According to Kate Rigg and SnapDragon consultants, here are the Ten Things Every Brand Should Know About Asian-American Youth … how accurately does it represent you?
- Many Asian-American youth feel excluded and misunderstood by most brands.
It’s made worse by the fact that they see advertisers actively wooing
the African-American and Hispanic markets.- Mixed race kids are proudly identifying as Hapa, a once derogatory word in Hawaiian to mean “half.” Hapa is also slang for marijuana in Japanese (spelled
Happa). Hapa is supplanting terms like Amerasian, biracial, and blasian.- Asian-American youth are secret fans of “easy listening” adult contemporary music. Lite FM is a hidden passion.
- There’s a “hero gap” among Asian-American kids, which is being filled for many
by activists from other cultures. Martin Luther King is a role model
and hero to many young Asian-Americans.- Most Asian-American kids refer to white people as “white people” the same way African-Americans do.
- Underage gambling is huge. The “new” American poker obsession is nothing new to
Asian-American kids. Gambling has a long history in Asian culture. Many
students Rigg spoke with are avid online gamblers and card players.
Some organize private online poker tournaments.- Asian-American kids want an end to the hyper-nerdy images of themselves on TV and want to see more punked-out skater and graffiti DJ images which reflect a different energy. The feeling is: Enough with the math geeks, future
doctors and violinists. Asian-American kids crave street credibility –
not just academic accolades.- Asian-American kids universally hate the question: Where are you from — especially since the answers are usually something like “Westchester” or “Boston.”
- All things Korean are hot and getting hotter. Fashion. Foods. DJs. Online communities. Korea is the new Japan.
- The 15 minutes of seemingly benign American Idol fame for William Hung had
a surprisingly negative effect on Asian-American students. There’s a
feeling that Hung perpetuated the worst stereotypes about Asian people
and gave non-Asians permission to indulge in two years of racial
stereotyping and mocking.
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