Salesgenie.com, a unit of InfoUSA, ran two Super Bowl spots over the weekend. Created by the CEO of the company himself, Vin Gupta, the commercials featured an Indian man searching for sales leads to support his wife and seven kids and two pandas talking in a Charlie Chan accent. Because, you know, Indians love having kids and if pandas could talk, they wouldn’t speak perfect English or Chinese, no, they’d speak in heavily accented English. The only commercial Vin Gupta was missing to complete a triple threat was one of a black guy turning to sales genie for leads so he’d have money to buy fried chicken and waffles. But, I guess in Vin Gupta’s mind that wouldn’t work since the black guy would just steal the leads.
The most surprising thing about these commercials wasn’t that Fox allowed them to be aired, it’s that they were perfectly crafted by Vin Gupta who intended them to be the worst commercials in Super Bowl history. That way people would remember SalesGenie forever. No, really. So, I ask you this. Is Vin Gupta A) A marketing genius B) Blissfully ignorant C) Mildly retarded or D) All of the above?