By now most of you are aware of the ad aired during the Super Bowl that most of America has been quick to label “racist”. For those of you that don’t know, a political candidate in Michigan, Pete Hoekstra, paid for an ad to run during the Super Bowl. The ad was directed at his opponent and suggested that the decisions made by congress affected the United States in a negative way (mostly a lack of prosperity) and that in return affected some countries, particularly China, in a positive way. The ad features a young, attractive Asian girl riding a bicycle down a road surrounded by what appears to be rice fields. The young lady stops in front of the camera and begins to speak. She states, in broken English which we will discuss in a minute, that the policy of spending what they don’t have and borrowing from China has hurt the US economy and in return benefited the Chinese economy. She thanks a Michigan senator in particular for her participation in the policies that hurt the US and allowed the Chinese economy to prosper. In the end she says “thank you Debbie Spenditnow”. First of all, as a person who has participated on several large statewide campaigns, I would have been totally against the airing of the political ad. For instance most ads of this nature target something more tangible that can be linked directly to the opposing candidate. Usually a particular stance or political idea, or even a perceived flaw in the professional or personal character. This ad does neither. One aspect I really dislike about this ad is the petty, almost “elementary playground” name calling. The “Debbie Spenditnow”, a childish spin on her last Debbie Stabenow, really rubbed me the wrong way and I think this is one of the most overlooked flaws of this ad. I could probably go on and on about what I don’t like about this ad but let’s get down to the point at hand. Is this political ad racist? Since it aired during the Super Bowl I have seen many posts, much commentary, and much talk making the general statement that it is in fact racist. A majority of the people who make that claim use the fact that young lady in the ad spoke with broken English, in a way that is offensive to Chinese Americans. That would be a good point to argue if she was in fact a Chinese American, but remember she is playing the role of a Chinese and it is common in TV and film to portray foreign languages in a broken accent. The only thing that the ad did was keep a tradition going that has been set and maintained by the most radical of entities in our country, the Hollywood elite. Another aspect I have heard time and time again is the accusation that the candidate is blaming china for the state of the US economy. That point is about as far from the truth as one can get. If you pay attention the ad overtly and explicitly blames the US Congress for the plight of the US economy and in a particular a senator from Michigan. It doesn’t say that china is responsible, only that it greatly benefitted. I haven’t heard this argument as much but some would say that the setting of the ad is somewhat stereotypical and racist. Would it be any more stereotypical or racist if it was an American setting and it involved a person of any numerous ethnicities walking through Manhattan with tall buildings and cabs in the background? How about a white man dressed in carhartt clothing or overalls standing in a wheat field in the Midwest? The bottom line is that I will defend you all day long when you say the ad was not well thought out, or that it was poorly planned, but I just don’t see the racism that people seem to shout, but provide no debate to explain the point of view. Another aspect of the discontent associated with this ad is the treatment and comments directed at the young Asian lady. This young lady holds no responsibility for the poorly planned, “not so smart” aspects of this ad. She is a young aspiring actress who saw an attempt to get much exposure. Even a statewide commercial during the Super Bowl would be a good break for any young acctress. So regardless of what you think about the ad, bashing her serves no purpose and is very distasteful. In closing, I will challenge anyone, anytime to show me a legitimate point where this ad was indeed racist, and I will be more that happy debate anyone, anytime using whatever means you choose to discuss the aspects of this ad.
GUIDE ON.
Modern Day Machiavelli 