I don't think this Asian guy is Bruce Lee _____________________________________________ This is Bruce Lee.
TO YOU Opinion In theres it is offensive. . and honestly. . .in there country theres is the one that counts. . . Rocket River
People in China don't view kung fu masters in the same regards as Americans do with Uncle Sam. Probably more like how Americans view major sports like basketball, football, or baseball. A more apt analogy would be watching a scrawny Chinese person dunking over Shaq, then blocking Shaq's shots, to win a game of one-on-one. Such a commerical would look pretty offensive to some Americans and probably many basketball fans. But I'm not sure about hurting national pride.
So does it bother you when Zhang Ziyi plays a martial artist in movies like Crouching Tiger, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers? She doesn't know martial arts, she's a dancer. Oh, also, LeBron never uses Kung Fu in any of the spots. He always beats them with basketball. That totally ruins your argument right there.
When I first saw the commercial, I enjoyed it. I looked at it as a tribute to classic kung-fu movies such as "Game of Death" and "36th Chamber of Shaolin." As a Chinese-American, I'm much more insulted by Chris Tucker's jokes in the Rush Hour movies.
Huh. I thought that at one time, Chinese officials weren't so hype on traditional Chinese symbolism. Guess either I was wrong, or times change. It seems to me that the controversy arises from the implication that this American cultural icon is abusing Chinese cultural icons. Umm... at basketball. I can see where it would be annoying, but it's clearly a tribute to Hong Kong chop-socky flicks. But it's cool, they get to make the laws in their own country. I thought the ads were lame, myself, but I saw no harm in them. At least none of this will affect my considerable white guilt!
I was surprised Nike ran the commercial in China. I don't have an MBA or anything, but I would think insulting customers = bad for business.
Spoofing 70's culture has been a common (and much loved) tactic by advertisers for decades. Black, white, disco, bell bottoms, HK kung fu flicks, - it doesn't matter. People love that stuff. You didn't see "Shaft" or "Starsky & Hutch" being banned by places because they're offensive. Might it/they reinforce some negative stereotypes? Sure, but at a certain level so does everything conventional. This isn't like Stepn Fetchitt or anything on that level. Various HK stars have become famous here But people are sophisticated enough to realize that real people don't run around kicking each other all the time A month ago I watched "the 36 chambers of Shaolin" (which inspired this ad campaign as well as large parts of Kill bill and is prominently featured in Wutang clan songs). Now, obviously I would watch something like that for camp value, but I don't see how that's any different from me sitting down to watch "Hero" or "The Man from Two Flags" as far as being offensive to anybody. There seems to be a bit of an inferiority complex at work here w/regard to the Chinese govt.
Yao's take: As soon as Yao Ming watched LeBron James' latest Nike commercial, he said he knew it would cause all sorts of trouble in China. Yao did not seemed offended and laughed when he reminded that he is "a Reebok guy." But he said that he was not surprised that the commercial in which James battles kung fu fighters was banned in China. "I think it's a cultural problem," Yao said. "There's some things in that commercial that Chinese people did not like to see: the dragons, women's pictures and something else. That's all I know." Asked if he agreed with the ban, Yao said, "Not all, but a little bit." http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2937563
Hmmm.. thta sounds a lot like, "Maybe, Maybe No." Is Yao trying to send us a signal that he reads the board? I like the commercial because it gave a job to the guy who played Williams from Enter the Dragon. I thought that guy was dead.
That last shot where Lebron gives a kungfu yell with his kungfu kick made my head shake. I'd rather the Chinese government to let their consumers decide with their dollars on whether it's offensive or not.
A lot of people in China don't even know who the heck Lebron is. They just see a big black man beating up Chinese people, for no reason. Some people here mentioned Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, but those guys were in US. How about showing some Chinese soccer player kicking the **** out of a cowboy to American audience.
Maybe you're right, but online polls in China show about 40% saying the ad is "racially offensive", and 70% saying it's "uncomfortable to watch". In the city of Shenyang the government has received over 300 complaints. In singapore the ad has also met oppositions, as someone here posted.
That's the point. Nobody would care. As a matter of fact, Jackie Chan DID beat the crap out of cowboys... in "Shanghai Noon." Sure, he wasn't a soccer player, but I still don't recall anyone in the U.S. all up in arms about American culture being portrayed as inferior. And Jackie wasn't beating anyone at basketball, either. If China has a problem with the commercial, I'm cool with them banning it. I'm not about to make the decisions for another nation. But there's a serious cultural disconnect here. If soccer player vs. cowboy is the best reverse examply that you can come up with, I'd say we're just going to have to conclude that Americans and Chinese simply think differently about cultural icons.
