Anti-Defamation League to issue complaint about ad

Friday, Oct. 13, 2000 | 10:27 a.m.

The director of the Las Vegas regional office of the Anti-Defamation League said she would lodge a complaint with the management of a Henderson car dealership for a television advertisement considered offensive by Asian Americans.

Cynthia Luria said she has received complaints about the ad, which depicts a martial-arts battle between a Caucasion superhero and a villain called Evil High Price portrayed by an Asian actor. The ad ends with the Asian character in a headlock using an exaggerated accent, filmed out of sync with the dialogue to satirize poorly dubbed Japanese movies.

The manager of Findlay Toyota, which sells Japanese cars, says the ad is a spoof of Jackie Chan and Austin Powers movies and was not intended to offend Asians. He said he apologized if the ad offended anyone, but, citing ad production costs, did not pull it off the air.

"I understand the commercial was done as a spoof," Luria said. "But as soon as any portion of the community became offended by it, it became incumbent upon the advertiser to act. It's unnecessary to use stereotypes in the creative process."