Eth(n)ical conundrum
So we’re casting a corporate video and the producer was going to go with a Caucasian male lead meeting his lady friend, an Asian woman. I suggested going with an ambiguously ethnic female companion to break out of the all-too-common WM/AF pairing in ads. (Let me be clear, I’m not against WM/AF pairings per se, but the overabundance of these representations compared to AM/WF pairings is annoying, as is the idea that an easy way to achieve diversity is to make the girlfriend/wife/SO Asian.)
Anyways, so now we’ll look at some more ambiguously ethnic headshots for the female character. But I’m now effectively taking a paying job out of the hands of an Asian female. And I don’t have the will to fight for an Asian male in the lead role. I don’t see a way to win here…
