A Return to the Vincent Chin Era – Ford Dealer Airs Anti-Japanese Ads

O.C. Welch, who owns a dealership near Savannah, S.C. is airing ads blasting “rice-ready” Japanese cars on a dozen area stations.

"All you people that buy all your Toyotas and send that money to Japan, you know, when you don't have a job to make your Toyota car payment, don't come crying to me," Welch says in the ad.

Floyd Mori, executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League, said Welch's remarks reflected anti-Asian sentiments often aimed at Japanese and Chinese immigrants during difficult times. In 1983, anti-Japanese auto imports led two autoworkers to kill with a baseball bat Vincent Chin, a Chinese American taken as a Japanese surrogate. This led to a national campaign for justice when his murderers were fined and given probation.

"It's a blatant, ignorant, racist remark from somebody who should know better," Mori said.

The car dealer claimed that he had received more positive calls than negative ones and has stimulated car sales.

However, comments to Savannah and Atlanta newspapers flog Ford products and praise local factories and Toyota and Honda cards.