Desi Manifesto Blog: The Forum for South Asian American Men

Desi or Latino? Hmmm…

[Blogger: S.I.] From what I saw during the Superbowl 42 ads, it appears to be: desis.

Or at least, one desi. Doesn’t that guy look Indian to you? Both my girlfriend and I thought he was some kind of South Asian. I have quite a few Latino and Mexican friends (Mexico being the country from where Taco Bell’s “recipes” supposedly hail), and they never have skin that color. To me, Indian is more brown, and Latin is more golden. Don’t let the sombrero fool you. This cat was straight up mud. I think.

Why would an Indian guy be in a Taco Bell commercial?

Cause people of all colors gotta pay the rent.

It’s not uncommon for Indians to be the “filler” race in film, TV, and commercials. I’ve seen Indians routinely portray Latinos, Arabs, Persians (or as Hollywood calls them, “terrorists”), and of course, other South Asians. As posted on this site a little while back, even in the real-life legal system, our peeps sub for any race you want.

Need a nondescript non-white guy? We’ve got half a billion of them. And when ads can pay the lead actor over $50,000 (I know a guy who “ate the taco” in a Bell ad and made more than this), that’s a pretty eager crowd.

You’d think that in Los freaking Angeles, they could have found a Latino guy to pull off this conflicted dramatic character-driven role. But, just as Indians often are portrayed by non-Indians, so too are other minority roles usurped by us. Outsourced, if you want. At least this is better than Latino-face or some derivation thereof.

For all my talk, I wasn’t convinced that the guy was Indian. But, at the least, I suppose the ad worked, because as I cruised the mean streets of Beverly Hills adjacent, I needed to grab dinner. And Bell was the closest thing to food I could find.

And when I placed my order, I witnessed that the Taco Bell - desi connection was more than a misinterpreted skin tone. I’ve been to many a Taco Bell and many a Dell Taco. While Subway was the desi place to be, neither of these locations had ever shown me a brown person. Or so I thought.

Because, diminutive behind the bullet proof glass (what kind of neighborhood was this? I guess I wasn’t as ‘adjacent’ to Beverly Hills as I thought), a distinctly Indian auntie ran the operation.

Quizzical, I took my sweet time ordering fresco burritos in order to study her more carefully. The skin color was ethnic dark, but more brown than golden. Her hair was in one long braid. And her earrings were golden with those indo “spade” designs up and down. All three things pointed towards her desi identity.

Needing to hear her voice, I asked her questions about the burritos. Like if they came with onions, even though there were onions in the picture. I’m conversational in Spanish and felt equipped to discern a Central or South American accent from an Indian accent. So, when she unleashed her muddled half Indian half Spanish accent, I suspected she had to resist the urge to add extra “r”s to “burrito.” She likely acquired this odd blend of an accent from years toiling outside the bun. Her relatively good Spanish pronunciation coupled with her poor command of the language aside from “chalupa” and “dos” sealed the deal.

Taco Bell had added something new to its menus, and it’s all dark meat.

By the way, for the Latinos who found the Superbowl ad offensive, don’t worry, we’ll get our comeuppance. And we’ll discuss it in the week’s worth of blogging I’ll get from this forthcoming tragedy, The Love Guru.

He should have stuck with Shrek. It was far less monstrous.