Mr. James and Me!

[strumatic]

I've been tweeting about him for a while, but I never thought that making a vlog about him would generate the response that it has so far. I'm talking about Mr. James, the new McDonalds Ad Campaign's secret weapon for generating buzz among foreigners and laughs among the Japanese.

Comments

[rawksaltyeah]

It's easy to find something offensive when there may be a shred of validity to the claim, especially so when it's a generalization of an entire group of people. It's true that people are, no matter how you decide to categorize them, varied, but there are certain aspects that are universal to nearly everyone, such as being uncomfortably awkward in an unfamiliar culture.

What the Mr. James commercials don't expound on is that he may be a terrific guy, if not for the fact he's fictional. Perhaps he is a loving father and husband, an old fashioned gentleman who's more than happy to give his seat on the bus, a genuinely empathetic individual. The issue is that it wouldn't be good marketing, while a silly looking gaijin who falls short despite giving his best is. It's intention is light hearted whimsy, and I think it succeeds in being so. Just because there are those who might bastardize whimsy for fact doesn't make it offensive, there's just no shortage of people who will read between lines that don't exist.

Oh, and your American accent is god awful. :)