So the Spanish national basketball team is preparing to compete in the Olympic games, which take place in China. They've also just announced they've extended their contract with Li-Ning footwear, a Chinese company, for another four years. You're telling me they thought it was wise to take a picture in which the entire team slants their eyes, similiar to the joke kids do with each other before they know what racism is? Via Fourth Place Medal:Whether the picture was made in good fun is irrelevant. It was a ridiculous idea that was bound to upset a lot of people.
It's baffling that nobody involved in the picture -- from the photographers to the players -- even seemed to consider that this ad would be looked at negatively. Did it not occur to somebody that it might not be a good idea to mock an entire continent before the world's largest athletic competition that, by the way, happens to take place on that continent. Were they not aware of an invention called "the Internet" that allows pictures taken in Spain to be transmitted all over the world for the eyes of everyone?
I know we live in a world that has become ultra-sensitive, but something like this has to be the opposite of the goodwill you're supposed to show during an Olympic games. Could you imagine the uproar if the Americans posed in a picture like this?
Oh Spain, when will you learn...
(P.S. Spain beat China Tuesday night in overtime, by the way.)
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