Michigan GOP Senate hopeful Pete Hoekstra catches heat for Super Bowl ad
Ad shows Asian woman speaking broken English, telling viewers 'We take your jobs'
A Michigan GOP Senate hopeful is drawing criticism for running a Super Bowl ad showing a young Asian woman speaking in broken English and thanking his opponent for propping up China's economy.
The 30-second ad, created by the campaign of former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, opens with a gong sound and shows a young Asian woman riding a bike on a path through a field of rice paddies.
"Thank you Michigan Senator Debbie Spend-it-Now," the woman says, referring to Hoekstra's opponent, Democratic incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
"Debbie spend so much American money, you borrow more and more from us. Your economy get very weak, ours get very good. We take your jobs."
"Thank you Debbie Spend-it-now," the woman says with a smile, before pedaling off.
The ad then cuts to Hoekstra, who refers to himself as Pete "Spend-it-not" Hoekstra and asks viewers to visit his website, debbiespenditnow.com, which is festooned with Chinese characters, flags, paper lanterns, parade dragons and shows Stabenow's face plastered on a hand fan.
One Michigan Republican consultant called the ad "appalling."
"Stabenow has got to go. But shame on Pete Hoekstra for that appalling new advertisement," GOP Nick De Leeuw wrote on Facebook, according to The Associated Press.
"Racism and xenophobia aren't any way to get things done."
GOP consultant Mike Murphy, a former adviser to John McCain, tweeted that the ad was "really really dumb. I mean really."
The Michigan chapter of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote group slammed the ad as "disturbing," telling the AP it used "harmful negative stereotypes" that encourage "anti-Asian sentiment."
Hoekstra's campaign said the ad was satirical and meant as a warning shot at the American education system.
"You have a Chinese girl speaking English, I want to hit on the education system, essentially," Hoekstra spokesman Paul Ciaramitaro told Politico.
"The fact that a Chinese girl is speaking English is a testament to how they can compete with us, when an American boy of the same age speaking Mandarin is absolutely insane, or unthinkable right now."
"I think the viewer of an ad is going to recognize satire," he said.
The ad was shot in California, and Hoekstra, who was once the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, spent $75,000 to run it during the Super Bowl.
It's scheduled to run state-wide for the next two weeks.
eta: YT video b/c NYT video won't embed:
With News Wire Services
omfg, I don't even know where to begin. tl;dr, white Republican male uses xenophobia and Asian stereotypes (including an Asian-American speaking stereotyped broken English) to shill for election, and backpedals by calling it 'satire'. My only solace is that his fellow GOP peers seem to think it's pretty ass, too.
Source - NYT also with VIDEO
A Michigan GOP Senate hopeful is drawing criticism for running a Super Bowl ad showing a young Asian woman speaking in broken English and thanking his opponent for propping up China's economy.
The 30-second ad, created by the campaign of former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, opens with a gong sound and shows a young Asian woman riding a bike on a path through a field of rice paddies.
"Thank you Michigan Senator Debbie Spend-it-Now," the woman says, referring to Hoekstra's opponent, Democratic incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
"Debbie spend so much American money, you borrow more and more from us. Your economy get very weak, ours get very good. We take your jobs."
"Thank you Debbie Spend-it-now," the woman says with a smile, before pedaling off.
The ad then cuts to Hoekstra, who refers to himself as Pete "Spend-it-not" Hoekstra and asks viewers to visit his website, debbiespenditnow.com, which is festooned with Chinese characters, flags, paper lanterns, parade dragons and shows Stabenow's face plastered on a hand fan.
One Michigan Republican consultant called the ad "appalling."
"Stabenow has got to go. But shame on Pete Hoekstra for that appalling new advertisement," GOP Nick De Leeuw wrote on Facebook, according to The Associated Press.
"Racism and xenophobia aren't any way to get things done."
GOP consultant Mike Murphy, a former adviser to John McCain, tweeted that the ad was "really really dumb. I mean really."
The Michigan chapter of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote group slammed the ad as "disturbing," telling the AP it used "harmful negative stereotypes" that encourage "anti-Asian sentiment."
Hoekstra's campaign said the ad was satirical and meant as a warning shot at the American education system.
"You have a Chinese girl speaking English, I want to hit on the education system, essentially," Hoekstra spokesman Paul Ciaramitaro told Politico.
"The fact that a Chinese girl is speaking English is a testament to how they can compete with us, when an American boy of the same age speaking Mandarin is absolutely insane, or unthinkable right now."
"I think the viewer of an ad is going to recognize satire," he said.
The ad was shot in California, and Hoekstra, who was once the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, spent $75,000 to run it during the Super Bowl.
It's scheduled to run state-wide for the next two weeks.
eta: YT video b/c NYT video won't embed:
Click to viewWith News Wire Services
omfg, I don't even know where to begin. tl;dr, white Republican male uses xenophobia and Asian stereotypes (including an Asian-American speaking stereotyped broken English) to shill for election, and backpedals by calling it 'satire'. My only solace is that his fellow GOP peers seem to think it's pretty ass, too.
Source - NYT also with VIDEO