Super Bowl ads earn personal foul

There are three things I love about the Super Bowl aside from the game: beer, wings and ads.

While I didn’t indulge in the first two this year, I was able to catch most of the commercials. Like in years past, some were cute, some were clever and some were funny. There were also those were not so good and easily forgettable.

But there were two that I found offensive. Both were from Salesgenie.com, a website about sales management. And what better way to promote its business than by using cartoon characters with exaggerated Asian accents that propagate our perpetual foreigner stereotype.



The first features a thick-accented Indian worker named Ramesh whose boss threatens to fire him if he doesn’t double his sales figures. Oh, and Ramesh has seven kids. And of course it ends with a sitar playing along with the background music.



The second features pandas with over-embellished Chinese accents trying to find a way to boost their bamboo-furniture store profits. Their shop sign is in a stereotypical fortune-cookie-esque font.

Though I will admit, a flat-screen bamboo monitor would be pretty kick ass to own.

Last year, Salesgenie.com “won” the title for the Super Bowl’s worst ad with its nonsensical commercial. According to a release from infoUSA, that ad drew more than 25,000 people to the company’s website.

And these are sure to bring more.

Ugh. Blatant racism, don’t ya just love it?