Racial Caricature Mart
Yes, a major American corporation is spending ten million dollars to associate your ethnicity with bad English, convenience stores and cheating your customers.
In a move that strikes me as vaguely disturbing, 7-Eleven has equipped every employee with an official Kwik-E-Mart uniform…. we have an army of Indian and Pakistani workers who, for years, have attempted to beat down the “Thank you, come again” stereotype, and who are now being forced against their will to dress as Apu, the most blatant of all convenience store clichés. In a store, no less, that features stickers of Apu… I couldn’t help but detect a thick cloud of depression emanating from the employee who rang up my bean burrito. [Link]
Even Apu, the Kwik-E-Mart’s ever-present proprietor, was on hand (he was actually a 7-Eleven regional director) who offered a familiar “Thank you. Come again,” on the way out. [Link]
The San Francisco Chronicle even busted out what used to be called an Oriental stereotype with this fractured headline: ‘Please to be enjoying a promotional gimmick.’ ‘Cause they can’t speak Engrish, get it. Awesome.
The show certainly exploits racial stereotypes about South Asians for humor, but often complicates these with character specifics (Apu’s education, his strict vegan diet). The promotion, by contrast, is all malicious stereotyping. [Link]
I wonder how Indian 7-Eleven employees feel when confronted by Apu from The Simpsons every time they go to work. [Link]
Apparently every immigrant group has to fight the same battle all over again, ’cause it isn’t racist if nobody calls you out on it.
Pucker up, Buttercup. You’re gonna be hearing that singsong ‘Thank you come again’ for years to come.
Complain here or:
7-Eleven, Inc.
P.O. Box 711
Dallas, TX 75221-0711
Phone: 972-828-7011
Photos courtesy of bdu.
on Wednesday, July 4th, 2007, 2:25 am in Ads, Film, Issues, Simpsons, TV › 
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Looks like Parwinder Paaji is enjoying the limelight!! Disgusting!
SF Chronicle coverage is as bad as the campaign!
So, should I feel bad for laughing at the Simpsons?
daycruz,
So, should I feel bad for laughing at the Simpsons?
This issue has been dealt with in the previous post :
http://www.ultrabrown.com/posts/step-n-dispense-it
Manish, I rarely watch simpsons and knew about Apus character but may be I just watched 3-4 episodes of simpsons in the last ten years so I didnot even realise what was going on..Yesterday I watched it and they were making fun of “bend it like beckham” and apu supporting the father in the movie in that indian accent.
I dont know on TV if there are other cartoon shows which make fun of chinese or other south asians or for that matter any other culture. Even seinfeld ran an episode of an indian wedding which george, elaine, kramer and seinfeld attend making fun of everything which I did not enjoy.
To me what seemed not fair to seven eleven employees or indians is being associated with bad English and cheating your customers or making fun of age old traditions. That is really sad. Indians are contributing so much to american society as professionals be it software, science or working at seven eleven. I dont know if they show the positive contributions of Indians to american society in simpsons but they should do that too if they really want to look at total contributions of Indians to this society.
Iam glad CNN is focusing on this issue and Iam glad u are speaking for all the Indians.
Thanks Prakruti. I’m not speaking for all desis, of course. Some think Apu’s funny and don’t take offense.
Doesnot matter Manish if some people find Apu funny..all that matters is u are speaking for the rest of the people who are offended, whose voice needs to be heard so that they stop making fun of it..
Like most people associate India with snakes, snake charmers, elephants..Rudyard kiplings jungle book India..In reality India is not like that..India is modern and most people dont realise that..
After Rusdhie, vikram seth, Arundhati Roy, Jhumpa lahiri, Kiran Desai came into the world with big awards now they recognise India as place where great writers are born..
Perceptions have to change and someone has to bring a change..
I am glad Manish you are getting to speak for the rest of us who are not about cheating or bad english but are professionals who feel that we contribute good things to society here..
If it was India and they were just making fun of fellow indians like Apu like kaderkhan making fun of south indians or north indians it would be ok…I take it easy because comedy is good..for good laughs but not at the cost of something like this in another country..
like seinfeld making fun of all stereotypes of americans since the show is american comedy telecasted in US first no one minds.
But picking up one country or race and just making fun of them in another country like Apu in simpsons telecasted in US is not funny..If they focussed on postive contributions atleast it makes it ok, but they are not doing that right…associating us with cheating etc., is not just right..
thats why Iam glad some one like u Manish who is smart, well educated , experienced and bright is speaking for all of us..
Is this the Bend It Like Beckham clip you mean? I liked this one, accent aside.
yes it is the same one I watched yesterday Manish…I watched it in bits while I was cooking…it was not all that bad but still everyone boos after Apu says something but u are right it was not all that bad probably compared to other episodes…see I never watched simpsons much before…It was after reading ur blog entry that I wanted to watch simpsons and specially Apu’s character..otherwise generally I dont watch simpsons..I think I watch 60 minutes on sunday that time of the evening and yesterday while flipping channels I came across this one..
does you tube have other episodes of simpsons where indians are made fun off..I would like to watch those..
Manish, is that true? Who are these race traitors? Send Scotsman Willie after them now! :)
I think Apu is one of the most sympathetic characters on the Simpson. He might be a stereotype, but so is every character on the show with the exception of the 4 family members themselves. Fat Tony and The Italian Spaghetti chef are 2 other good examples. And of course groundskeeper Willie, the token mad scotsman.
One of the recurring themes of his character on the show is that Apu is a highly educated man, who is nonetheless forced to run a Kwik-E-Mart because of his qualifications not being recognised in America. Which is a fairly common situation for immigrants of any ethnicity, and not just in America.
He certainly gets treated a lot better by the writers than Australians do!
I have to say though, this promotion is pretty insulting, even if the character Apu isn’t.
“King Of The Hill” features a Laotian family who live next door to Hank and Peggy Hill. The daughter (Bobby Hill’s best friend/girlfriend) is the stereotypical asian academic/musical prodigy and the father is a bit of a nutcase (not sure if that is common stereotype or not?!?).
Dude, you gotta chill. I find this whole thing funny. The main character of Simpsons, Homer, a fat white man is depicted as an idiot. You don’t see white people bitching about it. It is about time we minorities stop whining about every little thing. Besides, political correctness taken to an extreme just makes life boring.
THANK YOU COME AGAIN.
I’ve got to say that from where I’m standing, as a Scot, you guys have it easy with the character embodying your stereotype. But seeing as people seem to be trading ‘asians in popular culture’ I should point out two things:
1: You guys in the states are missing out, having not had broadcast the excellent (all asian) Goodness Gracious Me (clips of which are on you tube).
AND
2: Not getting the Scottish sit com Still Game which features a sympathetic hard-to-tell-if-he’s-a-stereotype-or-not shopkeeper called Navid, who quickly became one of if not the best loved characters on the show (Still Game episodes can be found on YouTube and alluc, and Navid features in - I believe - every one).
All ethnicities and races are stereotyped on the Simpsons. What about Fat Tony? Then Italian Americans should be really insulted for a stereotype they’ve been trying to shake off for years, but never goes away and is very far from the truth. It’s not like they’re picking out one ethnic group here with Apu. Back in the 70’s there was lots of ethnic humor - it wasn’t taken as insulting or mean. This country needs to stop taking every word so seriously - especially from a cartoon show. In life you have to be able to laugh at yourself. If Apu is not allowed to be laughed at then neither should Fat Tony or any of the others. Then that’s being racist.
Apu is the only character which stereotypes a relatively unknown minority. When Fat Tony shows, people don’t take him as gospel because they know Italian-Americans personally. But when Apu rides an elephant– my friends’ white-collar colleagues have literally wondered whether they ride an elephant to work in Bombay. (For the record, it’s a Honda, just like in Jersey.)
Like Archie Bunker?
One of the reasons I have sat on the fence on the Apu issue is because derisive humor is often directed at those in a position of strength. I am not a fan of the Simpsons so can not expound on this much, but there was an interesting opinion piece published in the local newspaper that brought this to mind.
The article is a philosophical piece mulling the nature of funny. It explores Freud’s musings on the subject - in that humor is often a vent to our repressed emotion, the ability to speak aloud as grotesque hyperbole a situation which we can not commonly put to words on account of fear of being rude or social custom. This is the bawdy humor, which some laud as a poke against the system, and others loathe for the fear of being adsorbed into the Apu? There is also reference to a comment made by Leacock, the Canadian humorist. He distinguishes camp from irony in that the latter is characterized by the incongruity between aspirations and achievement.
Both these perspectives are relevant to this discussion on a cartoon (it’s fatwa time, baby) and characterize the two opposing sides in the debate.
…
Oops - here’s the Peters link for use in the news bar. A thousand apologies sahib.
FYI, in this country today, many people still believe that there are people like Fat Tony in many Italian American families. I know this to be 100% fact. If Americans knew so much about them, as you say, they wouldn’t actually believe that. Your problem is that you want negative stereotyping allowed for others, and apparantly not for Indians. It’s only a cartoon show. None of them, including “white” Homer are portrayed as angels.