Let’s face it, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi suffers from a severe case of Yoda syndrome. On one hand, he was the moral leader of a subcontinent and delivered a large can of whoop-ass to an evil empire. On the other, he was short, wizened and, in the eyes of many Westerners, just plain funny-lookin’.
Which image will win out in the end? One Aussie fast food chain has cast its vote (via Saheli and Age of Gold). Its logo references Gandhi, the Taj Mahal, ‘curry,’ and a name which is both misspelled and rhymes only when pronounced badly:
On learning that Mahatma Gandhi’s image was being used to sell Indian takeaway food by a franchisee in Australia, his great grandson, Tushar Gandhi, urged the Central Government to take action against the “exploitation” of Gandhi’s image, which “is protected under the Indian Constitution and the National Emblems Act… “I am against such irreverent use of the Mahatma’s image…” [The Hindu]
The chain’s radio ad starts with a Middle Eastern tune. It has some guy doing a supposedly desi accent which lands somewhere between strangled Vietnamese dowager and fuckup. Listen to the ad.
After Tushar Gandhi’s statement, the chain said it now sees the light, doesn’t want to be offensive and has completely revamped its branding. So here’s their new, corrected, stereotype-free logo. Take a look:
Yes, their solution is to make Gandhi a Punjabi rapper. Apparently they felt that was the polar opposite of a nonviolent vegetarian.
Following Handi Ghandi’s lead, Abercrombie & Fitch announced the return of its Chinese stereo-Ts. Dunkin’ Donuts revealed its new name:
The curries come in a variety of meats, beef included… What absolutely cracked me up was Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of the Mahatma, voicing his main objection to the curry-and-Gandhi idea as, “He was not a foodie…”
The funny thing is that if you rhyme Gandhi with Handi, then it becomes an expletive hindi/oriya.
FYI, might I also point you to Mahatma Rice. Although their mascot does not look like Gandhi, has the “mahatma” name ever been used to describe anyone or anything but Gandhi?
Mahatma rice is found in many grocery stores in Texas and Louisiana. Not sure if it’s distributed elsewhere.
For the record, I was not particularly amused and was, in fact, somewhat offended. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s family is very vigiliant about protecting the use of his name and image, and rightly so, I believe. While clearly the legal framework on which their defense rests is very likely not applicable here (India vs. Australia vs. USA/responsibility to protect trademark belong to the owner/time difference), I think the ethical spirit that is the engine of that legal framework is applicable here. MLK Jr. died only 20 years after Gandhi, and I think that, ethically, his image and name deserve the same respect. (That doesn’t mean that anything can be done about it, except using the freemarket of ideas and speech to debrand this brand, or the power of one’s freedom to boycott.)
All that said, everyone’s got a right to their opinion. 🙂 The rapping Punjabi is. . .wow.
Sigh… where will it end? It’s true, there is no limit to stupidity. And we really need to get his name corrected. “Ghandi” is such a common mistake, it’s all over the place. From today forth, I name thee George Washingmachine and Benjamin Frankfurter….
what shit! Gandhi isn’t spelled right, Taj is mis-drawn, and their change looks equally crappy. What’s that guy doing with his hands? What idiots. What the helll is Gandhi selling fast food? Doesn’t India have enough stereotypes? And cant they use the Taj or something else? Probably because they’d lose their stupid rhyme. Stuff like this should be outlawed.
You guys need to chill out. I think it’s pretty funny. I wonder how their curry tastes…
Its actually not that funny. Yeah there’s nothing wrong with making fun of a national icon or joking about him, but this is pretty much the same as MLK being shown in all KFC promotionals with a speech bubble behind him saying, “I loves that fried chicken! Where my chitlins and collard greens at biatch!” And then the marketing people would probably add an ‘Xtreme’ somewhere just for the hell of it. They’re marginalizing a national icon by putting him on a food product, and no one here puts JFK in sniper rifle adverts or ronald reagan on ‘natural memory enhancers’.
i concur fully with anangbhai.. great points my friend, great points..it’s as bad as the flip flops showing lakshmi… huh? not funny..
I actually googled this because I couldn’t believe that their website was actually real. In any case, I strongly urge anyone who has a problem with this to send an amusing message to them while signing up for a franchise. It’s more fun 🙂
Getting the product removed or altered only temporarily sates our outrage. How to bring about a more permanent change viz. just don’t use ethnic caricatures to sell products because it’s just not sophisticated, polite or positive?
More and more, it’s these sellers’ dim view of ethnic stereotypes that I am concerned about. But, again, if an offending item is removed to placate us as opposed to their becoming culturally aware, I don’t think we’re going to achieve very much.
For example: The old caricature of a black southern maid has been taken off bottles of Aunt Jemima pancake syrup and replaced with a more modern woman. However, on lesser-known products and at tourist shops, figurines and graphics of that same ol’ black southern maid are sold, and purchased by tourists. You can lead a bigot to a lawsuit, but you can’t make him/her enlightened.
i am offended, even sent a email to the website. yet, the jingle is kind of funny in a way.
Maitri, you’ve hit the spot, well, my spot at least. The fact that the image is caricature of Gandhi doesn’t upset me. Frankly, as long as his contributions are not directly made light of, this sort of thing won’t affect me, personally. But there is a reason why I didn’t laugh to tears when I saw the cartoon and that reason has everything to do with ethnic stereotyping. The accent associated with the image is also highly cheap.
It’s too bad that there aren’t as many (or any?)instances of lobbying against stereotypes as there are of lobbying against the use of Gandhi’s/Ganesh’s/etc’s image.
Also, Anangbhai, re: “They’re marginalizing a national icon by putting him on a food product, and no one here puts JFK in sniper rifle adverts”. Good point but is the Indian population (in India and abroad) above this sort of thing? Gandhi isn’t an Aussie icon, it doesn’t make the use ok but it does make pleading assinine ignorance easier. If an India-based company had used JFK to sell rifles in India, I think people would have cared about as much as the Austrailian public cared about hurting another nation’s sentiments.
lol
Next time im down at the gold coast, ill have to go and sus this place out 🙂
I guess it all depends how the representation/appropriation plays out. Apparently there were no problems with this… but it’s a world of difference from a cartoonish curry-hawking Gandhi.
Great job Manish. It was awesome.
There is a cafe in Austria run by an ex-Indian named ‘Cafe Gandhi’ that serves beer, wine and other vices…
Can you really take offense to the cafe in Austria, however? It may just be referring to someone’s last name, couldn’t it? Now, if they have a bespectacled icon on the cover of the menu, that’s a different story.
Burger King… nice one.
Desidancer, That Gandhi clip was beautiful. Gandhiji ‘s message which applies to entire humanity was portrayed in the ad. It was done beautifully.
Gandhi isn’t anybody – he’s simply the greatest person in recorded history. He is far, far above being an icon or an exemplar. He is human not a Mahatma – more like Vishvadhan or the collective wealth of humankind. To express displeasure or harbour a desire to shut down an enterprise run in his name goes against all that Gandhi stood for. I am going to try getting in touch with these guys who have branded that readymade curry and send them some info on the man and his work.
Khan Abdul Wali Khan and Mohammad Yunus – Badshah Khan’s nephew – narrated a funny incident. One Id in Bombay Badshah Khan happened to be staying with Gandhi. All that month the boys had in deference to their father’s request stayed away from the Halim and Salan and the assorted good stuff of the Iftar. That day both Wali Khan and Yunus had had enough. “Abbu take us out today for some biryani we don’t want that kaddu (squash) and ghaas-phus” Badshah Khan was adamant. As long as they were at Gandhi’s place they would eat what was served. When Gandhi overheard this conversation he had a word in private with Badshah Khan. “Khansaab, I appreciate your consideration. But today it’s such an important day. Why don’t you get some real food for yourselves and have it at home?”
This business of curry is far too minor to bother Gandhi or his ideals.
Yes well that’s all right and stuff but… “Paul Newman? Isn’t that the guy on those salad dressings?”
Those salad dressings are awesome. I’m generally a big fan of Newman’s own food. Almost always good stuff, nice short lists of ingredients. Perfectly vegetarian chocolate&cream (“oreos”) cookies!
But that is also his choice.
Wait a second. That burger king logo isn’t right. MLK’s face isn’t the proper amount of blackface. Plus there needs to be an Xtreme in there somewhere. Also, some reference to hip hop or rap music. That is, if you want to sell burgers. Otherwise, you can keep that crappy logo.
Doesn’t Newman’s Own = high trans fat? It’s like vegetarian with a side of heart disease.
I kind of feel like Chris Farley in that Gap Girls skit they used to do on SNL when he busted into the voice of a demon and said “LAY OFF ME.” I have enough of a hard time triny not to eat an entirely cheese diet to think about whether the dressing on the salad I get once a month is too high in trans fat 🙂