Like someone, you might have met at Impanema or Peyton Place in Singapore. ( If you need a geography lesson-go here.)
Actually, I take that back-this woman is not nearly as sincere as some of the women in the Country Western Bar-and that is saying a lot.
James Fallows sums up pretty well why lots of Americans should be ashamed of this ad:
Let’s not even get into the logic of the ad — eg, the fact that China’s formula for creating jobs has involved more public spending and more public “guidance” of industry than America’s. Let’s skip to the bonus points for racial imagery in the ad, apart from the obvious.
1) The “Chinese” woman speaks in American-accented English, and I would bet she is actually an Asian-American. But the script has her make pidgin grammar errors, “Me likee!!”-style.
2) The ad’s words are about trade, budgets, and jobs, but its images are about — ‘Nam!! Of course some parts of southern China look the way this ad does, with rice paddies, palm trees, no big buildings, people wearing conical straw hats and bicycling along dike tops. But this is nothing like how the typical big-factory zone looks in China, or the huge cities that would exemplify Chinese wealth and the country’s rise — ie, the subjects of this ad. So why this rural setting? I think it’s because it offers a kind of visual dog-whistle, for those Americans who, either through experience or through Apocalypse Now-style imagery, associate smiling-but-deceptive Asians in a rice-paddy setting with previous American sorrow.
This ad is embarrassing for America! Regardless of party, I hope it loses Hoekstra more votes than it wins him. For an earlier illustration of a comparable approach, see this one from Nevada Arizona. [Apologies to Arizonans.] Update: Politico has more on the ad. (And thanks to YA for the tip.)
Then again – it would appear that just about 3/4 of the denizens of the Blue Banana have more on the ball then this actress…. As was once said-“get off my back and onto yours!“
I had actually hoped that Pete Hoekstra would be someone I could vote for in this year's senatorial race here in Michigan. Sadly, I don't think I will be able to due to the fear and superstition spread by ads like this.
Oddly enough I was offended by it but my friend who has lived in Thailand and Korea for 45 years did not understand what the fuss was about, though he has become very Thai Buddhist in his thinking.
and truth be told, its just plain stupid.