What the world really thinks of Americans

Cut.com asked several people in different countries, from China and Thailand to France and Italy, how they really view American people, in a video titled America Around the World. 

And while many of the answers were linked with incredibly negative stereotypes, with a lot of the people associating American culture with greed, fast food and a tendency to emphasize quantity over quality, some admitted that they still see America as being a place filled with hope and opportunity, the home of the American dream - and Justin Timberlake and Jersey Shore.

'Paradise,' a young woman from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, says, admitting that the only views she has on America are positive - and see the country as being a place of great wealth.

'Mostly when Abesha [Ethiopian] people think about America, they think it's full of gold,' she adds. 

However, when the clip moves to Bangkok, Thailand, a woman there says that she associates people from the US with being 'obese', adding that she does actually have her own experience with weight gain in the country.

'In America it's all about food,' she admits, adding: 'When I was there for a year I gained eight kilograms [about 17.5 pounds].'

A woman in Adelaide, Australia, explained that she views Americans as being naive about the rest of the world, joking that, while many might describe this description as a 'stereotype', she understands it to be a completely valid view on American people.

'Are they stereotypes if they are true?' she quips.  

'[They] don't do so much of the travel, don't necessarily understand so much about the rest of the world,' she adds, before also describing people from the US as 'eternally optimistic'. 

A blonde woman from Berlin, Germany, weighs in with: 'Most people believe that Americans are dumb, mostly eat fast food and are very patriotic.'

Meanwhile, in Bogota, Columbia, the respondent had a slightly more positive view, saying that the US is all about 'anything closely related with show business and entertainment'.

Another young man from Dubai agrees, and confesses that he is a huge fan of American pop culture, including 'MTV, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Jersey Shore and Friends'.

When asked what people think of the US in France, a chic Parisian says that most people she knows take the very stereotypical view that 'you eat junk food, you don't know geography - of your country, but mostly of the other countries - and that you are always right', pointing her answers at the American person behind the camera asking the questions.

She adds, however that 'French people are like that too. That might be why we don't get along so well and have the same prejudices'.

When the clip moves to Rome, Italy, the subject of size comes up again - although this time in relation to the country itself, rather than the people living in it. 

'Large,' a bearded Italian man emphasizes, before elaborating and explaining: 'Everything is big and it overshadows the concept of quality, which with is is considered maybe the most important thing.'

A woman from Shanghai, China, says that she equates American with being 'white', and adds that 'when Chinese think about America, they think about the American dream'.

'If you have a dream, it can come true,' she explains of her views on the country. 'That's why the country is idealized.' 

(dailymail.co.uk)