{"id":3978,"date":"2012-06-05T11:38:58","date_gmt":"2012-06-05T16:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/?p=3978"},"modified":"2016-05-12T15:48:30","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T20:48:30","slug":"political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"“Political Correctness Gone Too Far!”: Colombian Adverts That Would Be Considered Offensive in the US and Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, hoping to get a few giggles,\u00a0Paul posted this on 9Gag<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

\"Mimo's<\/a>
Contraversial ice cream<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It threw into sharp relief some cultural differences<\/strong> 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u00a0culturally acceptable in his native Uruguay.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

There are other examples of Colombian products overtly using racial differences as a point of sale. Most offensively, this magazine article for Hola! magazine:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Which was then satirized (having been heavily criticized) by SoHo magazine:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\""La<\/a>
Worst catch phrase ever? :”La ropa blanquita, blanquita como yo!” (“White clothes, white like me”)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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<\/strong>), 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.<\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

Ryan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, hoping to get a few giggles,\u00a0Paul 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[35,115,625,626,4,112,66],"tags":[58],"yoast_head":"\n"Political Correctness Gone Too Far!": Colombian Adverts That Would Be Considered Offensive in the US and Europe - Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Political Correctness Gone Too Far!": Colombian Adverts That Would Be Considered Offensive in the US and Europe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yesterday, hoping to get a few giggles,\u00a0Paul 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 […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-05T16:38:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-05-12T20:48:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/IMG-20120527-002851-1024x768.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel\",\"description\":\"Colombia Travel Blog: An international perspective on travelling in Colombia by world travellers.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/IMG-20120527-002851-1024x768.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/IMG-20120527-002851-1024x768.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"Political Correctness Gone Too Far!\\\": Colombian Adverts That Would Be Considered Offensive in the US and Europe - Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-05T16:38:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-12T20:48:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d9b9808bd61f876e91443517002feb47\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Political Correctness Gone Too Far!”: Colombian Adverts That Would Be Considered Offensive in the US and Europe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d9b9808bd61f876e91443517002feb47\",\"name\":\"Sarah\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/825d5bc2d9a8d89240948bf1ba56bb54?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/825d5bc2d9a8d89240948bf1ba56bb54?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sarah\"},\"description\":\"I'm Sarah Duncan - a writer, regular suitcase packer, Salsa addict and See Colombia Travel copy writer. I\u2019m from Brisbane, Australia, but have been travelling through Colombia since 2006 when I first got to opportunity to visit Medell\u00edn, the City of Eternal Spring. At the beginning of this year I sold all my belongings, moved out of my apartment and bought a ticket to Colombia and now I'm living like a Rolo in Bogot\u00e1. I love living in this city and I can't wait to see what else is in store for me here.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/author\/sarah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Political Correctness Gone Too Far!\": Colombian Adverts That Would Be Considered Offensive in the US and Europe - Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Political Correctness Gone Too Far!\": Colombian Adverts That Would Be Considered Offensive in the US and Europe","og_description":"Yesterday, hoping to get a few giggles,\u00a0Paul 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 […]","og_url":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/","og_site_name":"Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel","article_published_time":"2012-06-05T16:38:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-05-12T20:48:30+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/IMG-20120527-002851-1024x768.jpg"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sarah","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/","name":"Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel","description":"Colombia Travel Blog: An international perspective on travelling in Colombia by world travellers.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/IMG-20120527-002851-1024x768.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/IMG-20120527-002851-1024x768.jpg"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/","name":"\"Political Correctness Gone Too Far!\": Colombian Adverts That Would Be Considered Offensive in the US and Europe - Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2012-06-05T16:38:58+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-12T20:48:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d9b9808bd61f876e91443517002feb47"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/06\/political-correctness-gone-too-far-colombian-adverts-that-would-be-considered-offensive-in-the-us-and-europe\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Political Correctness Gone Too Far!”: Colombian Adverts That Would Be Considered Offensive in the US and Europe"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d9b9808bd61f876e91443517002feb47","name":"Sarah","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/825d5bc2d9a8d89240948bf1ba56bb54?s=96&d=retro&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/825d5bc2d9a8d89240948bf1ba56bb54?s=96&d=retro&r=g","caption":"Sarah"},"description":"I'm Sarah Duncan - a writer, regular suitcase packer, Salsa addict and See Colombia Travel copy writer. I\u2019m from Brisbane, Australia, but have been travelling through Colombia since 2006 when I first got to opportunity to visit Medell\u00edn, the City of Eternal Spring. At the beginning of this year I sold all my belongings, moved out of my apartment and bought a ticket to Colombia and now I'm living like a Rolo in Bogot\u00e1. I love living in this city and I can't wait to see what else is in store for me here.","sameAs":["http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog"],"url":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/author\/sarah\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3978"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3978"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22747,"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3978\/revisions\/22747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}