Ashton Kutcher's Popchip ads pulled after called racist

Ashton Kutcher of the television show "Two And A Half Men" speaks during the CBS portion of the 2012 Television Critics Association Press Tour at on Jan. 11, 2012, in Pasadena, Calif.

/ Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

(CBS News) Ashton Kutcher's new Popchips ad campaign, where he sports brown makeup and plays an "Indian" character named "Raj" with a thick accent, has been pulled after heavy criticism that the video and print ads were racist.

Pictures: Ashton Kutcher

The ad has been removed from the Popchips website and YouTube channel as well as the company's Facebook page, reports the New York Times.

The $1.5 million campaign featured Kutcher as four different types of guys looking for love: a Brit named Nigel, a Karl Lagerfeld look-alike, a tattooed man named Swordfish and "Raj."

Keith Belling, founder and CEO of Popchips, posted a message on the company website in regards to the ad.

"We received a lot feedback about the dating campaign parody we launched today and appreciate everyone who took the time to share their point of view. Our team worked hard to create a light-hearted parody featuring a variety of characters that was meant to provide a few laughs. We did not intend to offend anyone. I take full responsibility and apologize to anyone we offended."

The "Two and a Half Men" star has yet to respond to the controversy. The 34-year-old Kutcher was named "president of pop culture" for Popchips in 2010.

This is not the only celebrity-endorsed ad that has been pulled: Recently, a Burger King ad that featured singer Mary J. Blige singing about chicken was pulled off the air after some criticized the ad for being stereotypical.

22 Photos

Ashton Kutcher

[sarandip303]

Brownface http://wp.me/pzpmG-d68
Neelika Jayawardane @Africa is a Country
Kutcher's Bollywood Director persona is supposed to be funny only because of his physical antics, and outlandish costume. The dialogue? Boring lines in a badly imitated version of the accent that made Apoo (and Hank Azaria, the actor that provides many of the Simpsons' character voices) a household name in the US. Indeed, many Indians speak accented English - some deeper than others, and varying by region - no news there. My 8th grade Math teacher, Mr. Dubey, spoke a much finer version of Kutcher's attempted accent as he waxed lyrical about the virtues of the universal language of numbers.

At the risk of sounding like a caricature of Chimamanda Adichie's "If you only hear one story about X, that is the only one you know": if the only Indian that Americans know about is the 7-11 Apoo, how impoverished will our collective expectations be? Obviously, those Indian-Americans who shared chunks of their own startup companies, and bet on their futures together with Kutcher went straight online to voice their upset. They felt, as did Anil Dash, that "the onus is on [Kutcher] to respect his business partners."

[jmewelch]

Hmmm....They are calling this off because of this??? Do I hear hippies, eccentric's and hill-billie's asking? No. >>> Who is in charge??? Hmmmm

[michael46michael]

personally, i could care less about asston krutcher. but as far as that girl who sang the song about chicken for, whoever it was, some spineless fool thought it was racist? please, did someone hold a gun to her head and say,"ok, sing the song about our chicken"? no, that was about a job and money.

[caeric]

Although I'm not east Indian, I am a minority. I've seen the ad, and I don't think there's anything particularly insensitive about it, mainly because there is no apparent intent for harm. The worst thing about it is that it's as boring as most other commercials are anymore.

Popchips (which I've never heard of until now) is getting more advertising from the flap than they ever would have from this commercial alone.

[JT107]

There is nothing racist about this at all. Its not like Indians don't talk like that. And if you call that racist, then he would also have to be racist against whites, because several of the other characters he played were white.

Its just stupid what people complain about anymore. If it was a hate filled rant, then of course it would be racist then, but its not.

[conecuhcounty]

Go ladyliberty420. Foreign accents, personas, characters are part of our culture. Indians don't get a pass. Niether should Muslims,the French,Southeast Asians, Mormons, Latinos, African Americans, Baptists, Jews or any other group who has common, observable characteristics. Check out how Black and Latino comedians depict white people. Its pretty funny, sometimes. Who raises hell about that? Nobody. And they shouldn't. Kutcher should do it the same character, again to give the finger to the PC police. Give me a break.

[odbu812]

You know why nobody ******* when comedians make fun of white people? It because we get it! I mean we know we have some pretty screwed up members of our race, Be it Sven the Swede, or Bubba the cajun red neck! we can laugh at our selves... I think the ones who got there knickers all bunched up over this Just may have other issues as well, like severe cranial rectal retention issues...

[STEVENROHAN]

Its a little strange to call Ashton Racist
but call Borat, haha funny.

Some consistency is in order.

[daniele7ster]

So Popchips realized East Indians are the "it" minority right now, tried to cash in on it and it blew up in their face. Serves 'em right. Lemme guess, have Ashton Kutcher do a thick Indian accent and it's a "character," right? Not even funny.

[daniele7ster]

So Popchips realized East Indians are the "it" minority right now, tried to cash in on it and it blew up in their face. Serves 'em right. Lemme guess, have Ashton Kutcher do a thick Indian accent and it's a "character," right? Not even funny.

[1988JAck]

Ashton is such an idiot, who cares what he does, just let him fade away.