Dunkin Donuts Blackface Ad Called "Bizarre & Racist" By Human Rights Groups. Company Apologizes...
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stringer bell
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washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/dunkin-donuts-apologizes-for-blackface-ad-campaign-in-thailand-criticized-as-racist/2013/08/30/26a4b024-11ec-11e3-a2b3-5e107edf9897_story.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Of3ngVHio
BANGKOK — Dunkin’ Donuts has apologized for the “insensitivity” of an advertising campaign in Thailand featuring a woman in blackface makeup to promote a new chocolate flavored doughnut.
The Dunkin’ Donuts franchise in Thailand came under criticism Friday after Human Rights Watch called the advertisements “bizarre and racist.”
The company’s chief executive in Thailand initially defended the campaign, but the U.S. headquarters quickly followed up with an apology.
“We are working with our Thailand franchisee to immediately pull the ad. DD recognizes the insensitivity of this spot,” Dunkin’ Donuts said in a tweet posted on its official U.S. website after complaints erupted on Twitter, in a variety of blogs and in mainstream American media.
The local franchise launched the advertisement earlier this month to promote its new “Charcoal Donut.” In posters, TV commercials and on Facebook, the campaign shows a smiling woman with blackface makeup, bright pink lipstick and a jet black 1950s-style beehive hairdo holding up a bitten black doughnut. The slogan in Thai reads: “Break every rule of deliciousness.”
Critics say the image is reminiscent of 19th and early 20th century American stereotypes for black people that are now considered offensive symbols of a racist era.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said it was shocked to see an American brand name running an advertising campaign that would draw “howls of outrage” if released in the United States.
“It’s both bizarre and racist that Dunkin’ Donuts thinks that it must color a woman’s skin black and accentuate her lips with bright pink lipstick to sell a chocolate doughnut,” said Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch. “Dunkin’ Donuts should immediately withdraw this ad, publicly apologize to those it’s offended and ensure this never happens again.”
The campaign hasn’t ruffled many in Thailand, where it’s common for advertisements to inexplicably use racial stereotypes. A Thai brand of household mops and dustpans called “Black Man” uses a logo with a smiling black man in a tuxedo and bow tie. One Thai skin whitening cream runs TV commercials that say white-skinned people have better job prospects than those with dark skin. An herbal Thai toothpaste says its dark-colored product “is black, but it’s good.”
Hours before the apology was issued by Dunkin’ Donuts headquarters, the company’s chief executive in Thailand dismissed the criticism as “paranoid American thinking.”
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” the CEO Nadim Salhani said in a telephone interview. “We’re not allowed to use black to promote our doughnuts? I don’t get it. What’s the big fuss? What if the product was white and I painted someone white, would that be racist?”
Salhani said that the Thai franchise of Dunkin’ Donuts operates independently of the American operation and that doughnut sales have increased about 50 percent since the campaign was launched around two weeks ago, which he attributed to curiosity about the new advertisements.
“Not everybody in the world is paranoid about racism,” said Salhani, a Lebanese expatriate in Thailand who said his teenage daughter was the model featured in the campaign. “I’m sorry, but this is a marketing campaign, and it’s working very well for us.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Of3ngVHioComments
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I'm not offened by that.
& I want one of the donuts.
& I would smash with the make up on. -
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People will catch feelings over anything.
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Gold_Certificate wrote: »People will catch feelings over anything.Pico Roscoe wrote: »I'm not offened by that.
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It's all good 'til someone comes up with an ad for a dessert called Tsunami that has a Thai-looking person's hands sticking up out of the water holding a spoon in one hand and the dessert in the other while bloated dead bodies float past in the background.
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It's a different context being that it happened in Thailand...but I still have to wonder what inspired it. I don't expect them to understand our history, but was the person/team who created it trying to recreate the minstrel image? I have a sneaking suspicion that Americans developed the ad's concept. Guess we'll never know. Thought this was interesting though.
Hours before the apology was issued by Dunkin’ Donuts headquarters, the company’s chief executive in Thailand dismissed the criticism as “paranoid American thinking.”
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” the CEO Nadim Salhani said in a telephone interview. “We’re not allowed to use black to promote our doughnuts? I don’t get it. What’s the big fuss? What if the product was white and I painted someone white, would that be racist?”
Salhani said that the Thai franchise of Dunkin’ Donuts operates independently of the American operation and that doughnut sales have increased about 50 percent since the campaign was launched around two weeks ago, which he attributed to curiosity about the new advertisements.
“Not everybody in the world is paranoid about racism,” said Salhani, a Lebanese expatriate in Thailand who said his teenage daughter was the model featured in the campaign. “I’m sorry, but this is a marketing campaign, and it’s working very well for us.” -
I'm ? .
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I'm not offened by that.
& I want one of the donuts.
I would smash with the make up on.
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Asians fear Godzilla, they aint talkin bout ? ...................................
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Yall ? would eat a charcoal donut?????????????????? You ? will say anything for reactions..................... @brown321
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Yall ? would eat a charcoal donut?????????????????? You ? will say anything for reactions..................... @brown321
Nope just speaking truth.
& just incase you ain't know the donut isn't made out of charcoal. -
Drinking Dunkin Doughnuts coffee right now! It's ? good yo
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Good. Give them an inch, they'll take a mile.
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? .............
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I'm not offended. Everything was black. When you think "blackface" you think minstrel and thats what I expected to see. When I didnt see minstrel I wasnt offended.
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they way the ? over there in Thailand dunkin donuts better not pull that ? over here or else i'm getting my mookie on *throws steel trashcan through store window*
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@stringer_bell
You shoulda put an "INB4 the house-negros and web trolls claim they aint offended and they wanna smash the model in the ad" statement in your opening post.
It's obvious what the ad was attempting; they love to do the "blackface" thing in Asia.
Anyway, it's Thailand, so what do you expect?
The funny thing is, they call us "paranoid about racism", but as soon as they immigrate to to U.S....
...These same people start crying "racism" if somebody says "ching-chong" or makes a "Chinese eyes" gesture.
Hypocrites. -
"INB4 the house-negros and web trolls claim they aint offended and they wanna smash the model in the ad"
No, they just painted their face black as advertisement for a new donut, it wasn't some secret attack, or a slick shot at blacks, they all the way in Thailand. lol @ a random ad company in Thailand deciding to purposely do a "minstrel show" while advertising their donuts just because.
They don't give a ? about ? for that to even cross their mind during a situation like this, they were merely focused on making an ad campaign for donuts. -
No, they just painted their face black as advertisement for a new donut, it wasn't some secret attack, or a slick shot at blacks, they all the way in Thailand. lol @ a random ad company in Thailand deciding to purposely do a "minstrel show" while advertising their donuts just because.
If the model was painted completely black I would agree with you. But the bright pink lips scream blackface to me. And like I said, the ad being created and used in Thailand doesn't mean Thais developed the concept. -
...It's really not that deep...
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man
yall gotta remember that advertising is used as propaganda and manipulation
plus this is an american company
and most of these companies are owned by the same people
it is a big deal
every point counts
and there is racism in Thailand
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That ? is nothing like black face...It's a jet black donut...They painted the ? jet black...
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Rubato Garcia wrote: »No, they just painted their face black as advertisement for a new donut, it wasn't some secret attack, or a slick shot at blacks, they all the way in Thailand. lol @ a random ad company in Thailand deciding to purposely do a "minstrel show" while advertising their donuts just because.
If the model was painted completely black I would agree with you. But the bright pink lips scream blackface to me. And like I said, the ad being created and used in Thailand doesn't mean Thais developed the concept.
if her lips were black it would be a very bad photo with no contrast. also the pink is the same pink as the logo and if you look carefully s he has orange makeup around her eyes the same color as the orange in the logo.
