In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Nielsen, a leading global provider of consumer information and insights, is releasing a series of video vignettes highlighting the consumer preferences of Asian Pacific Americans throughout May. The series, titled “The Conversation,” feature four Asian American millennials from various ethnicities who reflect on the ways in which their cultural backgrounds have shaped their watch, listen and buy behaviors. The series draws key insights from Nielsen’s ongoing research to better understand and serve Asian American consumers.

“Nielsen is proud to recognize Asian Americans and their unique culture, stories and perspectives,” said Betty Lo, vice president, Community Alliances & Consumer Engagement for Nielsen. “These videos highlight and underscore the growing influence of this burgeoning segment, and we hope it inspires Asian Americans to recognize their positive impact on the economy. We encourage our corporate clients and media partners to watch the videos, share them and further understand the opportunity that Asian Americans offer to grow their businesses and stay relevant.”

In “The Conversation” series, the interviewees speak candidly about their upbringings and consumer preferences as well as touch upon how corporate and media representations affect their household decisions. The four part series dives deeper into the following topics:

Consumer Spending

In this segment, the interviewees discuss how Asian American representation in advertising and media affects their perceptions of brands and programs, as well as what they buy.

Culture and Heritage

The interviewees touch upon how they embrace their ethnic backgrounds, and share stories about their families and purchasing behaviors.

Music

Asian Americans continue to be at the forefront of digital music consumption, and the on-screen talents talk about their preferences between American and home-country music. They also reflect on what technological tools they use to consume their music.

Online Activity

As an over-indexing segment when it comes to online engagement and social media, Nielsen asked the four interviewees about their favorite digital platforms, and how they leverage these technologies to stay in touch with their relationships, news and emerging trends.

To view the series, visit the Nielsen Knows YouTube page, or visit “Nielsen Community” on Facebook. To learn more about Nielsen’s insights on Asian American consumers, please visit www.nielsen.com/asians.

Representing the National Association of Immigration Judges pro bono, Lim Ruger lawyers filed an amicus curiae brief in support of an Iranian-American immigration judge’s federal lawsuit against the Executive Office For Immigration Review (“EOIR”), which is within the Department of Justice.

This case arose out of the EOIR’s blanket and perpetual order barring an immigration judge of Iranian descent from all matters involving persons from Iran after she accepted an invitation from the White House Office on Public Engagement to a “roundtable” of Iranian-American leaders and allegedly became an “advocate” for the Iranian-American community. As the brief argues, a recusal order applied to broad categories of individuals would have a significant chilling effect on judges who are engaged or active in any community, church, or any identifiable group, not to mention the negative impact it would have on the court system in its suggestion that judges cannot be fair-minded when hearing cases involving persons of an ethnicity with which that judge may be associated.

If allowed to stand, such a practice would sanction similar actions against any immigration judge who participates in volunteer work or community organizing while off the bench. The ramifications of this type of arbitrary and capricious action are wide-ranging, and could, for example, threaten to exclude any judge who is active in the LGBT community from cases involving lesbians, or active in the disabled community from cases involving a handicapped individual, or a leader on women’s issues from cases involving women, or active in the Asian American community from matters involving any person from a country in Asia. The case is Tabaddor v. Holder, CV14-06309 (C.D. Cal. Filed Aug. 12, 2014).

[This article is provided by Lim Ruger (www.limruger.com)]