Hyphens Make Us Original
For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Panda Express wanted to look beyond the stereotypical success stories that Asian-Americans are known for. And for a brand known for creating original dishes like the Orange Chicken, we decided to put Asian-Americans that we considered “Originals” on a pedestal.
We worked with photographer Peter Ash Lee to capture portraits of gold medal snowboarder Chloe Kim, actor/dancer Harry Shum Jr., DJ and entertainer DJ SOSUPERSAM, Broadway actor Marcus Choi, blogger Angry Asian Man, rally car driver Verena Mei, and the Boba Guys. To tell their stories, we used a device often seen as a divider—the hyphen—and turned it into a bridge. Each person is more than meets the eye in many ways, and their extended hyphens show that they can’t be reduced to a simple stereotype.
