| Kippreport.com

Hilarious or hateful? Ad for Chinese Resto in Dubai comes into question

December 22, 2011 4:53 by p.deleon

In a world where talking about how globalized we’ve become is so passé, we all thread a fine line between being outright racist and being okay to laugh at ourselves (if even it’s while nervously checking if everyone around is laughing with you).

Now put this in an advertising context and what you’ve got is a potential fireworks display that could either garner oohs and aahs or boos and maybe even spits in your direction.

And it looks like the guys at DDB UAE are in for just a slightly lukewarm treat as their ad for China Times restaurant has created quite the buzz. The ads feature a Sikh, an African and an Arab with their eyes made to look like that of a Chinese person’s. It comes with the tagline “China Times Authentic Chinese Cuisine: Brings out the Chinese in anyone”

The series of three posters was originally posted on Ads of the World, where it garnered some harsh comments. These included:

“If this agency was a football player, they’d find themselves with an eight match ban.”

“Hilariously racist.”

“amateur campaign”

On the other hand, when Gawker published it with the unabashed headline: Someone Thought These Were Good Ads For a Chinese Restaurant under the ‘Badvertising’ category.

Giving it a less than glowing report however, didn’t deter Gawker’s Facebook fans from defending the campaign. Some of them suggesting Gawker “take a chill pill” and others who claimed to be Asian themselves say they find it hilarious and not offensive.

So what do you think, Kipper? Is it advertising gold or garbage?

Check out the ads below and leave a comment if you think these are hilarious or hateful:

Tags: advertising, China, DDB, Dubai, restaurant