Japan McDonald's Turns Geek Joke on US

By Jane Yager, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 21, 2009 6:32 AM CDT

(Newser) – Meet Mr. James, the star of McDonald's new ad campaign in Japan: He's a wacky white guy in nerd glasses who speaks broken Japanese, hitches his pants up to his armpits, and probably strikes out with the ladies. Americans living in Japan call the Mr. James campaign racism, while the Huffington Post's Disgrasian blog calls it payback. "Karma's one wacky bitch, isn't it?"

Mr. James, say Disgrasian's Jen Wang and Diana Nguyen, just turns the tables on the goofy Asian geek who is a mainstay of American culture, from the Engrish-speakers in kimonos in a current KFC ad to the barking, accented Asian man in a recent Six Flags commercial. Besides, Mr. James is hardly the norm in Japanese advertising, where images of beautiful, sophisticated foreigners abound.

[Images (1)]

[Videos (1)]

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McDonald's Japan burger mascot Mr. James, in video screen shot. (YouTube)

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Here's what Mr. James sounds like. (YouTube)

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Mr. James... speaks broken Japanese, wears the archetypal nerd uniform of glasses, a short-sleeved shirt with a tie, and ill-fitting khaki pants, has bad teeth, and--we're only guessing here--is probably someone who's never gotten laid. Sound familiar? Oh right. Usually THAT GUY has slanty-eyes.
- Jen Wang and Diana Nguyen

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