Main | Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Racist Or Not?


Tech blogs like Gizmodo are all over this Japanese mobile phone company's ad in which a monkey (long their official corporate mascot) appears as an Obama-like figure exhorting the crowds to "Change!" to their phone. Totally racist.

Unless it isn't. Maybe we shouldn't expect a local Japanese ad campaign to be sensitive to America's racism trigger points. Unless we should. Crap, I don't even know anymore. But it's worth mentioning how Japan's all-consuming pop culture worships monkeys in general. Chi Chai Monchan, anyone? Maybe like most advertising, it boils down to intent. Unless it doesn't.

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