Part of an advertising campaign for Popchips snacks featuring Ashton Kutcher as four kooky characters has been withdrawn, not long after the ads began appearing, amid complaints that Mr. Kutcher’s performance as an Indian named Raj was racist.

In video clips that kicked off the campaign on Wednesday morning, Mr. Kutcher’s performance as Raj included appearing in brown face and using a sing-song accent. There were also to be billboards featuring Mr. Kutcher as Raj.

Indian-Americans started complaining about the ads soon after news reports about the campaign appeared. There were complaints posted on Wednesday afternoon to the Popchips Facebook page as well as on the brand’s Twitter feed.



Popchips initially issued a statement through its public relations agency, Alison Brod Public Relations, declaring the campaign was “never intended to stereotype or offend anyone” and adding, “We hope people can enjoy this in the spirit it was intended.”

But soon after the statement was released, the video featuring Mr. Kutcher as Raj had been pulled from the Popchips YouTube channel and the character was removed from the company’s Facebook page.

That was followed by an apology “to anyone we offended” from Keith Belling, chief executive of Popchips, on the company’s blog.

The campaign, with a budget of $1.5 million, was developed by Popchips, Mr. Kutcher and an ad agency named Zambesi; Alison Brod Public Relations promoted the campaign. In addition to Raj, Mr. Kutcher portrays a fashionista named Darl, a hippie named Nigel and a sweet biker named Swordfish. The campaign is proceeding with those three characters after the removal of the Raj ads. The billboards with the Raj character will not go up on Monday, as planned, but the billboards with the three other characters will.

The swift response to the complaints is another example of how social media like Facebook and Twitter are transforming the way companies respond to public outcry. There have been many such instances in recent months of marketers abruptly discontinuing campaigns or taking down ads shortly after complaints began to circulate in social media.