I don't think you're being hypersensitive. This seems like it's strongly hinting at the cultural trope Tv Tropes refers to as "Mighty Whitey" (I've seen it termed and defined in a more serious critical manner elsewhere, just can't seem to remember where offhand...). The essential idea behind the trope is that in most Western media, plots need to be centered around a white (generally male) protagonist, so most stories that are set in foreign places or among a culturally-different majority, the main character will still be white, and more often than not will be portrayed as being able to seamlessly "go native" and generally be better at some significant aspect (or multiple aspects) of the foreign culture than the people who were born and raised in it. This clearly has racist implications.
So no, I think you're spot-on for being squicked by this commercial. Also srsly wtf is with the forehead tattoos being made by Pepsi cans? That definitely seems weird and potentially disrespectful to me.
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So no, I think you're spot-on for being squicked by this commercial. Also srsly wtf is with the forehead tattoos being made by Pepsi cans? That definitely seems weird and potentially disrespectful to me.
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