extracted from straits times forum.
Race did not figure in Visa's advertisement
I refer to Mrs Claire Chong's letter 'Visa's advertisement is
arrogant, condescending to Asians' in ST Online Forum on October
20.
She accused Visa's latest advertisement of racial stereotyping.
I've personally seen the advertisement several times on TV and in
cinemas.
Over the years, Visa had produced various advertisements starring
Hollywood stars which I find very witty and entertaining. In these
advertisements, the message Visa trys to convey is straightforward
and simple - a Visa credit card is an accepted form of payment
worldwide in almost any kind of situation.
I am sure this is how Visa expects the audience to interpret its
advertisements. To convey the 'worldwide standard' message, the
advertisements span a myriad of countries and environments from a
French restaurant, busy streets in Bangkok, a jungle to the most
recent one featuring a busy Indian marketplace.
The latest advertisement shows a lone white man (Richard Gere) in a
busy Indian marketplace. The audience naturally assumes he is a
tourist enjoying the local sights and sounds.
Using a Visa credit card, he buys all the birds in the market to be
freed, making a little girl very happy. I cannot make a connection
with any racial condescension in it.
Does race matter at all? No, it doesn't. If race does not matter,
why does Mrs Claire perceive the advertisement as racially
condescending? What if the advertisement was filmed in a slightly
different way. Replace the Indian marketplace with a busy Italian
marketplace where all the stall vendors are white.
An Asian tourist (say Jackie Chan) comes along and offers to buy
all the birds with a Visa credit card. Does his act of paying for
something with a credit card automatically brand the Italian
vendors as 'poor'? Of course not!
Race does not matter in any case. No doubt Gere is a white man but
ordinary viewers will see him as a tourist among a group of locals
in a marketplace.
There is no need to point out that Gere is white, much less assume
that this Visa commercial is intended to be condescending to
Asians.
Tai Hong Yang
