How do apps portray race and culture?

Everyone with a smart phone understands the significance of apps, and are aware of the several free or paid gaming apps such as Words With Friends, Temple Run, and thousands more. What you may not often realize are the racial stereotypes portrayed in some of these apps. Take Temple Run for example—the default character “Guy Dangerous” is a white male described as “just your average explorer.” As you gain more coins, you can unlock “better” characters, such as “Barry Bones” a black “city cop with an attitude” and Asian “Karma Lee” dressed up in traditional Chinese clothing and described as the fastest character. Notice anything weird about this? They are not the most negative stereotypes, however still evident. This is not even the worst one; there are several generator apps that transform a picture of you, showing what you would look like if you were old, fat, a zombie, and even different races. There has been much controversy about these apps, especially those that portray ancient culture stereotypes of Asians, Native Americans, etc. Petitions have pulled a few of these apps from the market, and the developers will never hear the end of it.