I've been hearing from a bunch of folks over the last couple of days about this commercial for Nissin's Chow Mein dish, featuring a weird animated Wise Asian Guru caricature, complete with Kwai Chang Caine accent and gong sound effect accents. And armed with a set of chopsticks.

Is this really surprising? This is just the latest example of racial stereotypes in advertising -- naturally, what better way to sell bad instant "Asian" food than with a two-foot high Oriental master dude. That's racist!