Turns out it’s not a good idea for a douchey white guy to paint his face brown and indulge in ethnic stereotypes for an online campaign. Who knew?
Popchips has pulled an ad starring Ashton Kutcher in brownface talking in an Indian accent after viewers, such as entrepreneur Anil Dash, called it racist. The entire clip is a collection of characters for a fake dating service all played by Ashton. One of the personas is Raj, a Bollywood producer looking for love. Popchips said it was supposed to be funny, online-only campaign.
“The new popchips worldwide dating video and ad campaign featuring four characters was created to provoke a few laughs and was never intended to stereotype or offend anyone,” the rep wrote. “At popchips we embrace all types of shapes, flavors and colors, and appreciate all snackers, no matter their race or ethnicity. We hope people can enjoy this in the spirit it was intended.”
Popchips should have known that nothing Ashton Kutcher does could “provoke a few laughs.” Unless he got hit in the head with a rock and fell into a manhole. That would get a few chuckles from me as I ignore his cries for help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLdobzj_9_I&feature=player_detailpage