Racism

[darmstadt]

Having a golly *** on a jam jar isn't racist - it's perhaps insensitive. I think that's an important distinction to make if you wan't words to retain any kind of meaning.

But i don't get it - maybe i missed something? One is a golly ***, and the other is a black man - what's wrong with black men on boxes?

Nothing apart from the fact that this is meant to resemble a servant from the deep south of America...

The Uncle Bens icon carries an image of an elderly black American man dressed in a bow-tie, meant to connote a docile, servile, domestic servant, catering to the bottomless pit of others needs.

Throughout the American South, it was common practice to call black men "boy" as a sign of disrespect. It was common practice to call elderly black men "Uncle" even though the person uttering the word 'uncle' bore no relation to the black man so addressed.

The image of Uncle Ben's is a condescending, patronizing stereotype that is demeaning to black men. The use of black Americans as company and product mascots for agricultural and food product merchandise was rampant throughout America's racist mistreatment of black Americans, and the denigrating use of black Americans in product placement, as the icon Uncle Ben's attests to, still continues to the present day.

[SpontaneousOrder]

Having a golly *** on a jam jar isn't racist - it's perhaps insensitive. I think that's an important distinction to make if you wan't words to retain any kind of meaning.

But i don't get it - maybe i missed something? One is a golly ***, and the other is a black man - what's wrong with black men on boxes?

[SeekingIT]

If you are old like me, you will remember learning to read using Little Black Sambo books

Google some images if you want a laugh.

Oh, and I thought a thread on racism today would be about the marathon

Nice one!

[greenlake]

If you are old like me, you will remember learning to read using Little Black Sambo books

And Tintin....

[tractor]

...

If you are old like me, you will remember learning to read using Little Black Sambo books

Google some images if you want a laugh.

Oh, and I thought a thread on racism today would be about the marathon

[greenlake]

Meanwhile, in Australia, this biscuit....



....went from this....



....to this....

[MarillionFan]

[wurzel]

...and there was Camp Coffee which went from this:



to this:

[greenlake]

How one product was renamed....

[darmstadt]

Mind you, I did smile a bit:

[darmstadt]

The image of an elderly black man has appeared in ads for Uncle Ben's Rice since 1946. So, just who exactly is Ben? According to the book Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben and Rastus: Blacks in Advertising Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Ben was a Houston rice farmer known for his superior crops. When Texas food broker Gordon L. Harwell launched a brand of commercial rice cooked to preserve nutrients, he decided to name it Uncle Ben's Converted Rice, after the respected farmer, and use the image of an African-American maitre d' he knew to be the face of the brand.

On packaging, Uncle Ben appeared to be a menial type, as suggested by his Pullman Porter-like attire. Moreover, the title "Uncle" likely derives from the practice of whites addressing elderly African Americans as "uncle" and "aunt" during segregation because the titles "Mr." and "Mrs." were deemed unsuitable for blacks, who were regarded as inferior.

In 2007, however, Uncle Ben received a makeover of sorts. Mars, the owner of the rice brand, debuted a website in which Uncle Ben is portrayed as the chairman of the board in a posh office. This virtual facelift was a way for Mars to bring Ben, an outdated racial stereotype of the black man as sharecropper-servant, into the 21st century.

So promote a fictional character to the board makes it all okay

[darmstadt]

I didn't know it but Uncle Bens is owned by Mars therefore I presume that because it's an American product and company that casual racism is allowed whereas Robertsons, being British and therefore more sensitive to people's opinions was stopped?

[greenlake]

There was this too....



Although it looks like this now....

[Brian Potter]

Yes, very interesting. Here's what I found on Wikipedia:

Uncle Ben’s products carry the image of an elderly African-American man dressed in a bow tie, said to have been the visage of a Chicago maître d’hôtel named Frank Brown.[11] According to Mars, Uncle Ben was an African-American rice grower known for the quality of his rice. Gordon L. Harwell, an entrepreneur who had supplied rice to the armed forces in World War II, chose the name Uncle Ben’s as a means to expand his marketing efforts to the general public.[12] "Uncle" was a common appellation used in the Southern United States to refer to older male Black slaves or servants.

Uncle Ben's (rice) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[darmstadt]

Watching the TV it occurred to me, if this is no longer allowed:



then why is this:

"Uncle" was a common appellation used in the Southern United States to refer to older male Black slaves or servants.