weird asian lady in quizno's commercial

A lot of folks have been writing in to tell me about some weird Quizno's commercial. I finally saw it on TV tonight. And yeah, it's weird. It features an elderly Asian lady working at laundromat... who eats a five dollar bill. (I love how there's a little disclaimer at the bottom: "Dramatization. Do not attempt.") The point is, it would probably be a better idea to spend the five bucks on a sandwich and eat that instead. View it here.

At first, it doesn't necessarily strike me as racist. Just strange. But then, I start to wonder what went into the decision to cast an Asian lady for this commercial... and it makes sense. Those crazy Asians! They'll eat anything. Even legal tender! It's also odd that she doesn't say a word, and merely gestures at the sandwich at the end of the commercial. How inscrutable.

UPDATE: The Chicago Sun-Times' Lewis Lazare comments on the 'Laundromat' spot, and he doesn't have many nice things to say about it either: Quiznos spot adds insult to injury