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GOLDSEA | MEDIAWATCH

MONEY, MEDIA &
The Asian American Image
PAGE 4 OF 4

iven the formidable consumer power at our disposal, we can impact what we and our children see and read in the media in two ways: (1) by influencing advertisers to support media that provide positive coverage of Asians; and (2) by influencing advertisers away from media that treat Asians unfairly or overlook us entirely. A show that immediately comes to mind is Fox's Beverly Hills 90210, which, implausibly enough, is devoid of recurring Asian characters. This is not good for our young children who are among the show's fans. Another is ABC's Doogie Hauser, M.D.which, absurdly, shows a UCLA medical center without a recurring Asian character.

     Advertisers want to sell you their products. Toyota and Sony, for example, spend hundreds of millions a year to persuade Americans to buy their products. If their advertising directors thought that some part of the ad budgets were being spent counter-productively, they would redirect the money. If they received letters from consumers complaining that they were supporting a show that was offensive, or that they weren't supporting any Asian American media, they would be pressured to respond or face losing valuable customers. Each letter, in an ad director's mind, represents many many similar-minded consumers. Few human beings are as sensitive to complaints.

     There is one mass medium that doesn't depend directly on advertising revenues -- the movies. Of course, we can punish makers of movies that treat Asian unfairly by casting our votes the capitalist way, with our wallets. That may not seem like a terrible consequence given our relatively limited numbers in most parts of the U.S. Still, we shouldn't underestimate the impact that 14% of California's population and 11% of New York City's can have on the success of big-budget movies.

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     Far more importantly, we Asian Americans represent a barometer of the reception a movie offensive to Asians can receive in the Asian market which, by the year 2010, will account for 55% of all world box office revenues. Hollywood hopes to dominate this market but won't unless it plays its cards right. A well-publicized Asian American snub of an offensive movie could poison its image in Asia. Inevitably, Asian distributors will insist on checking a film for Asian acceptability before committing to a distribution deal, effectively making Hollywood respond to a Pacific Rim standard rather than a white-American standard. Numbered are the days of white heroes single-handedly blowing away Asian hordes with the help of an adoring Asian female.

     For maximal effectiveness in influencing the American media, we need a clear simple agenda that all concerned Asian Americans can observe until our objectives are met. There isn't the space here for me to get into specifics, but I would like to outline the broad objectives that I believe most Asians would wholeheartedly support. Coming Mediawatch pages will report on particularly commendable or reprehensible doings of media and advertisers as judged by the following objectives:

  1. To increase the amount of media specifically geared toward Asians by rewarding with our business those companies that support Asian American media;

  2. To discourage unfair depiction of Asians or unrealistic omissions of Asians by denying our business to companies that persist in supporting offending media; and

  3. To encourage development of a multicultural perspective within the mass media by boycotting any mass medium that, taken as an average, devotes less than 25% of its coverage to non-white subjects or characters.
     These objectives, I think, would encourage a more thoughtful portrayal and reportage of Asians without imposing unrealistic restrictions on ourselves or on the companies we do business with. Paragraph 1 contains no onerous aspects since it only encourages us to reward companies that care enough about its Asian clientele to support our media. Paragraph 2 encourages us to inform advertisers when they are supporting offensive media. Paragraph 3 would not apply to specialty media, e.g., a magazine focusing on European travel or a show about golf, but would encourage the mass media to face the fact that ours is a nation in which only 75% of the population is white.

     There are encouraging signs of change, but we are far from the point where we can take it for granted. Only by applying our consumer muscle can we make our presence felt by those who spend billions of dollars to support the images that bombard us and our children day in and day out -- the advertisers. Our children's future self-image depends on what we do now.

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Asian distributors will... effectively [make] Hollywood respond to a Pacific Rim standard rather than a white-American standard.