It’s no secret that race is a touchy subject in today’s America; racial division is perhaps at the worst it’s been in years. There is seemingly no end to the things that people can claim to be racist, but one thing that would appear to be safe is candy. Everyone likes candy — but apparently, even candy can be condemned as racist to some people.
Haribo is a candy supplier that is best known for their gummy bears. But a new candy released for sale in Sweden and Denmark caused a huge outcry, with people complaining that the treat was racist. And the backlash was so fierce, that Haribo was forced to pull the snack from the shelves.
Called the “Skipper Mix”, the gummies included black licorice gummies in the shape of distorted faces. But people didn’t find the idea so tasty — they instead saw the gummies as “racist”, and demanded that the product be yanked. At first, Haribo defended the candy, saying that they were meant to be reminiscent of a world traveler who would bring artifacts from the places he visited back home. But that didn’t placate anyone. The outcry continued on social media.
“Multiculturalism, colonial legacy or the slave trade?” Saam Kapadia wrote on Twitter. “[The] Haribo Skipper Mix makes me think about Denmark and my Danish heritage.” This is what the black licorice gummy faces looked like:
“We decided that we could keep the product while removing the parts that certain customers found offensive,” Ola Dagliden, head of Haribo Sweden, said. “It wasn’t something we saw as having negative connotations.” Soon, a picture of the gummies was removed from the Haribo website. And in Sweden, the black licorice faces were removed from the Skipper Mix altogether.
Do you think the black licorice faces have a racist connotation, or are people being too sensitive? Thanks to Right Wing News
Good grief. We have so many issues to deal with that this is just sad.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day. ☺