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Stereotype-chic: NYC’s Saigoniste Mocks Asians, Packages OrientalismBoutique's Ho Chi Mama character, romanticized colonialism, and cheesy Orientalia make it this year's A&Fby Linh Song, Exec. Director, Mam Non Organization
6/9/03 - It was a long day of going through Central Park, checking out the Puerto Rican Day Parade, visiting the Vietnam exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, and spending time with a Vietnamese-American friend, a newly minted professor and specialist in modern Vietnamese culture. As my husband and I talked about the cultural pride that reverberates throughout New York City, and my delight in how Vietnam is being celebrated and understood beyond a war, I stopped dead in my tracks. We had walked right by the store, Saigoniste. Some families of adopted Vietnamese children had told me about Saigoniste. I had assumed they said "Saigon East," thinking that it was a craft store started by backpackers who "just love Vietnam." Nothing new. In Vietnam, backpackers are known for their shopping talents, bringing back artifacts for those wanting something exotic, but not too Third World. My friends insisted that I stop by and see how offensive it is. I hadn't thought about it until yesterday. A window sign declared, "Ho Chi Mama say spring is time to put love in air and tropical color all over home." I had to go in. Saigoniste markets "Modern Vietnamese Style" by employing broken English in their marketing material. It was awful. The store tags its products with "Ho Chi Mama say...." Apparently "Modern Vietnamese Style" means "Modern Orientalism."
I confronted the woman at the register and asked why they're doing this. Surprised, she replied that it isn't broken English. "It's from a character on our website called Ho Chi Mama. She's Vietnamese." Apparently, Vietnamese women do not speak proper English. I was baffled. Was this answer supposed to have made some sort of sense to me since I speak impeccable English? Wait! I'm a Vietnamese woman! Ah-so, how this possible?! Other Asian boutiques in the area do not resort to Orientalism to promote their wares (Amy Chan, Cake-O, etc.). This could be because Asians actually run and own the stores. Also, the area borders with the largest Chinatown in the country and the largest concentration of Chinese in the western hemisphere. It seems like a thoughtless move to offend Asian neighbors with this stereotype. Maybe Saigoniste assumes that all Asians speak "fortune cookie dialect?" More likely, it's possible because no one has protested the obvious. This allows patrons to indulge in Third World lacquerware, priced at a Vietnamese laborer's average annual income, without thinking twice about how Asian and Vietnamese people would react to offensive marketing. Who knew that Vietnamese people would actually come to New York? Even if by way of Ann Arbor, Michigan? Or, that there's actually a Vietnamese American community here that unlike their third world brethren, can speak up and out?
My husband and I left the store in disgust, too shocked that what was blatantly obvious to us went over the heads of the store patrons and owners. I am loathe to make comparisons with other ethnic groups but sometimes it helps to make ignorant people understand the damage behind perpetuating stereotypes. What the store doesn't understand is that if any other ethnic group was being targeted, protests would be immediate. Imagine a high-end Native American craft store using "Indian talk" like "Princess Pretty Rainbow like-um beads for teepee decoration." It's ridiculous and shows no love or respect for a people or culture. It's also far from humorous as Native Americans and Asian Americans alike will attest to how stereotypes lead to racism, how it contributes to people believing we are abnormally different, unscrupulous, and the "exotic other" -- perhaps even incapable of using definite and indefinite particles or conjugating verbs. Saigoniste may cater to Soho and Nolita crowds but it needs to answer to the Vietnamese and Asian American communities. The store is about a century behind in its caricature and unaware of protests against corporations who've resorted to similar marketing strategies. Remember the Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirts portraying Chinese laundrymen? Or last year's Kung Fool Halloween mask featuring a horrific, slanty-eyed, buck toothed figure? Maybe Shaquille O'Neal's "ching chong" comment to Yao Ming? That's right, we're able to pull together vocal outrage, media coverage, and national protests like any other ethnic group.
Besides Ho Chi Mama, the owners go on to declare their "love" for Vietnam: "It goes without saying that we at Saigoniste love Vietnam longtime! Even more, we love the name Cochinchine, the former French name for the country when it was a colony of France. (Indochine, which most people associate with Vietnam, was in fact the name for the entire region, including Cambodia and Laos). If it weren't completely un-PC, we'd love it if they rebranded the country Cochinchine to give it a bit of retro-chic appeal. If you are planning a trip to this fabled and fabulous country, there are some insider tips that we just can't keep to ourselves. Read on, or contact one of us at the shop for some personal insight and scoop." [6/15/03 - Editor's Note: Since the time of this writing, the Saigoniste establishment has made modifications to certain language on web site pages referred to in this opinion letter. To review the modified page, interested readers can visit www.saigoniste.com/news_tips.html.] Time to study up, people. Colonialism is not cool but then maybe the owners never actually talked to the Vietnamese people about this, they just bought and ran. The Vietnamese people suffered under the French, thus the reason for independence and conflict. My Grandmother told us stories about the French using Vietnamese as slaves on rubber plantations, capturing and killing runaways, then burying their bodies underneath a tree to ensure that their very souls would be tied to labor even in the afterlife. Believe me, Vietnamese do not want their country rebranded. Love Vietnam? Love the people? Then love our voices and anger. It's not worth keeping Ho Chi Mama and it's beyond being un-PC to market a country like a hip shopping mall. Shall we remind them that behind a product lies a community, culture, and consequences? I encourage readers to e-mail the owners and let them know that Ho Chi Mama is inappropriate and tactless. Tell them to stop perpetuating a stereotype that has no place in society much less reflecting modern Vietnamese style. This modern Vietnamese American woman says, "Orientalists beware, the joke's on you."
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