<p>Here’s my view:</p>
<p>The advertisement picture is definitely discrimination. This is speaking on behalf of Chinese community, who have seen these gestures at least once in their lives. I don’t think people would understand what the message is unless they are part of the minority.</p>
<p>Posing slanted/slit eyes gestures is not an “affectionate gesture”, it is a gesture used to bully Asian people around (especially as a youth); you can ask and confirm that through experience. There are many things that the advertisement could have capture instead, to show the “love and warm gesture” towards the Chinese during the Olympics. A neutral examples was usage of the dragon in the background.</p>
<p>“We did it because we thought it was going to be something nice, something with no problem,” quotes Jose Calderon (Toronto Raptors). I have to say Jose Calderon is an idiot for that- - would he walk down Toronto and perform his warm gesture to every Chinese he saw? He would get popped … total fallacy.</p>
<p>His second quote with bad reasoning:
“From here I would like to declare that we have a huge respect for the East and their people, some of my best friends in Toronto are from China and one of our Spanish National Team sponsors is the Chinese brand Li Ning.”</p>
<p>The first half of the sentence ties back into 2 paragraphs above. Best friends in Toronto don’t mean anything - - the picture is not offensive to just your Chinese friends, it is offensive to the whole Chinese population. You can attest that from the boos during the Spain-China basketball game. The reference to Li Ning is totally a business related action. Li Ning’s representative actually thought the picture was funny, that it showed the Spainards had a sense of humor. I think that’s total B.S. Business is a mindset … if the Li Ning rep declared what happened as racist, he would take a hit for their contract with the team. The answer was obvious there.</p>
<p>There were 2 major problems in this case. The advertisement sponsor (Seur) showed immaturity for designing this pose. The players also showed a lack of judgment for following what the sponsor’s orders and what other players were doing.</p>
<p>*Paul Gasol felt it was childish but posed for the ad anyway.</p>
<p>“Some of us didn’t feel comfortable doing it just because to me it was a little clownish for our part to be doing that,” Gasol said. “But the sponsors insisted and insisted. I think it is just a bad idea I guess to do that, but it was never intended to be offensive or racist against anybody.”
*</p>
<p>If you thought the gesture was a joke, say this occured in another context, when say the Olympics were in an African nation. What if the team took a picture pull your lips out and make an say your supporting the African nation? What would happen? What if this were in Mexico, and the players held orange boxes? It’s all about the context. All of these are offensive and should not be tolerated.</p>
<p>In conclusion, I feel that the picture was quite disrespectful towards the Chinese. Apologies have been made by the figures involved, but I feel that some figures (like Jose Calderon) seemed to have said them reluctantly … as if his back was against the wall and he had to do it. He still thought nothing was wrong …</p>
<p>I don’t think there should be any serious legal actions, possibly impose a fine, and both sides drop the issue (but remember the ettiqute of respect). Sad to say Spain has risked upsetting their Olympic hosts by posing for a pre-Games advertisement making slit-eyed gestures.</p>