THE sponsor of two commercials during Super Bowl XLII for Salesgenie.com, which drew complaints from viewers because of the characters’ ethnic accents, says he is sorry and promises to stop running one of them.
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“We never thought anyone would be offended,” said Mr. Gupta, who developed and wrote both commercials himself.
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“People have been making fun of my accent for years,” said Mr. Gupta, who described himself in the interview as half-Indian and half-Jewish. “And I love it.”

*** RACIAL SENSITIVITY IN MARKETING QUIZ ***

1. As stand-ins for the Chinese-American community, pandas are:
a) appropriate
b) only appropriate if also given heavy accents and weight problems
c) only appropriate if the writer of the commercial has himself experienced racial discrimination and enjoyed it
d) more closely related to raccoons than to American and European bears

2. An inappropriate vocation for pandas would be:
a) bamboo furniture salesmen
b) bamboo furniture salesmen who compulsively eat their own stock
c) any vocation, as pandas are incapable of commercial activity
d) retired bamboo furniture salesmen

3) A half-Indian, half-Jewish accent is:
a) hilarious
b) extremely hilarious
c) only somewhat hilarious
d) apparently not as marketable as a Chinese accent

Tags: business, marketing, salesgenie.com, quiz, pandas, ethnic stereotypes