Daily Archive for May 13th, 2004

Hooray for McDonald’s and their stellar advertising campaign and corresponding website i-am-asian.com!

I wouldn’t know how to identify wit’ my bad asian self if it wasn’t for this spiffy website with cheeky asian people (and a pug!) looking happy and eating fried foods. I’m glad they’ve decided to include images I can truly identify with, such as random asian guys eating McD’s after doing a lion dance and asian girls in pigtails playing with sparklers in front of a McD’s sign.

Unfortunately, they got it all wrong with that pug, because we all know that asian people eat dogs. Maybe if they’d put some soy sauce on the pug and put him on a bowl of rice, next to some chopsticks, it wouldn’t have taken me so long to figure out that the pug is just showin’ his aZn PrYdE! Where’s *my* shirt, dammit?!

Regardless, because now that Mickey D’s has valdiated my self-worth, I am able to stand up alongside my peeps in saying “I AM ASIAN!” (that is if McDonald’s doesn’t mind me using their trademarked phrase) and express my deep appreciation and gratitude that McDonald’s has captured what being asian really means on the homepage:

We’re Asian and Pacific Islander Americans “living on the rim,” where our diverse cultures and the everyday American lifestyle become one. We’re hanging on to our great traditions while we move to the beat of the times. We honor our heritage – but we love being Americans. From high fashion to high tech, from Asian Pacific American hip hop to haute cuisine, we’re weaving the threads of our culture into the fabric of everyday American life. Whether we’re sipping green tea or enjoying a Big Mac® sandwich, we’re helping make the magic mix called America become even richer. And McDonald’s is right there with us, everyday!

Thank goodness “McDonald’s respects the diversity and celebrates the unique cultural heritage of the Asian and Pacific Islander American community.” After all, the secret to being a good asian is knowing how to celebrate holidays. How have I survived this long without realizing this? It took McD’s i-am-asian to point it out to me. Hallelujah! Praise Buddah, Confucius, and Bruce Lee!

As Americans with Asian and Pacific Islander heritage, we have many things in common. But we are very different too. We’re from different countries, and celebrate different holidays and customs throughout the year. For example, some of us observe the Lunar New Year, while others observe the Western New Year on January 1st. And even those of us who celebrate the Lunar New Year will have different ways of celebrating it… See for yourself what holidays Asian and Pacific Islander Americans celebrate.

Now I gotta find the nearest Golden Arches (like any happy asian should and would after visiting the site).

I won’t forget to order my Big Mac® while going through the drive-thru in my rice racer cyber green vw beetle (with my feet sticking out the window, of course) as I grab a bite to eat before rushing off to my tae-kwon-do lessons. Oh, and I have to remember to stop by the dry cleaner because I spilled some Special Sauce on my kimono and my mother’s ancient Chinese stain remover didn’t work. Thank goodness it wasn’t the sriracha sauce or chutney I had on my burger, which would’ve been really hard to get out.

That’s what I get for trying to sing the Asian National Anthem™ while trying to eat at the same time.

(Seen also at boingboing, modesty verve, dirtynerdluv, daemon, muchosucko, el30 (in japanese), everdred, blinger, keywords, ronniedelcarmen, speakeasy, squoogy, 50cups, mister pants, destroy all monsters, hegemonyrules)