Sunday, April 09, 2006

Adidas sneakers flaunt offensive Asian images

Again we've seen a major U.S. corporation using negative caricatures of Asians on their products.

This time it's a new limited-edition Adidas sneaker displaying an image of an Asian man with "bowl-cut hair, slanted eyes, pig nose and buck teeth."

Adidas said the image is not offensive and the artist is part-Asian, but Asian American activist and community groups don't appear convinced.

Abercrombie & Fitch was that last major offender of this type, and their negative Asian stereotypes brought boycott actions.

It would be interesting to investigate whether products containing the offensive images actually do well on the market. After all, it's all about the money.

Here's a link to the whole story from the San Jose Mercury News:

Outcry over Adidas sneaker images

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