This is like if an airline had an ad about increasing flights to Africa by having an actor in black face.
Oh please, I guarantee you there are far more examples of yellow face in American media then there are of white face in Japanese media. Also you totally missed the point: people did get offended and the commercial was pulled. White people playing the dreaded race card.
Please link to even one example of "yellow face" in American media. You guaranteed they exist, so prove it.
Just playing devil's advocate here and repeating arguments I've heard from people defending the use of yellow face, but black face has specifically been used in the past to degrade black people (minstrel shows) whereas white face and, to a lesser extent, yellow face don't have that stigmatic association. One could even argue that black face is excusable in Japan, a country that doesn't have the same racial history as the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrayal_of_East_Asians_in_Hollywood Search for the term yellowface and you'll see plenty of examples, and these are just from prominent movies and tv shows.
those aren't over the top costumes like what the ANA actors had on (by the way I didn't think the spirit of the ANA ad was racist)
it's my puppy-dog disciple! Today you're also playing a dual-role of pile on specialist to try to help out itstheyear3030. DOUBLE DUTY
I'm not really seeing the big deal. It's like black-face, but without any of the historical context around black-face that makes it bad. But, maybe the expat community there perceives it differently because of other race relations baggage they have to deal with, I don't know. If there were know Americans there and this is an ad about targetting me as a foreign American consumer, it seems pretty inoffensive.
Since the subject of "yellow face" has come up adding this to the discussion. I haven't seen the episode in question so I don't really have too much of an opinion on it. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/5Z6FR8AjF24" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
If I can answer you and Juan Valdez at the same time Yellow Face has been used to degrade Asians. I am not sure how anyone can see Mickey's Rooney's character in Breakfast at Tiffany's as anything but demeaning. Also the use of Yellow face during WWII was a part of anti-Japanese propaganda. As far as the use of White face in Japan there has been a long history of negative portrayals of Europeans as barbarians dating back to the Tokugawa era. I don't know enough about Japan to know how prevalent this attitude is but this ad isn't an isolated incident.
like this? <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Sbxw3ukUTH8?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
That to me doesn't offend me as much as it seems stupid and clownish. When I see it I'm just... huh? Of course, Japan maybe by virtue of being an island and having a homogeneous population as well always gives me like an Asian Aryan type vibe. Like they think they're a superior race or something. Kind of creepy.
Really? First you are unaware of yellow face practices in American media and then have the gall to decide for Asians that NONE of those examples are as "over the top" as a short airline commercial. I'd like to see you telling that to the faces of the Japanese who had to watch themselves being caricatured from internment camps. I also personally don't relate to the hoopla over white face, yellow face, or even black face except in extreme circumstances (for all three) and don't think the the ad was particularly racist, but if some white people felt offended and had the ability to force the company to pull the commercial, that's their prerogative. Same to people who oppose the use of any type of racial "face" in Japan or the US. It would just be nice for you to look in the mirror before you make whiny nonsensical comments and realize that white people are just as capable of playing the race card as any other group.
