( CNN ) -- I 'm starting to lose patience . It 's not like the guy does n't understand communication . Actor Ashton Kutcher has 11 million Twitter followers and nearly 13 million Facebook fans . Maybe he just forgot to put a stamp on the letter he should 've written to America , saying , `` I 'm sorry I painted myself up in brown-face and spoke in a mock Indian accent in order to sell potato chips . I understand the serious impact this has on society , and I 'm trying to undo the damage I 've caused . '' It 's been nearly two months since Kutcher 's offensive commercial -- disguised as a dating video -- for popchips , a snack food company , appeared on YouTube , showing him as `` Raj , '' a Bollywood producer . ( In it , he also plays a hippie , a fashionista and a biker . ) And while the ad has been removed , and popchips CEO Keith Belling has issued a predictable `` we did not intend to offend anyone '' apology buried on the company 's blog , Kutcher has gotten away scot-free . As the Internet buzzed over the gaffe last month , Kutcher was posting links on how to `` pull out a tooth with a rocket '' and `` 80s Cartoon Beats by DJ Tee . '' Today , Kutcher 's Twitter and Facebook accounts still link to the original popchips video , while the company 's website prominently features him as its `` president of pop . '' I work at a civil rights organization located two blocks from popchips ' San Francisco headquarters . Walking to the office every morning on Montgomery Avenue , I am assaulted by Kutcher 's 15-foot tall ads for popchips . Seeing his relaxed , smiling , `` never baked but perfect if you are '' face , I am reminded that the controversy has not scratched his reputation or earning power . Many of you may be thinking , get over it ! It was just a joke ! Why do you have to take this so seriously ? History can tell us why . In 1961 , actor Mickey Rooney taped his eyes , wore buckteeth and spoke in a mock Japanese accent in order to take on the role of a bumbling landlord , Mr. Yunioshi , in `` Breakfast at Tiffany 's . '' Hilarious ? Well , this was just 15 years after the closure of the last of the Japanese American World War II internment camps , which incarcerated 120,000 innocent people of Japanese descent , two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens . Up until the 1960s , white entertainers were still painting their faces black and their lips bright red in order to play the roles of hapless houseboys or eager-to-please mammies . These minstrel shows amused generations of audiences with their grotesque exaggerations of stereotypes and reinforcement of crippling Jim Crow laws , which upheld a separate and very unequal society in the South for nearly a century after the Civil War . Kutcher 's brown-face ad comes at a time when South Asian Americans , along with Arab , Middle Eastern and Muslim Americans , have been subjected to more than a decade of post-9/11 racial and religious bullying , profiling and hate crimes . Need I go on ? Unfortunately , there is no shortage of examples . But Mr. Kutcher , do n't feel helpless , because here 's what you can do : . 1 . Apologize . Just do it . C'mon , you apologized ( and took a Twitter leave of absence ! ) for lamenting the firing of Penn State coach Joe Paterno . For an example of a truly excellent I-take-responsibility-for-my-actions apology , look to actor Jason Alexander ( George Costanza on `` Seinfeld '' ) , who apologized on June 3 for calling cricket a `` gay '' sport two days earlier . 2 . Work with people who make you better . You are in the enviable position of being rich and famous , so you have more flexibility than others in choosing whose money you take . Do some research on the companies you work with before accepting their paychecks . Do they advocate the causes you claim to support ? 3 . Invest in solutions . We may never know the total cost of the damage your popchips ad inflicted on society . But there are ways to curb it . Invest your time and money into educating the public about Indian Americans , Asian Americans and other ethnic groups , and support solutions that promote the equality and dignity of all people . If you can do those three things , I promise you , it wo n't just be me smiling the next time I walk up Montgomery Street .
Kutcher played Indian movie producer in ad for popchips . Kutcher 's Twitter and Facebook accounts still link to video . He is popchips ' `` president of pop '' Liu points to history of racist minstrel shows .