work. William Shatner has made it. So have the Chinese, and other Asians. Celebrate -- don't hate -- the ad.
This guy counted on his commercials to be bad to generate the publicity - so, if they're going to be bad, why not also make them offensive in an effort to be ... oh I don't know, "different" this year. I predict next year he's going to go after women's issues.
To me, it's ok to shamelessly self-promote - but if you come across really slimy, you're just going to turn people off. This guy comes across like a really greasy used car sales man.
Maybe i'm not the best person to answer this question b/c I'm so desensitized, but I see a lot of stand up comedians do material about their own ethnic/racial backgrounds and stir up certain stereotypes. While I never get per se' offended, it's really more about "did s/he go for the cheap laugh, and at what expense?" Sometimes a black comic has to do a fried chicken joke, e.g., but was there a bigger message in the joke somewhere?
These two commercials and the Carlos Mencia beer commercial had me convulsing. I was offended on behalf of comedy.
I have to say that i totally ignored these commercials. just because they were horrible.
I'm not sure if they're racist, but honestly, they just were horrible.
Unfortunately, the Panda ad (the only one of the two I saw) stood out as the most memorable, because it was so inane. I was expecting the stereotypical accents to be rebuked later in the ad, or something funny to happen in the least - but it was really just a horrible, horrible ad on a lot of levels.
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