San Francisco based Adam long has started a petition on change.org to pull an advertisement for wearable tech which he has identified as both racist and sexist.
The product - named ili - is said to be the world’s first wearable translator. Ili’s operating system allows it to translate words instantly. The device currently supports English, Chinese and Japanese.
Unfortunately, the company has chosen to market this ground breaking technology with incredibly backward ideas - both sexist and racist - in a video depicting what amounts to sexual harassment of women.
While there had been widespread praise for Ili – described by its maker, the Tokyo-based tech firm Logbar, as the world’s first wearable translator – the device’s promotional video has gone viral for all the wrong reasons.
The video features “Dean”, a British man who, armed with his Ili, attempts to cajole seemingly random women on the streets of Tokyo into kissing him after he has demonstrated his device. At one point, he tells a reluctant woman that kissing strangers is “very normal” in the UK. The woman replies: “No, this is Japan, Japan, Japan!”
In perhaps the most cringeworthy proposition, Dean, who films his exploits using a head-mounted camera, tells another woman: “I should thank your parents, for making such a beautiful girl on this earth.” The video ends with him about to kiss her on the lips, as he reassures her: “It’s OK, no one’s looking.”
Social media users were quick to describe the video as creepy, with some accusing Logbar of promoting the sexual harassment of Japanese women.
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