BMW's Diesel Commercial. Asian Archie Bunker In The Room.

I first noticed this BMW commercial run on the Superbowl a few weeks ago. Something about it immediately struck me as being uncomfortable and racist. Unfortunately it did not go away and is now in heavy rotation on the networks. In it, a young Caucasian guy approaches the Asian patriarch at family gathering. He nervously walks up to him and says he has something he needs to announce. The Asian father anxiously looks over at his daughter and we all know what he is thinking. The white guy then says he just bought a diesel. The father then turns around and looks at the BMW and lets out a huge sigh of relief.

This commercial feels all wrong to me. First of all, the father reminds me of the seminal TV character Archie Bunker from All In The Family. He was the bigot that drove his daughter and son in law crazy with his racist rants and attitudes, particularly when it came to interracial dating and marriage. His outrageousness helped open the discussion in America on race and people's bigotry. That has led to today's more open position about interracial couples. It is now so widespread that people think nothing of seeing an interracial couple on TV or living next door. Or if they did object to it, it is considered taboo and backwards to publicly disagree with the relationship.

Yet the ad agency for BMW thought it was acceptable to show an Asian bigot on TV disapproving of a potential white son in law. They would never dare use this concept with a black suitor and white father, or vice versa. It would bring howls of protest about prejudice in the media and BMW would be shamed back into the racist little bunker of their headquarters in Bavaria. But let's put an Asian father in there and everything is okay because we all know Asian parents hate to have their children date outside their race.

Something else that isn't right about the commercial is that it perpetuates the stereotypical white guy/Asian girl relationship. The girl, Jenny, stands by meekly, never saying a word, as she looks lovingly at her white boyfriend as he is talking to her father. Why isn't it ever the Asian boyfriend asking the white father for approval for marriage, or at least announcing he just bought a BMW? Frankly I see more young Asians drive BMW's here in Southern California than Caucasians, who seem to prefer American muscle cars like Mustangs and Camaros.

Again it is too easy to use Asians as comedy props in media (they are props because notice that none of the Asians in the room says a single English word; a sigh of relief doesn't count as spoken speech.) We are literally the last race where it is acceptable to make racist jokes about in public. I think BMW has just lost me as a potential customer.