What is “racist” about marketing? I will grant that this site is stupid, but to say it is discrimination of some sort one way or another is stupid.
The reason why they don’t have a "www.iamwhite.com, or White Entertainment Television is simply because whites are not seen as a niche group in American society. Groups such Asians, blacks, Hispanics, country music fans, senior citizens, and gays are seen as “markets” by the people that peddle stuff. But what sort of ad campaign could possibly target only a white audience? It is the percieved “default” element in American society, so general advertisements are expected to cover this group.
The only circumstance that I can think of where it might occur is if a product is mainly used by a minority group, and the people that sell it want to appeal to a “general” audience.
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We’re Asian and Pacific Islander Americans …
We’re hanging on to our great traditions while we move to the beat of the times.
We honor our heritage - but we love being Americans.
…we’re weaving the threads of our culture into the fabric of everyday American life.
…we’re sipping green tea or enjoying a Big Mac® sandwich,
we’re helping make the magic mix called America become even richer.
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As a person of asian descent, I feel this is the perfect opportunity to say:
Who’s this we, white man?
The web site is written as if it’s written by an asian person, (which it may have been) but it’s also coming from McDonald’s, and McDonald’s just is not asian. It sounds like the burger joint is trying to say “Hey, I’m asian just like you!” I find that a bit offensive. I don’t like the generalizations they make about asians, either. Hanging on to traditions while moving to the beat of the times? Who says? What if I’m ditching the traditions? Or what if I refuse to move with the times? I’m also not keen that they’re lumping all asians together, but if it is indeed “asian culture month” or whatever, I guess that’s not exactly McDonald’s fault. (Lessee now…folks from India and folks from Japan…are they culturally simalar? Err, that’d be a big NO)
And, as everyone else has mentioned, aside from any issues of offensiveness the web site is just lame.
I guess Maccy D considered that too “Oirish” for Ireland - they never marketed it here. I don’t think they’d dare. In fact, there’s a slightly patronising ad for MasterCard (or is it a pastiche of MasterCard and actually for beer?) at the moment that mocks the entire touristic phenomenon - “Plastic Irish cottage (made in China) - €40. Two pairs of green trousers - €60. Leprechaun hat - €20. Knowing what it really means to be Irish - priceless.”
New low for McDonalds. Who the hell are they to assume that all asians drink green tea and eat Big Macs. Jesus, I’m American and I’d be offended if someone assumed I eat Big Macs, as they are quite vile indeed.