Aston Kutcher’s Mini ‘Bollywood Producer Role’

Posted by: Adhika | Posted on: August 14th, 2012 | No Comments

A commercial starring Aston Kutcher has been pulled from the Internet following backlash from viewers over its ‘racist’ content.

The 34-year-old appeared in the commercial for Popchips as an Indian man ‘looking for love’ in a dating ad-style spoof.

One viewer tweeted in response: ‘Did I just see Ashton Kutcher in Brownface, for some popchips? Seriously, Advertisers…What the *expletive* were you thinking??’

And cut! An online ad featuring Ashton Kutcher in a parody role as an Indian man has been pulled following complaints from viewers

It seems likely that the video was intended to poke fun at Ashton’s love life woes.

A spokeswoman for Popchips explained that the dating parody was ‘created to provoke a few laughs and was never intended to stereotype or offend anyone.’

She added that the company ‘hopes people can enjoy this in the spirit it was intended.’

Ashton also appeared as a pale Karl Lagerfeld-eqsue fashionista, a ‘stoner’-type, and a tattoed Southerner. Videos featuring these characters remain online.

Originally Ashton also appeared as Raj, a ’39-year-old Bollywood producer looking for love’ in the advert for PopChips.

In the dating themed film he said he was looking for ‘the most delicious thing on the planet,’ as well as indulging in appropriately cheesy Bollywood parodying dancing.

Of course he soon finds it in the form of the low-fat potato snack, but the fact the Hollywood star saw fit to dress up in stereotypical garb and put on an Indian accent has drew the wrath of many on the internet, including Indian-descended rap group Das Racist

On their Twitter account they asked him: ‘What’s with the racist brownface video you talentless, pretending to care about sex trafficking piece of s***.’

They never received a response from the actor, who chose not to address the subject on his own page, where he had previously promoted the advert.

Blogger and entrepreneur Anil Dash also wrote a lengthy entry on his website about his disgust at the advert.

He said: ‘It’s a hackneyed, unfunny advertisement featuring Kutcher in brownface talking about his romantic options, with the entire punchline being that he’s doing it in a fake-Indian outfit and voice. That’s it, there’s seriously no other gag.

‘Naturally, a bunch of us (initially mostly Indian diaspora members whom I follow on Twitter) started complaining about it, and a number of like-minded allies also registered their offense as well.

‘I can’t imagine I have to explain this to anyone in 2012, but if you find yourself putting brown makeup on a white person in 2012 so they can do a bad “funny” accent in order to sell potato chips, you are on the wrong course.’

And of course the Twitter website had a slew of traffic, with Ashton taking a caning at the hands of users.

As spokesman at the company explained the ad was not meant to be offensive, though stopped short of offering an apology.

He said ‘The new Popchips worldwide dating video and ad campaign featuring four characters was created to provoke a few laughs and was never intended to stereotype or offend anyone.

‘At Popchips we embrace all types of shapes, flavors and colors, and appreciate all snackers, no matter their race or ethnicity.’

‘We hope people can enjoy this in the spirit it was intended.’