Ahhh, foreigners. Recently Swedish company H&M's ad featured a little black boy wearing a "Coolest Monkey in the Jungle" sweatshirt. These people just didn't think about things that might be racially sensitive from an American perspective. Lemme give you a little clue: there might be a reason for that.
When I lived in Australia, do you know how many people of African descent I met and chatted with in my almost three years of living there? Zero. None. So hearing tales of the "Krispy Kreme Klub" (KKK for short!) popping up in Europe hardly surprised me. People in charge of marketing probably didn't think about racial-anything any more than than they'd think of the Crispy Creme Club (CCC for short!) being a problem. It was perhaps insensitive, but I can't say they had it out for anyone.
I will say this, though: if you're from elsewhere and decide to advertise here in America? What the heck? Please get a few Americans who have lived in this country for their entire lives to peek over your content before publishing. It would be a great idea.
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America does seem to be more racially sensitive I think. Would there be such a fuss if H&M had used a white child? Considering the whole God vs Evolution thing, we all came from either God or evolved from the apes, so logically a white child could also be considered the "coolest monkey in the jungle" and on the other side of the coin, the black child is one of God's children. So why all the fuss?
ReplyDeleteHi, River! Calling a black child a "monkey" is specifically racist here. It is also racist to call an adult male "boy." And so on. I would not expect you to know these things, but there is such a long history here with slavery and so on that there are many land mines so to speak. :)
DeleteYes well I live in a country where they still Gollywogs everywhere. And anyone who is not white is called black.
ReplyDeleteWow, people of Asian descent are "black" and so are Maoris? Whoaaa. Not sure how you raise culturally sensitive and aware children there though I suppose having children of varying heritages means you have to have these discussions on a regular basis.
DeleteI've not seen gollywogs being sold here Bonnie. I refer to darker skinned people as eitehr an asian, a polynesian, a maori and so on, NEVER black.
DeleteOur country is very 'politically correct' too... in the extreme sometimes. We are all the same for goodness sake! That shirt would NEVER get sold here, and certainly not marketed with a dark child as the model.
ReplyDeleteYou would think, right?
DeleteI agree with River though i am aware of history of black people keeping as slaves. But let's be scientifically correct too as being black is just due gene pool and not curse to look at them as low or less valuable.
ReplyDeleteI love Addis Murphy Denzel Washington and all other brilliant actors who have won hearts of millions with their remarkable works so why not a black child can be accepted as model .beyond my understanding
If everyone were as kind as you to others, it would never ever be a problem. But here words like "monkey" or "boy" are very mean to black people because we have a very long history of being mean to black people in this country. In the end it's really not about the shirt but about finding ways to be kind to others, isn't it? I like Mr. Washington's acting also. :)
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