Asian Americans in Advertisements?!

Last weekend, I traveled to my local YMCA in the Richmond District of San Francisco to meet up with my co-workers to attend this YMCA training (I work as an afterschool teacher supported by this YMCA by the way). I was minding my own business, waiting for my co-workers to arrive when my eyes were immediately glued to this poster (on the left). "Whoa," I thought, "When do you ever see any advertisements with Asian Americans?" Besides local Asian supermarkets and stores, you are very lucky to see an advertisement like the one seen on the left in public facilities. Not to mention, once you leave the Bay Area and other areas in the United States with high concentrations of Asian Americans, how likely are you going to see a poster or some sort of advertisement like this? Once again, NEXT TO NONE! So why is this? Why is it that Asian Americans are not in advertisements and in the media? I began thinking hard about this.

Overall, I'm really saddened that in today's society where people are suppose to be more understanding and more conscious of different cultures, we are still behind in representing all cultures and ethnicities to the fullest extent in the media, as well as in other areas. In the television shows and commercials the public watches, to billboards and ads on the streets, one can see that white people are the ones who dominate the media. And trust me, I am far from being an activist for Asian Americans but being Asian American, I feel it is important to be known within our society that my people and I do not always follow the stereotypical ideas others have about us - we are not the nerds, or permissive, exotic, spiritual, kung-fu fighters etc. We are regular people who do regular everyday activities just like you!

Then I read an article in the Road Trip Issue (Issue #15) of Hyphen Magazine (www.hyphenmagazine.com, check them out!) named Commercial Success that discusses the representation of Asian Americans in television commercials. The article points out several commericals in which Asian Americans are in including some from companies such as Home Depot, Baskin Robbins, Shell Oil, and Careerbuilder.com. Although Asian Americans are being more represented in television advertisements, the article explains there is not enough representation in the media to see it as being part of the "norm". However, an Asian American actor named Randall Park is optimistic as he claims, "I feel like to see a family, like, on a 30-second commercial - an Asian family - to me, that's powerful. It's subtle." And I have to say I totally agree with Park's words. Are Asian Americans making a subtle impact (but an impact nevertheless) in the media? Yes. Do we still have a long way to go? MOST DEFINITELY. The article concludes by saying, "Perhaps one day we will reach a point when Asian Americans (whether East, South or Southeast) on the tube will have become so common that we won't even care." And I don't want to be excited every time I see an Asian American person on the television (I do get excited each time), but until that time when it does become a norm, I will continue to look for that familiar Asian American face.

- Jordan