Yesterday, hoping to get a few giggles, Paul posted this on 9Gag. Responses ranged from laughter to confusion to mild offense. Some saw blatant racism, some saw a funny joke and others were perplexed as to why it could be considered funny or racist at all.
It threw into sharp relief some cultural differences that exist between South America and the US or Europe, for example (although even in popular US television similar strains of walking-a-fine-line are found: take Turk and JD from Scrubs, who regularly refer to each other as ‘Chocolate Bear’ and ‘Vanilla Bear’). While the packaging on the ice cream would never be allowed back home since the starting point for any advertising ‘joke’, or iconography is racial difference, here for most people it’s little more than just packaging.
At times it can be hard to navigate the differences and to understand exactly what’s going on. It’s not uncommon, and even friendly, for people here in South America to refer to each other as ‘negro’, or ‘negra’. To my European sensibilities that’s unacceptable, but there’s little furore here.
There was, of course, the famous example of Luis Suarez in the English Premier League this year. He was accused of racially abusing Patrice Evra, but defended himself by citing cultural differences. ‘Negrito’, he insisted, was culturally acceptable in his native Uruguay.
He was banned for 8 games and fined. After almost a year in the UK and four years in Europe, it was deemed that he should have been used to what was and wasn’t acceptable in the culture he was in.
There are other examples of Colombian products overtly using racial differences as a point of sale. Most offensively, this magazine article for Hola! magazine:
Which was then satirized (having been heavily criticized) by SoHo magazine:
There’s little doubt over the offensive content of the first magazine spread, and most would be quick to condemn it. Other examples, such as the ice cream, appear more innocent, and the claims against them of racism can perplex people from Colombia. Some claim the country is less affected by a modern history of immigration, extreme social inequality and the sensitivity that inevitably comes with that. Others claim it’s a more deep-seated problem that just hasn’t been addressed yet.
Another famous example is the product Limpido. Many don’t really see the potential offense caused by the slogan and the product’s representative (known as “Blanquita, or “Whitey), but it can be hard to deny that any (dubious) humour comes from the model’s African descent – not only the colours involved but the stereotype of the maid. ‘Blanquita’ was never going to be featured as a lawyer, after all.
The debates will go on and on, as they always do, and we’re interested to hear everyone’s take on this issue, so please leave your ideas in the comments and let us know what you think!
Ryan
