Well, I'd like to point out that people in the US tend to think that the rest of the world is enlightened as we are, especially because they tell us so when we imply otherwise. This is not the case.
Racism in the US is not a big deal, heck it's pretty much dead except for people making noise for a bit of contreversy, and a few freaks with pillowcases over their heads that spend most of their time hiding their affiliation. This is however far from true in reality.
Let's be honest, every one of those ads I was looking at that could be considered racist do not seem to be aimed at the US. In a racist country, I could very much see those ads going over pretty well, they are simply offensive to OUR point of view, and what we like to try and project onto others.
The US also fired a massive propaganda campaign against the Nazis, the remnants of which remain today. We do not generally see the rest of the world's opinion on those matters, and tend to forget that Hitler was an international man of the year. He was NOT universally hated or feared, indeed people in many of the nations he "conquered" locked into goosestep to support him which was the scary thing about him. People just deny this because he lost, and the guys who beat him currently dominate the world.
What's more people tend to rapidly forget that there is a lot of fuel behind the entire "holocaust denier" movement based on the simple fact that those of us leading the anti-nazi charge lied through our teeth. The human skin lampshades being the most classic example.
None of this means Hitler was RIGHT, or that we were WRONG but I'm simply pointing out how others may view it when things were less extreme for their nations.
Also consider that things like anti-semiticism and anti-gypsy attitudes are still very popular especially though Europe. These things that form the big "reason" why we needed to stop Hitler are less of an issue there. Consider a lot of european nations and such genuinely hate Isreal and our policies (as the dominant world power) towards it, especially seeing as they would like to pretty much sell them out in exchange for good will/better trade (mostly for oil) with the various muslim groups in the region.
Most notable in displaying the differant attitudes, is how Madonna recently went up on stage with some touring Roma musicians, and spoke out against the hatred of Gypsies, which got her absolutly blasted by the fans in attendance. A point that the rest of the world does NOT hold to the same ideals of tolerance, racial equality, etc... that we do.
I'm the closest thing to a real "bigot" America produces. I hate Muslims culture because ever since I was a kid we've been having problems with them. Murders, terrorism, kidnappings, etc... 9/11 just being a "last straw" kind of thing. Through a lot of the rest of the world, well... hatred is still frequently institutionalized and without reason anymore as it self perpetuates. Sort of like how during the Serbo-Croation thing both sides claimed that killing the other faction was a defining element of their culture... that's how long it had been going on.
So basically, we look at the Nazis from the perspective of being evil incarnate, but does the rest of the world see it that way when they aren't talking to us? Especially when looking at nations discontent with American leadership, there is doubtlessly a trend to pump up anyone who fought us, and try and paint the past in a somewhat differant light. If your one of those guys who jeered Madonna, or hates Jews and would love to see Isreal go down, then really 2 of the big reasons why the Nazis are bad don't apply to you at least.
I'm guessing what is offensive to us, is playing to sentiments otherwise. Cultures that still see blacks as jibbering monkey people, gypsies and jews as things to be exterminated, etc... there is far more of it out there than we want to admit.
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Besides in Japan's defense if you look at that picture it seems like it's intended to be fairly horrific. Look carefully at the faces of the Nurses and such. Truthfully I'm not 100% sure that we're interpeting it correctly to begin with (though we probably are).
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At any rate, such are my thoughts, I'm sure many people are going to disagree with me, especially on my criticisms of the rest of the world. Not sure how much I'm going to respond, but this is how I think.
Sony probably figures that if they play up to racism/xenophobia in other nations they will get more sales than if they simply promote American ideals. The campaign is not directed here so it won't be that negative (even if we crticize it), especially if they manage to launch a powerful ad campaign that burns into our brains and makes us forget what they are doing elsewhere.
