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  1. #1
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    Dunkin’ Donuts draws rebuke over ‘racist’ ad campaign in Thailand

    Dunkin’ Donuts draws rebuke over ‘racist’ ad campaign in Thailand
    August 31, 2013


    An advertisement poster of a smiling woman with bright pink lips in blackface makeup holding a doughnut is seen on a Skytrain, a commuter train in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Aug. 30, 2013.
    (AP Photo/Grant Peck)

    BANGKOK: A leading human rights group has called on Dunkin’ Donuts to withdraw a “bizarre and racist” advertisement for chocolate doughnuts in Thailand showing a woman with bright pink lips in blackface makeup.

    The Dunkin’ Donuts franchise in Thailand launched a campaign earlier this month for its new “Charcoal Donut” featuring the image, which is reminiscent of 19th- and early 20th-century American stereotypes for black people that are now considered offensive symbols of a racist era.

    In posters and TV commercials, the campaign shows the woman with a shiny jet black, 1950s-style beehive hairdo holding a bitten black doughnut alongside the slogan: “Break every rule of deliciousness.”

    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.”

    The CEO for Dunkin’ Donuts in Thailand dismissed the criticism as “paranoid American thinking.”

    “It’s absolutely ridiculous,” said CEO Nadim Salhani. “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.”

    dailystar.com.lb

  2. #2
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    They should never have re named darkie toothpaste

  3. #3
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    Do chocolate donuts have bigger, umm, holes?

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    I don't see what is racist, I hope the Thais tell them to take a hike.

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    Human Right Watch pursues reversed racism, pushing black people out of jobs in the advertisment industry, and public consciousness.

  7. #7
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    ...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.”
    So even if it is racist, it's making money and that's what counts; a commendably honest statement.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hans Mann View Post
    Do chocolate donuts have bigger, umm, holes?
    nah, they are just lazy and stink.

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    Is something racist just because they say it is..

    If we stopped saying everything is racist maybe the word and thought would go away.

    And it is an advertising poster for chocolate donuts for gods sake lighten up.

  10. #10
    euston has flown

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    This image reminds me of a painting and another advert I have seen, namely



    The green women



    and this fiat advert.

    I am unaware of anyone complaining that these images are racist... so what is special about this doughnut ad? what constitutes a racist image?

    Personally I would say that its an image that encourages or promotes racist stereotypes against a racial group or denigrates them. And well go out on the internet and you can find lots of them and does this doughnut advert have any of them.... I would say no. I would suggest that the artist has used the very things that made the green woman a household image to grab peoples attention and draw them into seeing the doughnut that the company wishes to sell. And as an adverts goes I would say what has been done here is quite cleaver and no more offensive or racist than the painting of the green woman.

    As for other the black man products. I would say that is racist, as it continues the promotion of a racist stereotype seen thought the American film industry up to the 60's of black people being nothing more than the subservient house hold servant or manual worker.



    An advertising image that I find bazaar and has certainly preventing me from even looking at their products. But then what about uncle benn's



    Is this any better? or is its just another homly sweet lovable 'owners' image no different to quaker oats and kfc?

    Unless the thai text with the original advert changes the context of the image I would say that HRW have made a scandalously false accusation against dunkin doughnuts, of the kind that liable laws were designed to punish. I would go a little bit further and suggest that this damages the image of HRW and rather suggests that they have a rather racist and stereotypical view of American cooperates... that they are the very thing that they accuse dunkin of being.
    Last edited by hazz; 31-08-2013 at 11:17 AM.
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    I thought the advertisement was somewhat (though, compared to some of the shit you see on Thai TV, not excessively) racist. The chocolate = black person angle, combined with a bizarre revival of the Black and White Minstrel Show, is a little distasteful and it trades off some stereotypes which would be better left to die of neglect. It also shows an impressive lack of creativity but it's far from being the worst you see. What gives the complaint more bite is the fact that it's such a big company doing it on such a scale.

    If we stopped saying everything is racist maybe the word and thought would go away.
    Well, if everyone stopped using the word then, by definition, the word would go away but that wouldn't stop people being racist.

  12. #12
    euston has flown

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    Zoo its a long longway from the makeup of the black and white minstrels and the stereotype it promoted.

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    That image has absolutely no relationship to the old blackface fashion. This sort of absurdity just bores people with the whole issue, and that is a bad thing, since the issue is real.

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    Quote Originally Posted by hazz View Post
    Zoo its a long longway from the makeup of the black and white minstrels and the stereotype it promoted.
    The Black and White Minstrel Show was a good family program, promoting good old-fashioned values, with none of today's swearing and violence. I wish it was still on tv.


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    The ad looked fine to me, didn't bring up any imagery that could be considered racist. Black as a colour, as red, are useable without being racist. Even linked with a person in this way, I thought the imagery was more of an artistic connection with the foodstuff, as well as an artistic play on style and fashion (none of these things link to racism for me). Silly.
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  16. #16
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    Fecking bleeding-hearts-don't-have-a-real-job-NGO tossers.

    Anyone can see that the woman in question is not Negroid or "black" she is either Caucasian or Asian with a nose job and she has been painted black because natural chocolate is black and she is advertising a naturally black confection.

    There is no such things as racism, it is invented. What there is, is tribalism (which incidentally is what the Syrian war is about) which has been going on for hundreds of thousands of years. What there are, are stereotypes which whilst not always true are closer to the truth than most are comfortable with.

    There are no black coloured people in Thailand who are claiming they are somehow disadvantaged because generations ago their ancestors were rounded up by their neighbours and transported to a foreign land and had to work in fields. So having a painted lady advertising a product covered in the same coloured confectionery in Thailand, is simply art and should be viewed as such.
    Better to think inside the pub, than outside the box?
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  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by mao say dung View Post
    That image has absolutely no relationship to the old blackface fashion. This sort of absurdity just bores people with the whole issue, and that is a bad thing, since the issue is real.
    If images do not matter, why is the Lebanese daughter's nose so tiny, instead of the honking great Arab beak it probably is.

  18. #18
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    The CEO for Dunkin’ Donuts in Thailand dismissed the criticism as “paranoid American thinking.”
    Spot on.

  19. #19
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    Frankly the shit should be banned by the W H O.

    The way the kids shovel this shit down is just wrong.

  20. #20
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    If it's not racist why not just use a black person to sell the donuts.

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    Quote Originally Posted by youneverknow View Post
    If it's not racist why not just use a black person to sell the donuts.
    And perhaps replace the donut with fried chicken to make it appear racist?

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    Plenty of racist farangs here in Thailand would like that. The Thais wouldn't understand it unless they've had one of their racist farangs tell.

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    Storm in a tea cup. A chocolate donut, a face covered in chocolate. Doesn't Phil Robertson have something more important to pursue?

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    I,m a Doughnut, I dou nut get this.

  25. #25
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    Dunkin’ Donuts apologizes for ‘bizarre and racist’ Thai ad for charcoal doughnut featuring teen girl in ‘blackface’
    Beth Stebner
    Saturday, August 31, 2013

    Dunkin' Brands chief communications officer Karen Raskopf told the Daily News in a statement that the company is sorry for "any offense it caused" and will be pulling the campaign.



    Dunkin Donuts

    Dunkin’ Donuts said in a statement to The News that they are sorry for ‘any offense’ the ad caused.

    In a statement to the Daily News, Karen Raskopf, the chief communications officer for Dunkin' Brands, said the campaign for the dark chocolate donuts was "insensitive."

    "On behalf of our Thailand franchise and our company, we apologize for any offense it caused," the statement continued.

    "We are working with our franchaisee (sic) to immediately pull the television spot and to change the campaign."

    The campaign, featuring a stylized Thai woman with a complicated plait of black hair and blackface makeup, shows her holding a black donut with a bite out of it.


    Dunkin Donuts

    Charcoal donuts are in fact only chocolate donuts that come in a host of seemingly bizarre flavors.

    "Break every rule of deliciousness," the slogan reads.

    The Thai ad drew ire from thousands, including leading human rights watch groups, who said the campaign was deeply insensitive and indicative of vaudeville shows from the 19th and 20th centuries.

    The U.S. branch of the donut chain had said they were working with the Thai branch of Dunkin' Donuts to pull the entire campaign.

    Human Rights Watch's deputy Asia director Phil Robertson told the Associated Press: "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."

    Roberts had also demanded that the company offer an apology and immediately yank the print and TV campaign.


    An advertisement poster of a smiling woman with bright pink lips in blackface makeup holding a doughnut is seen on a Skytrain, a commuter train in Bangkok, Thailand.
    Grant Peck/ASSOCIATED PRESS

    But some failed to see the controversy.

    "We're not allowed to use black paint to promote our donuts?" the company's CEO for Thailand, Nadim Salhani, told the Bangkok Post.

    "What if the product was white and I painted someone white, would that be racist? Not everyone is paranoid about racism," Salhani, a Lebanese expatriate, said.

    Her teenage daughter was the young woman featured in the campaign.

    "I'm sorry, but this is a marketing campaign, and it is working very well for us."

    nydailynews.com

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