# I am appalled by this ad for Diet Coke. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 18, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-appalled-by-this-ad-for-diet-coke/264887 "2004-09-18T19:39:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![High\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8797f3/32.png) [@High\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/High_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-appalled-by-this-ad-for-diet-coke/264887/61 "2004-09-19T18:44:23Z")
Realizing, of course, after boiling off everything, we’re left with this: I posted before reading the entire thread. _mea culpa._ I need to guard against this. ---
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-appalled-by-this-ad-for-diet-coke/264887/62 "2004-09-20T01:02:06Z")
Count me in on saying this is not just a weak rant, but someone who is looking for anything to gripe about. I assume the asian lady is young and attractive, which would be ideal for such an ad. Now if it were a short, bucktoothed asian with thick round glasses, then that would be a stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-appalled-by-this-ad-for-diet-coke/264887/63 "2004-09-20T01:52:38Z")
I’m amazed. I would’ve thought this stereotype of the asians mispronouncing letters used deliberately would’ve caused extreme outrage by everyone, but instead most of you are dismissing it as unimportant and perhaps not even there. It’s weird to me, because as soon as I read the OP I was agog at the audacity of the ad. I’m not particularly Pro-Political-Correctness, but I would’ve thought this deserved a bigger reaction than it’s getting! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-appalled-by-this-ad-for-diet-coke/264887/64 "2004-09-20T01:54:09Z")
‘the asians’ ? Sorry, I just meant ‘Asians’ (capitalised, no ‘the’) ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-appalled-by-this-ad-for-diet-coke/264887/65 "2004-09-20T02:19:54Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I’m amazed. > > I would’ve thought this stereotype of the asians mispronouncing letters used deliberately would’ve caused extreme outrage by everyone, but instead most of you are dismissing it as unimportant and perhaps not even there. > > It’s weird to me, because as soon as I read the OP I was agog at the audacity of the ad. > > I’m not particularly Pro-Political-Correctness, but I would’ve thought this deserved a bigger reaction than it’s getting! That’s the thing - I don’t see anything “intentional” about it. It’s a play on words that would work equally as well whether it showed an Asian, a caucasian or a martian. I had to give it a bit of thought before I realized what the beef was. And I’m Asian. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-appalled-by-this-ad-for-diet-coke/264887/66 "2004-09-20T02:49:53Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I’m amazed. > > I would’ve thought this stereotype of the asians mispronouncing letters used deliberately would’ve caused extreme outrage by everyone, but instead most of you are dismissing it as unimportant and perhaps not even there. > > It’s weird to me, because as soon as I read the OP I was agog at the audacity of the ad. > > I’m not particularly Pro-Political-Correctness, but I would’ve thought this deserved a bigger reaction than it’s getting! I’m amazed. I’m amazed that you seem to be advocating the absolute denial of any benefit of the doubt. My first thought was that it was unlikely to be deliberately playing on the model’s ethnicity, because I’m fairly certain that this promotional campaign includes models of European and African descent with the exact same wording, which indicates, to me, that this was NOT centered around the stereotype of Asian mispronunciation of English words. When people go this out of their way to be offended by something, I have just goggle…this takes offensensitivity way too far. ---
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-appalled-by-this-ad-for-diet-coke/264887/67 "2004-09-20T03:32:26Z")
> [@emekthian](#): > > So, you’re saying that it’s a stereotype for asians to confuse lateral palatal approximants and voiced uvular fricatives? > > Or perhaps you meant /l/ and /r/?🙂 I love the smell of IPA in the morning. Smells like linguists. – Dragonblink, grad student in linguistics ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-appalled-by-this-ad-for-diet-coke/264887/68 "2004-09-20T06:17:57Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I’m amazed. > > I would’ve thought this stereotype of the asians mispronouncing letters used deliberately would’ve caused extreme outrage by everyone, but instead most of you are dismissing it as unimportant and perhaps not even there. > > It’s weird to me, because as soon as I read the OP I was agog at the audacity of the ad. > > I’m not particularly Pro-Political-Correctness, but I would’ve thought this deserved a bigger reaction than it’s getting! I’d have been pretty surprised if I’d seen the ad too. “Are they making the joke I think they’re making?” But I haven’t seen it myself, so I didn’t get that immediate shock. Looking at things as objectively as possible, it seems unlikely that Coke would intentionally make a racist joke in their ad campaign. They probably just didn’t think through all the possible implications. ---
**Author:** ![Optihut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/edb3f5/32.png) [@Optihut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Optihut)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-appalled-by-this-ad-for-diet-coke/264887/69 "2004-09-20T10:04:58Z")
I’m a horrible, horrible person, but I think it’s a clever (and somewhat funny) commercial. Then again, political correctness makes me sick, so perhaps that’s why. ---
**Author:** ![Optihut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/edb3f5/32.png) [@Optihut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Optihut)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-appalled-by-this-ad-for-diet-coke/264887/70 "2004-09-20T10:07:10Z")
On second thought, I probably wouldn’t have noticed it, if I had actually seen it. The outrage I read here and that it’s actually something that is up for debate is what makes it funny. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-appalled-by-this-ad-for-diet-coke/264887.md?page=3)