Dunkin’ Donuts criticized for ‘bizarre and racist’ ad campaign in Thailand

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Given this is Thailand, I highly doubt this was meant to piss off black people. Seems more like an ode to Hindu goddess Kali more than anything (and before saying Kali's racist, just...shut up, read the stories and appreciate how awesome she is).

Another example of a wannabe journalist trying to be a pseudo-modernist martyr, getting other like-minded opinions to support their case, and imposing one culture's historical relics on another's.

It'd at least help if they actually asked some informed black people if they found this offensive; some of the answers would surprise them.
 
The only problem here is expecting Thailand to be sensitive to 20the century issues regarding race relations in the US.

That ad is stereotypical/racist from a western standpoint. Meant to draw attention to the black skin, fetishize it, especially with the pink lips. It's blackface.

But to these people in Thailand it's probably the furthest thing from their intent. Remember, this is an ad meant to run in their country, for their people. So they don't know, don't show, or just plain don't care about what Americans will think. And the CEO defending it shows it. Ignorance at its best. They've probably never heard of 'birth of a nation', seen blackface before etc.

But in a globalized world, where ideas are shared and disseminated, it's good to bring things like this to light. The increased awareness will mean they will probably be more sensitive to it in the future.
 
Madness said:
The only problem here is expecting Thailand to be sensitive to 20the century issues regarding race relations in the US.

That ad is stereotypical/racist from a western standpoint. Meant to draw attention to the black skin, fetishize it, especially with the pink lips. It's blackface.

But to these people in Thailand it's probably the furthest thing from their intent. Remember, this is an ad meant to run in their country, for their people. So they don't know, don't show, or just plain don't care about what Americans will think. And the CEO defending it shows it. Ignorance at its best. They've probably never heard of 'birth of a nation', seen blackface before etc.

But in a globalized world, where ideas are shared and disseminated, it's good to bring things like this to light. The increased awareness will mean they will probably be more sensitive to it in the future.
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This will fall upon deaf ears. When it comes to issues of race, GAF not only has to be outraged when it deals with the U.S., but in other areas of the world as well. It's always the usual suspects too.
 
Americans and their cultural hegemony strikes again.

"You should be sensitive to our history and culture, irrespective of where you are in the world! Otherwise you're clearly a bigoted asshole!"


I mean... on one hand, yeah, we should be more proactive about the issues of racism and bigotry; because it's what we need if we are to stem or reduce it. It's not something that will go away by us simply assuming that we're all good now.

But this... can readily be perceived as the flipside of the coin of racism - cultural superiority. This blatant and needless assumption that everyone else operates in the same social ideas and values as your own - and thus you will find no common ground to tread on; only a rift to drive deeper.
 
you guys are right. people who aren't cool with racist imagery - THOSE are the REAL dicks. How insensitive!

what a joke.
 
Slayven said:
NiYJDz0.jpg
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is Mira Salhani. The Dunkin Donuts dude's daughter.


The other chick is Fonthip Watcharatrakul
 
Actually it's Zwarte Piet who does all the leavings. And it is highly insensitive. But unfortunately my country sort of perfected the slave trait back then. It also has to do with war and a very long oppression of the Dutch, believe it or not. Like Santa comes from the N Pole our "Sinterklaas" comes from Spain. The thing is a lot of Dutch like it to change. but it would not change, since Christmas is getting more dominant here why bother changing? It would simply disappear and be taken over by Christmas. And with all the respect to those where Christmas is the default Holiday, a lot of people here feel that the US has too much influence in culture and the old culture is disappearing. But "Sinterklaas" isn't really a option either, it's outdated and insensitive. So we are "between 2 fires" as we Dutch say, won't go forward, can't go back.
 
Htown said:
you guys are right. people who aren't cool with racist imagery - THOSE are the REAL dicks. How insensitive!

what a joke.
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This ad doesn't include racist imagery. It includes imagery which can be seen as racist when looked at through a North American cultural lens.
 
What's so racist about the ad? It's not a demeaning caricature, it's a pretty woman painted black.

Avixph said:
Why and how did her hair become braided?
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For the same reason and by the same means she magically turned black by eating a doughnut is my guess.
 
Zaptruder said:
Americans and their cultural hegemony strikes again.

"You should be sensitive to our history and culture, irrespective of where you are in the world! Otherwise you're clearly a bigoted asshole!"


I mean... on one hand, yeah, we should be more proactive about the issues of racism and bigotry; because it's what we need if we are to stem or reduce it. It's not something that will go away by us simply assuming that we're all good now.

But this... can readily be perceived as the flipside of the coin of racism - cultural superiority. This blatant and needless assumption that everyone else operates in the same social ideas and values as your own - and thus you will find no common ground to tread on; only a rift to drive deeper.
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Yep; it's surprising how many people here are guilty of this and ignorant of the fact. But it's like I feel a lot of 'em are indoctrinated to it.

As a black guy (more or less), I don't find it offensive. And yeah, I'm well aware of the blackface stuff and the use of it during Jim Crow, the banned Looney Toons shorts, etc. But this ad isn't intending to offend anyone, except maybe diet freaks who can't stand the sight of anything that isn't a vegetable.

I'm actually of the belief that nothing in and itself is offensive. Something can only be perceived as offensive if you take into view the context it was used. If a neo-nazi group in Russia swipes the ad and uses it at their power rallies, then in that context, the ad is being used to propagate racism, but the ad itself isn't racist b/c it wasn't created with that misuse of intent in mind.

I'm a bit tired of media always assuming what I (or others, for that matter) feel on any given issue, or assuming I will be offended by something. Their assumptions on that really says more about them than it does me. I'm more than capable of speaking for myself if something irks me, and it's not this ad at the slightest.

Also regarding the whole "it's a global economy" thing, well it doesn't really work out if only one segment of that global economy gets to define what should and shouldn't go around. Both sides here have to meet halfway and understand why the other feels it's either offensive or not, trade ideas, and go from there. At the most, just cut the ad for American audiences, tho that'd be an admission of defeat for us; it'd show we haven't really moved on with this crap.

Btw I think the ad girl's pretty hot, dark skin or not ;)
 
Stet said:
That's not what I'm talking about. What does Thailand have to do with a Hindu goddess?
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Hindu is a very big religion in Asia, and I'm sure it's got a stable of practitioners in Thailand. I'm saying the ad may've been created in the image of a sort of ode to Kali (as just one example), a powerful Hindu goddess with black skin and red lips.

Maybe not their biggest religion, but the presence is there.
 
jhmtehgamr20xx said:
Hindu is a very big religion in Asia, and I'm sure it's got a stable of practitioners in Thailand. I'm saying the ad may've been created in the image of a sort of ode to Kali (as just one example), a powerful Hindu goddess with black skin and red lips.

Maybe not their biggest religion, but the presence is there.
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At 0.9% of the population. For reference, practicing Hindus make up 1.0% of the population of Canada.
 
Stet said:
At 0.9% of the population. For reference, practicing Hindus make up 1.0% of the population of Canada.
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Well, there's still a lot of crossover of shared deities and belief system/structures between Hinduism and Buddhism (if in the end of it they're different).
 
jhmtehgamr20xx said:
Well, there's still a lot of crossover of shared deities and belief system/structures between Hinduism and Buddhism (if in the end of it they're different).
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Kali is worshiped by some in Thailand, but I doubt it has anything to do with this. I'm surprised you think this has anything to do with religion.
 
Avixph said:
Why and how did her hair become braided?
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The same burst of flavor that turned her skin black from taking a bite out of a black donut.. black magic that turned her racist and braided her hair or something? Serious answer, probably to avoid smudging the makeup. It isn't like any skin color has a monopoly on braids anyways.
xGNj83a.jpg
 
I think the braiding comment is legit - the braided hair for black people is a pretty regular stereotype/trope when it comes to media. For her hair to go from straight and sheen in a bun to braided in a bun kind of makes it seem like they intended to employ some level of a black caricature.

The red lips might have been unintentional (but I doubt it) - generally, the whole thing seems pretty blatant to me. That being said, even given the benefit of the doubt, I can easily understand why a global audience would find this offensive - whether or not thailand wants to do anything about it, it's up to them I guess.

But really, I can't help but feel that people are being a bit disingenuous when they supply the reasoning for the 'black' hair or the red lips. Maybe I just assume that the advertisers in thailand aren't complete idiots or something.
 
jordan0386 said:
Its all love from me, I just dislike the ad. And I know it wouldnt be acceptable in the USA, where I live.
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That's understandable, but context matters in how something is perceived. As others have said, this does not carry the same weight it would in the US or parts of Europe.

Divorce yourself from historical context for a moment, and painting your skin a certain colour does not have any inherent racist element to it. It's local/historical context that adds that element.

A good comparison would be the term "Oriental". I was quite shocked when I came onto NeoGAF to see people catch so much flak and being accused of racism for using it. I then educated myself and saw that in the US (and as far as I can tell, in the US alone), the term had such a history of negative use that it has become a racial slur. Meanwhile, in the UK, the term is an acceptable ethnic description, especially given that "Asian" is typically used to refer to someone from India, Pakistan, etc.

So even in a globalised world, me calling someone from the Asia-Pacific "Oriental" doesn't become magically racist just because people from the US might be able to perceive it happening. Likewise, a country with no history of minstrel shows doesn't have a play on skin tone turned magically racist just because America and Europe had a truck-ton of blackface.

Context is key because it's context that generally actually makes something racist. You (and others) sarcastically saying "racism is okay if it's not in America!" isn't accurate because without the American/European context, the ad isn't actually racist/evoking racist tones.
 
Kinitari said:
I think the braiding comment is legit - the braided hair for black people is a pretty regular stereotype/trope when it comes to media. For her hair to go from straight and sheen in a bun to braided in a bun kind of makes it seem like they intended to employ some level of a black caricature.
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Except in Asia they don't associate big thick braids with Africa. They associate the multiple thin ones.
 
Zoe said:
Except in Asia they don't associate big thick braids with Africa. They associate the multiple thin ones.
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I'm sure that they have a broader scope than that, and I am sure that the advertisers in charge of this particular ad aren't so... I don't know, clueless? I think it's borderline insulting to assume that they did this in ignorance.
 
I personally don't find it that offensive but if some others do, I guess it should be pulled. I was talking with a friend the other day on how funny it is that white people are always trying their best to represent minorities and fight for rights of other ethnicities when they're the uncontested champions of racial segregation and slavery in history.
 
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