Social bookmarking site Mr Wong attracted some criticism in the Mashable comments a few weeks back, and again this week, for offending Asian Americans. The 8Asians blog was outraged by the site, saying: "But seriously, one of their web badges has the slogan “ping pong, king kong, Mister Wong.” Which I, of course, interpret as “ching chong, Mister Wong” and get INCREDIBLY F*CKING ANGRY." The name, and the original logo of a bookish Chinese man, were offensive to some, with our commenters adding:
Wow, what better way to reminisce about all those old coolie stereotypes than by celebrating them through Web 2.0! I've already trademarked Mr. White Honky's Favorite Sites, but I think it may be too long to remember.
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It's not so much the name that is questionable, more the cliched stereotyped image of Mr. Wong that comes along with it. I really hope they get rid of that on the US beta at least, otherwise there'll be some angry Asian Americans out there.
The CEO contacted us today to say that they never meant to cause offense, and they've now removed the character from the logo (he remains in the favicon, but I'm sure that will get switched, too). He also issued an apology on the site's blog.