Saturday, June 28, 2008
Monkeys, monkeys everywhere and not a brain to eat
A Japanese mobile phone firm said today it had pulled a TV advert depicting a monkey as a political candidate amid accusations that it was a racist reference to Barack Obama, who is seeking to become the first black US president.
The ad, for eMobile, shows a monkey in a suit addressing an election rally, surrounded by supporters carrying placards with the word "Change".
...
Obama is hugely popular in Japan, not least among the residents of a fishing town on the Japan Sea coast that shares his name.
The residents of Obama - "little shore" in Japanese - formed a supporters' group to follow his progress through the Democratic primaries.
His Japanese supporters made sweet-bean buns bearing Obama's face and "I love Obama" T-shirts, as well as similarly themed chopsticks, which the town's mayor sent to the candidate along with a message of support.
Monkey advert 'resembling' Obama is pulled in Japan
The Grauniad, Friday June 27, 2008
***
TUBAL:
One of them showed me a ring that he had of your
daughter for a monkey.
SHYLOCK:
Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my
turquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor:
I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.
The Merchant of Venice
***
The police finally got round to arresting former NOVA president Nozomu Sa(ru)hashi this week, "on suspicion of instructing the firm's accountants to misappropriate the reserve funds of the firm's employees."
My thoughts:
1. Sahashi should have been arrested last November, at the very latest.
2. The entire NOVA accounts department should also be arrested: by being too spineless to blow the whistle on the misappropriation of money designated as employees' rent, they were complicit in the whole fiasco and endangered the welfare and wellbeing of company employees.
3. Sahashi should have hopped on a jetski to Korea, changed his name to Kim and had some plastic surgery while the authorities were faffing about.
4. Where's my cheesecake?
***
DAN: I hope he ends up in a cell with the Aomori rapist.
JIM: Is that a real person?
DAN: Nope.
The ad, for eMobile, shows a monkey in a suit addressing an election rally, surrounded by supporters carrying placards with the word "Change".
...
Obama is hugely popular in Japan, not least among the residents of a fishing town on the Japan Sea coast that shares his name.
The residents of Obama - "little shore" in Japanese - formed a supporters' group to follow his progress through the Democratic primaries.
His Japanese supporters made sweet-bean buns bearing Obama's face and "I love Obama" T-shirts, as well as similarly themed chopsticks, which the town's mayor sent to the candidate along with a message of support.
Monkey advert 'resembling' Obama is pulled in Japan
The Grauniad, Friday June 27, 2008
***
TUBAL:
One of them showed me a ring that he had of your
daughter for a monkey.
SHYLOCK:
Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my
turquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor:
I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.
The Merchant of Venice
***
The police finally got round to arresting former NOVA president Nozomu Sa(ru)hashi this week, "on suspicion of instructing the firm's accountants to misappropriate the reserve funds of the firm's employees."
My thoughts:
1. Sahashi should have been arrested last November, at the very latest.
2. The entire NOVA accounts department should also be arrested: by being too spineless to blow the whistle on the misappropriation of money designated as employees' rent, they were complicit in the whole fiasco and endangered the welfare and wellbeing of company employees.
3. Sahashi should have hopped on a jetski to Korea, changed his name to Kim and had some plastic surgery while the authorities were faffing about.
4. Where's my cheesecake?
***
DAN: I hope he ends up in a cell with the Aomori rapist.
JIM: Is that a real person?
DAN: Nope.
