Ashton’s Indian act stirs debate

May 04, 2012 - Nivi Shrivastava (The Asian Age)

The ghost of racial discrimination has come alive again. Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher is currently facing the wrath of the Indian community for “objectionable” role-playing of an Indian Bollywood producer ‘Raj’ in a dating website advertisement.

Reportedly, the TV commercial for Pop Chips featured Ashton Kutcher in many avatars, out of which one is of a complexioned Indian, with heavily accented language and body scratching habits. The ad was pulled out after the online protests, but the virtual world is flooded with jokes and opinions about the actor.
The actor received a lot of flak for his ‘insensitiveness’ after the news of his alleged link-ups came out just after splitting from Demi Moore. Karan Tiwari, a DU student, feels that Ashton and the makers of this ad should apologize for the stereotype portrayal of Indian men. He says, “Ashton is trying too hard to be funny in the ad. I think his attempt to imitate a hippie, a biker, a famous designer and an Indian man is too vague. The ad campaign was for a dating site but it looks more like a place to meet weird characters.”
The Tweeple too are taking a dig on this issue and posting hilarious opinions on this ad. Designer Anand Bhushan, tweets, “How is the new Ashton Kutcher dating ad remotely racist, creative, hilarious or anything....? Blah!” A few have taken this ad in a fun spirit, and they feel it is alright as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone’s sentiments. Actor Kabir Bedi tweeted, “Nothing offensive about Ashton Kutcher's “Indian” ad. Come on, let’s not lose our sense of humour. We’re not sacred cows.”

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