Spot the Asian Tim Tam Sham!*Gasp!*
Underscored by a comical and demeaning orientalist riff, the ad for tomorrow night's lead story on A Current Affair appears on the screen. "Asian Tim Tam Sham!" announces the voiceover as the word "SHAM!" flashes on the screen. Oh no, what have the Asians done now? And to our Tim Tams!
Images appear on the screen: concerned looking folk, crumbling biscuits on plates, packets of Tim Tams that are not quite equal in length. Why, the Asians have stolen an Aussie icon and reproduced inferior replicas! The narrator's voice swells, the chinky-chong music continues full speed ahead.
The voiceover reminds us that it's just like the rip-off Chupa Chups from Vietnam. Now the Indonesians have followed suit with poorly made knockoffs of the iconic biscuit. Labels are peeled off packets of lollypops revealing foreign words. Asian words.
So if you feel like getting frustrated over a poor excuse for investigative journalism, then tune in to tomorrow night's ACA.
Heck, why don't they investigate something useful? Like why the heck people think Ben Price aka Tim Tam from Vietnam (pictured above) is amusing and not blatantly racist? Oh that's right, they wouldn't. Because ACA are a bunch of xenophobic idiots.
Which makes you think: which is the real Asian Tim Tam sham?
Underscored by a comical and demeaning orientalist riff, the ad for tomorrow night's lead story on A Current Affair appears on the screen. "Asian Tim Tam Sham!" announces the voiceover as the word "SHAM!" flashes on the screen. Oh no, what have the Asians done now? And to our Tim Tams!
Images appear on the screen: concerned looking folk, crumbling biscuits on plates, packets of Tim Tams that are not quite equal in length. Why, the Asians have stolen an Aussie icon and reproduced inferior replicas! The narrator's voice swells, the chinky-chong music continues full speed ahead.
The voiceover reminds us that it's just like the rip-off Chupa Chups from Vietnam. Now the Indonesians have followed suit with poorly made knockoffs of the iconic biscuit. Labels are peeled off packets of lollypops revealing foreign words. Asian words.
So if you feel like getting frustrated over a poor excuse for investigative journalism, then tune in to tomorrow night's ACA.
Heck, why don't they investigate something useful? Like why the heck people think Ben Price aka Tim Tam from Vietnam (pictured above) is amusing and not blatantly racist? Oh that's right, they wouldn't. Because ACA are a bunch of xenophobic idiots.
Which makes you think: which is the real Asian Tim Tam sham?
7 comments:
You gotta admit though Ed, those Tim Tams made in Indonesia does taste slightly wonky.
Lol. I don't think I've eaten any Indonesian Tim Tams..and I don't think I want to! As much as the rip offs annoy me, the ACA ads piss me off even more!
Man, I hate ACA and Today Tonight with a passion.
Tim Tam, Chupa Chups etc. shams -- nothing compared to white colonialism, enslavement of peoples (incl. indentured 'contracted slave' workers), screwing up political systems, screwing up people's lives, stealing precious jewels, inventions and resources from Asia... th'hell are they complaining about?
Btw, I really enjoy your blog and cartoons Ed. Your cartoons are far from being crude.
I'm Indonesian.. Actually I don't think those deserved to be called ripoffs.. They are official Tim Tams being sold here.. I admit, they are inferior.. I think price is a quite important factor, so Arnott's Indonesia produced the inferior one specially for Indonesian market.. The problem arose when someone smuggled them to Australia and sell it there.. :P
Hey Ed, thanks for posting about Tim Tam from Vietnam. After reading your post, I did my own rant about that fool.
http://eurasian-sensation.blogspot.com/2010/08/tim-tam-from-vietnam-or-how-not-to-make.html
@thirteenth warrior:
Wow, that actually makes a lot of sense. Thanks. I remember seeing Tim Tams being sold at a market in South Korea. I wonder if they were "inferior" ones as well? :P
If you can't have consistency of quality in all regions, then better not have them produced elsewhere. Consumers who have tasted the real original products feel cheated and disgusted when they eat the inferior ones.
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