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

[Jingthing]

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?

Obama being president has not ended racism in the USA. Arguably, it has gotten worse.

[Cuban]

Actually there are some very funny ones, and not all Thai comedy is of the slapstick variety, granted most is...

Which is what I pointed out.

...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).

No offence taken, I get some non-visual gags others are explained to me or I work out from other clues. My spoken and reading level of Thai is low but not non-existent.

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

Hindsight - worth tuppence a ton.

Well yes actually, I do know a bit about advertising in the real world and can see a good campaign and good advertising agencies when they respond to a campaign that goes wrong and manage the situation with a skilful save or flounder as they only see the ad-campaign from one angle and are too slow to react when they should. Often due to either too long a lead time or no money left to change message mid-stream.

It's not "Hindsight" everyone is capable of that - it's common-sense through experience and the ability to ask "what if" before the event that is a rare commodity. In such planning I am skilled.

A Thai culturally will not perceive that blacking-up might ever be questioned as racist, in the context of Thailand and for the target audience for the Donut advert it isn't. It is ONLY non-Thai that see that angle.

It's the same with the 'Hitler Chicken' fiasco, within the Thai frame of reference it's a just an image to sell some fried food - it has no meaning beyond face value. There is no mental connection with gas-chambers and mass exterminations, it's just not there.

The same is true in reverse when a non-Thai ventures in the the world of satire that touches on a certain Thai centric subject. Those from Western nations where satire directed at or at the expense of their leading family is normal and considered non-threatening fun and on TV every week in the comedy shows will get you arrested in Thailand - it's a cultural difference. Some of us can see both sides of the fence - others just say what they see.

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In this particular case Donut-man and his daughter should get right back on message with a follow through campaign: Using the girl made up as a Donut with sprinkles, chopped nuts etc. then make a point of why her image as the Chocolate-Donut is banned for being too tasty with the invite to visit the outlet to find out why, that generates foot-fall....

...Thai media can be fed the story about farang countries interfering with Thai centric advertising etc as they like a good xenophobic story. If it was planned this would have already happen - it was not considered as a problem so the advert was pulled with no follow-up and just the luck of Western media picking up the story has they have the taste for Thailand's cultural faus-pax in the wake of Hitler Chicken etc. it's an easy target for a few column inches.

Looking at some of those Donuts I see a secondary viral campaign - but he might not wish his daughter used

A marketing genius I am not - always seems to be a dark art from my experience.

[Cuban]

Don't say black or watermelon or coloured or the "N" word....

Chris Rock is funny he may use the word. <------<<< This clip is very funny !!!

Ari Shaffir is funny he may not use the word.

Isn't THAT racist ?

It is IMHO liberal Caucasians that enforce all the racist issues such as this Donut advert drawing attention to such cases in a Münchhausen type way that proclaims to the world in general that they are all modern and racially aware when in fact they are only propagating an old problem that most of us have moved on from.

[Escapologist]

If Phil Robertson works for "Human Rights Watch" then he should concentrate on exposing violations of human rights. Dinkin Donuts should have told that little Marxist to mind his own business. Very sad that they pulled the ad.

[Spare]

If I bring Darkie toothpaste to the USA, will I be arrested?

Should I just say I am there to visit the home of the 1st black president?

[bkk_mike]

They coloured her face the colour of the donut.

What's racist about that?

If it had been green, nobody would have complained.

This is political correctness gone mad.

[Spare]

Pink donut is great.

But a BLACK donut, . . . . . . . . I hope it don't smell to.

[Jingthing]

Pink donut is great.

But a BLACK donut, . . . . . . . . I hope it don't smell to.

Yeah, but with good marketing you can sell ANYTHING.

[MegaRanter]

Well, I don't know whether to thank the HRW PEOPLE or not. As an African, my sensitivity is a bit different from a western colored person.

[Jingthing]

Well, I don't know whether to thank the HRW PEOPLE or not. As an African, my sensitivity is a bit different from a western colored person.

No doubt.

Like I said you could not run that ad in the USA and no company today would run such an ad.

But only because of a specific cultural history around "blackface" that simply is not on the radar in Thailand.

[Escapologist]

Well, I don't know whether to thank the HRW PEOPLE or not. As an African, my sensitivity is a bit different from a western colored person.

Yes, I've found that politicised black Americans become strategically-offended at this kind of thing because it keeps whites, who've been indoctrinated in the guilt of historical American slavery, in a position of blameworthiness for their current problems. There is no rationale for that kind of thing in Thailand though and I find it difficult to believe that Thais would have pulled the ad in order to protect the feelings of such chronically-offended outsiders. Very strange!

[hookedondhamma]

Anyone else notice how she ended up with a weave?

Edited September 4, 2013 by hookedondhamma

[Sunderland]

Donuts are full of crap. Black people are cool.

[Sunderland]

Donuts are full of crap. Black people are cool.

Mackems hate Geordies these days and vice-versa. I expect the HR people would find more hatred there to pick at, than bothering about a white teenage Thai girl eating a black donut and changing into a black donut girl.

The girl in the advert is a student in our school. She's not racist and I'm not even sure if she likes donuts either.

[Sunderland]

The human rights mob should be tackling this problem too. I'm sure fat, ugly people are offended by adverts featuring the Honey Monster.

It's not nice for fat, ugly people to be portrayed guzzling down bowl after bowl of cereal in their pyjamas, is it?

[Ulic]

Heard about the commercial and thought yeah I understand probably in poor taste. Just watched it on the link

above. Not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

[Cuban]

70% match with the cereal monster.

[vijer]

Bull poo, I'm off to support Dunkin' Donuts and buy a Niger donut. There wasn't anything racist or insensitive about that ad.

[kuiburi]

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).

What about guns , tanks, helicopters , rockets and so much more .

How an innocent donut commercial can be such news blows my mind .

[Baerboxer]

Actually there are some very funny ones, and not all Thai comedy is of the slapstick variety, granted most is...

Which is what I pointed out.

...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).

No offence taken, I get some non-visual gags others are explained to me or I work out from other clues. My spoken and reading level of Thai is low but not non-existent.

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

Hindsight - worth tuppence a ton.

Well yes actually, I do know a bit about advertising in the real world and can see a good campaign and good advertising agencies when they respond to a campaign that goes wrong and manage the situation with a skilful save or flounder as they only see the ad-campaign from one angle and are too slow to react when they should. Often due to either too long a lead time or no money left to change message mid-stream.

It's not "Hindsight" everyone is capable of that - it's common-sense through experience and the ability to ask "what if" before the event that is a rare commodity. In such planning I am skilled.

A Thai culturally will not perceive that blacking-up might ever be questioned as racist, in the context of Thailand and for the target audience for the Donut advert it isn't. It is ONLY non-Thai that see that angle.

It's the same with the 'Hitler Chicken' fiasco, within the Thai frame of reference it's a just an image to sell some fried food - it has no meaning beyond face value. There is no mental connection with gas-chambers and mass exterminations, it's just not there.

The same is true in reverse when a non-Thai ventures in the the world of satire that touches on a certain Thai centric subject. Those from Western nations where satire directed at or at the expense of their leading family is normal and considered non-threatening fun and on TV every week in the comedy shows will get you arrested in Thailand - it's a cultural difference. Some of us can see both sides of the fence - others just say what they see.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

In this particular case Donut-man and his daughter should get right back on message with a follow through campaign: Using the girl made up as a Donut with sprinkles, chopped nuts etc. then make a point of why her image as the Chocolate-Donut is banned for being too tasty with the invite to visit the outlet to find out why, that generates foot-fall....

...Thai media can be fed the story about farang countries interfering with Thai centric advertising etc as they like a good xenophobic story. If it was planned this would have already happen - it was not considered as a problem so the advert was pulled with no follow-up and just the luck of Western media picking up the story has they have the taste for Thailand's cultural faus-pax in the wake of Hitler Chicken etc. it's an easy target for a few column inches.

Looking at some of those Donuts I see a secondary viral campaign - but he might not wish his daughter used

A marketing genius I am not - always seems to be a dark art from my experience.

Very good response. Just out of interest, which adverts and/or advertising campaigns have you been responsible for or created?

[lucifer666]

Is it just me ??, i have seen the ad and i don't see any racism in it. Or is this because i'm not a racist and the only people that are complaining ARE racists ??

Edited September 4, 2013 by lucifer666

[Bpuumike]

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.

DD getting value for money. A lot of free publicity from one ad!

[Bpuumike]

If I bring Darkie toothpaste to the USA, will I be arrested?

Should I just say I am there to visit the home of the 1st black president?

Didn't you notice they succumbed to PC? It's been Darlie for several years now.

The Black and White Minstrel Show? Try that today.

[canman]

The loony left strikes again

[Tomtomtom69]

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.

While we're at it, why not ban all foreigners period? What's so good about say the Chinese and bad about westerners? I can tell you the Thais don't like the arrogance and bad hygiene habits of the Chinese - also the Chinese are generally far more racist than any westerners - their country being extremely homogeneous and with a bad, outdated educational system not helping matters. Why the racism towards one large group of diverse people? Unless you are trying to make a sick sarcastic joke.

[Tomtomtom69]

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.

Yes, you are correct. It's also not the first time that the Americans have attacked ads or events running in a foreign country when it comes to "blackface" or an international (usually US) corporation when it comes to "perceived racial stereotypes" (and I'm talking about the perception they have in America, but probably don't have in the case of other foreign countries where the ads were ran). A few years back an Australian "Hey, hey, it's Saturday" (a live entertainment show on Saturday nights that has since been removed from the air, not because of this skit mind you, but the executive producers of the TV channel in question decided it was time for this show, which had been running for years, to go) depicted a skit with Aussies in "blackface". One visiting American actor, might have been Robert Downey Jr. if I remember correctly (I only saw a snippet of the controversial skit, as I wasn't in Australia at the time) was so offended he gave the skit a 0 and then tried to educate the whole audience on the offensiveness of "blackface". This lead to further controversy in America and I think "Hey, hey, it's Saturday" ended up apologizing, even though technically it was the team of skit actors, rather than the show itself who conducted the skit; the show merely broadcast it (although perhaps if they wanted to sympathize with Americans and their history then they probably wouldn't have run it from the outset). Australia, despite being very multicultural like America and sharing English as a common language does not however share the same history as the States hence they don't know the meaning of blackface, but America expected Australia to know, or so it seems, according to Robert Downey Jr.

Then in a separate KFC commercial than ran perhaps a year or two later, some Aussies were depicted as eating a whole lot of chicken and sharing it with members of the West Indies audience at a cricket match. The West Indians tend to be of African origin but now form the majority of people residing in numerous Caribbean islands. America thought it evoked "stereotypes" about how black Americans eat lots of fried chicken and yet the ad was simply nothing more than about a white Aussie guy sharing a bucket of fried chicken with a black West Indies guy. Clearly the Americans went too far in this case, but the ad was pulled anyway.

Again America trying to dictate how the world should act and how it feels that what offends in America should offend in another country, but clearly that's not the case.

Even more confusing however is the recent controversy in America about an ad depicting cereal where a mixed race couple and their child were happily sharing with each other. I can't understand the confusion because isn't America a multicultural society, supposedly a melting pot of cultures? If so, then shouldn't intermarriage be strongly encouraged? Also, isn't intermarriage already very, very common? So common that people wouldn't bat an eyelid to it? Why then has it generated controversy then? People from abroad moving to America and not assimilating but moving instead to "ghettoes" where they are surrounded by people who look the same as them doesn't help things - there should almost be a condition - if you want to move to America you should be strongly encouraged to marry our people, or if you are already married your kids should marry our people and you should live in an environment with other Americans of all races, not just your own. I think Brazil encourages this and there appears to be a lot fewer racial problems there than in America and also a lot more mixed race couples and offspring.