This is the ad that led to two racists claiming that this was racist and used it as an excuse to put up a racist video attacking Chinese as racists. Poor Mediacorp, instead of defending itself, timidly went on to apologise for an ad that it commissioned with no intent to offend. (I do not know who was the creator of the ad. He could be an angmoh).
Look at the above ad carefully and ask yourself what is so offensive or racist about this ad. Dennis Chew is an entertainer and very often cross dressed to entertain in comedy sketches. In this case the creator was trying to be creative in using one person to cross dress into 4 different personalities of different races. Every one was sensitively and smartly well dressed with no ill meaning or attempt to be offensive. This is infotainment for crying out loud. It was tastefully done with a lot of effort put into it.
How could this be racially offensive? Why on earth did Mediacorp have to apologise for it? Where is the bad intent? Did any one dressed badly, offensively, insensitively?
The ad was meant to reflect the four major races of Singapore. There is a Chinese woman, a Malay woman, an Indian man and a Eurasian man. The brown man was not meant to be an Indian, for goodness sake. Indians are not brown. The Indian man is the one holding the roti prata. And the creator was sensitive enough not to paint him black. Thank God he is wise enough not to do so or else hell will break loose. Now why are the two racist Indians complaining about the brown man as offensive to Indians or depicting Indians in a bad way?
The ad creator could hire four different persons from four different races to fill the same ad. Would that then be ok, not racist? What is wrong with being a little creative, using one person to dress up as four different persons of four different races, as man and as woman? If this kind of creativity is scorned upon, politically incorrect, racially insensitive, this may be the reason why this island is lacking in creativity. There is no hope for Singapore as a creative country and creative people.
Only very small minded and racist minded people would think the above is offensive.
It would be offensive if the Malay woman was made to hold a bowl of bak kut teh, or the Indian man, or the brown man was dressed badly like a beggar of sort, dismissive dressing to degrade their social standing.
Come on, let's grow up and stop behaving like little village bumpkins. The real racists were the two that made this up as racist and revealed their real racist self by producing the offensive anti Chinese racist video that was rightly taken off. This island cannot tolerate the presence of such racists, and if they are foreigners or new citizens, it is best to send them to their previous home country. They must be made an example of so that closet racists would not dare to show up again to attack the innocent.
Do not allow the thief that shouted thief to get away with it. And do not sheepishly owned up as a thief if one is not a thief. I am very disappointed with Mediacorp's response to the accusation. They should be defending the right to entertain and to be creative. They should be defending the creativeness of the ad and put back the ad for what it stood for.
It would be a very sad day for Singapore and for creativity if this ad is deemed racially offensive and be scrapped for good. There was never an intent to be offensive or mischievous to anyone but all for a bit of fun and infotainment, entertaining while driving across a message of multi culturalism in Singapore.
PS. This is my post for 1 Aug 19.
And please do not let the rest of the world laugh at us as small minded village fools. Let me remind everyone we are a cosmopolitan city state and know what is humour, entertainment, creativity and having a little jest in our life. I give full marks to the creator of the ad.