Intro
Most software developers follow a code of ethics when building smartphones apps due to the fear of being rejected from mobile app markets such as the Apple App Store. However, some have ignored these moral practices, targeting highly sensitive subjects such as race and class by exploiting stereotypes in an attempt to gain quick recognition. Microsoft recently demonstrated at CES 2012 how even applications designed to with the intention of keeping people safe, like the Windows Phone 7 Pedestrian Route Production app, can be viewed as a form of racial discrimination. The safety-zone-inspired GPS app has social activists up in arms over high risk areas being specified by race and class. But that's just one of several apps that have crossed the racial barrier in the past. Stay impartial and take a look at the 10 Most Racist Smartphone Apps Ever Created.
Mariachi Hero Grande
Jew or Not Jew
Jew or Not Jew
App creator Johann Levy developed the Jewish celebrity database to be "recreational." French anti-racism groups felt differently and contacted Apple about removing the app from its French App Store due to it violating laws enacted after World War 2 banning the compilation of people's personal info without consent. Levy responded to the ban by saying, "I'm not a spokesman for all Jews, but as a Jew myself I know that in our community we often ask whether a such-and-such celebrity is Jewish or not... For me, there's nothing pejorative about saying that someone is Jewish or not." Morale of the story: respect the law and other people's privacy.
Pocket God
Pocket God
Control a God who kills little brown people called Pygmies by setting them on fire, sending hurricanes their way, or dropping bird excrement on them. If that doesn't offend any Pacific Islander, then having the characters dressed in grass skirts and sharing names such as Chaka and Ookga should.
Smuggle Truck: Operation Immigration
Smuggle Truck: Operation Immigration
Picture Effect Magic
Illegal Immigration: A Game
Spicks and Specks
Lucky Fortune
I-Immigrant
I-Immigrant
The concept of controlling a scraggy Mexican mouse named El Queso, who must cross the border on his bike and avoid being run down by the authorities, screams racism. Include the fact that the game also features a ridiculously awful Salsa/Showtunes soundtrack and has the protagonist scream "Aiiii" when running is just deplorable. Apple seems to love it, though, as I-Immigrant has sat in the App Store for nearly two years. Yet, somehow, society labelsSpeedy Gonzales too racist for TV.
