Dunkin' Donuts pulls ad in Thailand after 'racism' row

[webfact]

Dunkin' Donuts pulls ad after 'racism' row

BANGKOK, September 4, 2013 (AFP) - Dunkin' Donuts said it was pulling an advertisement in Thailand featuring a woman with black face make-up after a human rights group criticised it as "racist".

The US firm apologised for the "insensitivity" of the ad for its "charcoal donut", which had the slogan "Break all rules of deliciousness".

"We are working with our franchisee to immediately pull the television spot and to change the campaign," Karen Raskopf, chief communications officer for Dunkin' Brands, said in a statement received by AFP on Tuesday.

Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson had criticised Dunkin' Donuts for "using racist images to sell donuts".

The ad could still be seen in the Bangkok skytrain on Tuesday.

The image of the woman in black face make-up and bright pink lipstick caused little controversy in Thailand, however, while on social media sites there were differing views on whether the ad was racist.

Skin whitening creams abound in the kingdom with many believing that a lighter skin reflects higher status -- an image fuelled by the popularity of white-skinned models and actors on billboards and the television.


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2013-09-04

[lee b]

Dont know if it is really? Who cares who the model is or where shes from, these things need to be looked into more, But if it is a problem ban it.

[Somtamnication]

Political correctness (the western hybrid type) strikes again. Nothing wrong with the ad. Some ethnic Chinese or a farang woman saw it and took a pic.

Ban all whitening creams, too. It is insensitive to black folk.

[pancakeman]

wow people are getting hyper sensitive these days. (IMHO a sh*ty ad advertising a pretty dull looking chocolate donut...racist no)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQMKqeHgEEs

[Tatsujin]

Political correctness (the western hybrid type) strikes again. Nothing wrong with the ad. Some ethnic Chinese or a farang woman saw it and took a pic.

Ban all whitening creams, too. It is insensitive to black folk.

Why not ban the speaking of English too? That's insensitive to someone, somewhere I am sure.

[jaltsc]

Look at the reality of the situation. Dunkin Donuts in Thailand got more publicity worldwide than they ever could have imagined. I am sure that the Charcoal Donut will have increased sales throughout Thailand.

[yourauntbob]

America can no longer export goods, now they want to export ideology.

[HeijoshinCool]

Yep. They pull the ad from a clever campaign designed to attract as much attention as possible, apologize, and watch the money roll in from expanded name recognition.

i.e., planned from the start.

[Katipo]

Political correctness (the western hybrid type) strikes again. Nothing wrong with the ad. Some ethnic Chinese or a farang woman saw it and took a pic.

Ban all whitening creams, too. It is insensitive to black folk.

Agreed. There is nothing wrong with the ad. The message it was conveying was in no way demeaning.

The marketing of whitening products on the other hand..... not only is it insensitive, but also potentially dangerous. But does anyone care? No, because there are vast amounts of money to be made.

[noitom]

Dunkin' Donuts is now on the official corporate shakedown list of Jesse Jackson.

[Head Snake]

I love doughnuts.

[Mampara]

Dont know if it is really? Who cares who the model is or where shes from, these things need to be looked into more, But if it is a problem ban it.

Yea! good idea lets ban western foreigner's too, they are the biggest problem in the Kingdom.

[cup-O-coffee]

Feeble minded megalomaniacs like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the Ebony Panthers and the lot are about on scale with the Islamic idealists. They won't stop until there is nothing remaining to attack. And these two extremes are about on scale with a spoiled, contentious 9-year old child. They will push and rant and get you to chase your tail trying to please them until you are all exhausted and have no energy to get to things that really need attention.

The point of my opinion is that someone needs to tell the complainers (regarding issues like this) to simply shut the **** up and get on with life. This is so wrong on so many levels, and should have never ever been an issue. Splitting hairs over color and how and where it is used is like being feeble-minded enough to let words hurt you, and forgetting about all the sticks and stones out there.

[Cuban]

Yep. They pull the ad from a clever campaign designed to attract as much attention as possible, apologize, and watch the money roll in from expanded name recognition.

i.e., planned from the start.

You give them more credit than they are due.

If that were the case, which is was not, they would have had a follow through response for it.

I clever ad-campaign would have had posters at the ready that suggested you try "The banned Donut - only sold in Thailand...." or "The Donut that The World tried to ban...."

Thai ad-campaigns are simple one dimensional in almost every case, if there is a gag it's directed and presented with the finesse of an elephant repairing a butterfly.

[Tomtomtom69]

America can no longer export goods, now they want to export ideology.

That's true - what does America still manufacture themselves these days? Boeing aircraft and a few GM vehicles, both of which one day may be manufactured in China too (well they are already beginning to be manufactured there too).

[silopsist]

Yep. They pull the ad from a clever campaign designed to attract as much attention as possible, apologize, and watch the money roll in from expanded name recognition.

i.e., planned from the start.

You give them more credit than they are due.

If that were the case, which is was not, they would have had a follow through response for it.

I clever ad-campaign would have had posters at the ready that suggested you try "The banned Donut - only sold in Thailand...." or "The Donut that The World tried to ban...."

Thai ad-campaigns are simple one dimensional in almost every case, if there is a gag it's directed and presented with the finesse of an elephant repairing a butterfly.

Actually there are some very funny ones, and not all Thai comedy is of the slapstick variety, granted most is, but sometimes you will see some clever play on words which if understand it is very funny. Unless you have a good command of the language though you will only notice the slapstick stuff as the rest will go over your head (thats not an attack on you personally, merely a statement).

[Tomtomtom69]

Feeble minded megalomaniacs like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the Ebony Panthers and the lot are about on scale with the Islamic idealists. They won't stop until there is nothing remaining to attack. And these two extremes are about on scale with a spoiled, contentious 9-year old child. They will push and rant and get you to chase your tail trying to please them until you are all exhausted and have no energy to get to things that really need attention.

The point of my opinion is that someone needs to tell the complainers (regarding issues like this) to simply shut the **** up and get on with life. This is so wrong on so many levels, and should have never ever been an issue. Splitting hairs over color and how and where it is used is like being feeble-minded enough to let words hurt you, and forgetting about all the sticks and stones out there.

The reality is that these "megalomaniacs" as you have described them are not only unknown outside of the USA, certainly not in Thailand etc. therefore they have no influence outside the USA, but in relation to the airing of this ad, I saw an ignorant response by an African American woman on another news website. This particular woman said something like: "they need to understand that just because it's China, they think they can get away with it, but it's not acceptable". Umm...dumb lady, since when is Thailand a part of China? If you're going to try and impose your superiority over someone else or another country, then start by getting an education yourself and figuring out that Thailand and China are two very different countries otherwise, the ignorant one is not Dunkin Donuts in this case who made an ad that was interpreted as racist in America, but you, because you think that every country in Asia is the same.

[kamahele]

In America due, to horrendous past wrongs, this most likely would be considered racist. However outside of the States I cannot see this as racist. In reality this commercial is just showing how chocolaty the donuts are. If it was a blueberry donut, would we be arguing about racism is the actress turned blue?

[jinners]

Suuuuuuper sensitive, a friend of mine (black lady from US) had a fit because her grand daughter wild animal link at school (3 years old) was a monkey, other kids got giraffe or elephant. Now was that the teacher being racist or just a presumption of racism that is actually in the mind of the accuser? Like the other poster mentioned, if it was a blueberry do-nut etc etc, but it wasn't, it was black, so everyone has to tip toe around the issue for fear of being the R word.

[Emdog]

This is just plain stupid beyond..... beyond what? I don't know. IF it were a reflection of racism, it would NOT feature a black woman (however she got that way) because featuring a black woman would make it lower class, not the white ideal here. I would guess that the argument could be made it is anti-racist, since being black here is not seen as a good attribute. BTW PCers of USA, have you protested such things as Parliaments album "Chocolate City" ?(Detroit). Or is it that lame idea that black folks can't be racist? I taught at a black high school in USA. My students wanted to call each other 'nigga". I asked if I could use that term also. Heck no! So I said their informal rules were racist if I can't, so that word is not allowed. They accepted that, to their credit.

[Baerboxer]

Yep. They pull the ad from a clever campaign designed to attract as much attention as possible, apologize, and watch the money roll in from expanded name recognition.

i.e., planned from the start.

You give them more credit than they are due.

If that were the case, which is was not, they would have had a follow through response for it.

I clever ad-campaign would have had posters at the ready that suggested you try "The banned Donut - only sold in Thailand...." or "The Donut that The World tried to ban...."

Thai ad-campaigns are simple one dimensional in almost every case, if there is a gag it's directed and presented with the finesse of an elephant repairing a butterfly.

You know all this for fact? You are an advertising and marketing genius?

Hindsight - worth tuppence a ton.

[Baerboxer]

Perhaps Robertson from HRW would like to explain why he thinks this is racist.

The colour of the model and donut are charcoal. Not like any real person if ever seen. Why would any dark skinned person find this racist?

Being PC is totally out of control in some countries. Like the idiots in Britain who don't like children's toy "Gollywogs". The link is made in their minds, because they are fixated with convincing people that "racism" is the most evil threat around. These extremists create more racial tension.

Britain, the US, European and some Asian countries all have histories with racist issues. But, the emphasis is on histories. Most have moved on considerably by now.

Will Roberston be jumping up and down on any adverts that are a little risque? Some of the best adverts have sexual innuendos in a comic way. Will he protest these as being sexist?

Sadly, the PC brigade want to tell us all how we should think, and then criticize us for having to be told.

[Globeman]

Feeble minded megalomaniacs like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the Ebony Panthers and the lot are about on scale with the Islamic idealists. They won't stop until there is nothing remaining to attack. And these two extremes are about on scale with a spoiled, contentious 9-year old child. They will push and rant and get you to chase your tail trying to please them until you are all exhausted and have no energy to get to things that really need attention.

The point of my opinion is that someone needs to tell the complainers (regarding issues like this) to simply shut the **** up and get on with life. This is so wrong on so many levels, and should have never ever been an issue. Splitting hairs over color and how and where it is used is like being feeble-minded enough to let words hurt you, and forgetting about all the sticks and stones out there.

Say, you wouldn't be a white guy by any chance, would you?

[Jingthing]

I'm for fighting against racism but think it's much wiser to pick your fights, and in my opinion the Donut ad wasn't even racist in the first place. So the next time that human rights group complains about something that is WORTH complaining about their credibility will be weakened.

[Nickymaster]

Yep. They pull the ad from a clever campaign designed to attract as much attention as possible, apologize, and watch the money roll in from expanded name recognition.

i.e., planned from the start.

I hope so.

[djlest]

FF Sake!

A girl who is clearly with white complexion eats a chocolate donut and then becomes painted charcoal and has lipstick!

So what on earth does it have to do with race? its obviously paint and makeup!

Since when did makeup suddenly become a racist commodity!

Granted its a crap ad - But seriously political correct has lost the plot, its just a breeding ground for more hypocasy..

[Jingthing]

You couldn't run that ad in the USA because any hint of "blackface" is racially sensitive there. But in Thailand, it means almost nothing. There is plenty of all kinds of racism in Thailand, of course, but this ad was simply the WRONG target.

[tingtongteesood]

UTTERLY RIDICULOUS, it's an ad for dark chocolate donuts and chocolate happens to be brown in colour. This has nothing whatsoever to do with racism !

[Fullstop]

Ban all whitening creams, too. It is insensitive to black folk.

Don't stop there ... ban fake tan lotion. It's insensitive to white folk.

PC insanity to accommodate weak hearted people with chips on their shoulders.

[CIHUAHUA]

Don't say black or watermelon or coloured or the "N" word or negro or darky or chitlin or okra or fried chicken or "who's da judge". We can't see Amos-and-Andy on TV and we can't go to "Little Black Sambos" for dinner. And what about taking "Huckleberry Finn" off the shelves at the public library. You can paint your face any colour you want but black unless you are black. Just let it slide my black brothers because you've "moved it on up to the East side" and now we have Obama - so whats the beef? Haven't you gone too far?