A Miami company has created the ‘gringo mask’ in response to the “absurd” Arizona law and “the notion that we all must look a certain way”. As we all know, the color of ones skin is not the point of the new law.

Cristobal Herrera/Sun Sentinel Zubi Advertising Agency employees, in Miami, pose while wearing their 'Gringo' masks.

New face of immigration? Miami company creates ‘Gringo Mask’ to start dialogue, not to offend

by Juan Carlos Pérez-Duthie

Is it Halloween already? No, not yet, although for many Hispanic immigrants things seem quite scary in Arizona and for some in the Latino community, the state’s governor, Republican Jan Brewer, has assumed the role of big bad witch.

The reason: On April 23, Brewer signed into law a controversial measure, SB 1070, which allows the police to detain anyone whose immigration status may be suspect. And playing into this, of course, is the person’s appearance.

So, you don’t look the way you should in Brewer’s and the police’s eyes? No problem! Because here’s the solution, free of charge and readily available to anyone: the Gringo Mask!

Whether you are a man or a woman, now you can boast of a perfectly acceptable image for Arizona — you know, light skin, blond hair, blue eyes – without having to resort to expensive bleaching creams like Sammy Sosa or Michael Jackson did, or cumbersome Joan Rivers-type plastic surgery.

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“What caught our attention was the absurdity of this law, and the notion that we all must look a certain way,” continues the Cuban-American executive. “Once we talked about it, my creative team came back with the idea of the mask and the website [which went live on April 30. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are also being used to spread the word]. Basically, this is all a satire of what is happening in Arizona.”

To take part in this satire, all you have to do is go to www.gringomask.com, choose the mask that best applies to you, download free, print it, cut it, put an elastic band around it and … bingo! New face, new immigration status!

“The spirit in which we conceived Gringo Mask,” clarifies Zubizarreta, “was not to offend anyone. We wanted to start a dialogue.”

Frankly, I think the masks are more of an attention-getting device for Zubi Advertising than anything else. But in doing this… are they racial profiling?

Source: Palm Beach Post