I agree with you.
The film I immediately thought of when I read the start of your post was Powder, about an albino man with supernatural powers (for some film makers I guess just looking 'different' isn't enough
)
I do think it's a bit crass. I looked at the link you posted, and think that characters called 'UV', 'Whitey' etc in some way may make it seem acceptable (especially to kids) to tease others without realising the hurt they may be causing.