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Cadbury accused of racial stereotyping in chocolate advert

Viewers complain about another campaign two years after the firm's ill-fated Trident commercial

By Emily Dugan

Cadbury's new Dairy Milk advert was meant to herald the company's move to Fairtrade chocolate, but has angered equality campaigners

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Cadbury's new Dairy Milk advert was meant to herald the company's move to Fairtrade chocolate, but has angered equality campaigners

The multinational chocolate firm Cadbury has been accused of racism and perpetuating "colonial stereotypes" of African people in its latest advertising campaign. A poster and television advert created in Ghana for Dairy Milk has infuriated a number of prominent equality campaigners and Ghanaian leaders in the UK.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) meets this week to discuss initiating a formal investigation into Cadbury's TV advert – slogan "show us your cocoa beam" – which features a giant, negroid rotating head that unleashes mass dancing among what appear to be highly excitable people in an African village.

The advert and an associated poster campaign mark the chocolate firm's move to Fairtrade, but critics say this move has been overshadowed by the campaign's portrayal of African people as "buffooning simpletons". The allegations will cause further embarrassment to Cadbury which was forced to pull an advert for Trident gum in 2007 after an ASA investigation ruled that the campaign showed "harmful stereotypes" of Caribbean people.

Toyin Agbetu, the founder of Ligali, a UK-based African human rights organisation, said: "The video makes Africans look like buffooning simpletons. The biggest presence on the advert is a giant mask that people fall about in front of. Part of being able to use the Fairtrade brand should also include a responsibility to advertise ethically."

Paul Epworth, a British producer, was flown out to produce the advert, which is also online as a full-length music video to raise money for Care International. The song "Zingolo" features Ghanaian musicians, but Mr Agbetu said: "The fact that Ghanaian musicians and artists were involved is sad, but it does not excuse it."

Nii Armah Akomfrah, the chairman of the UK branch of the Ghanaian political opposition group the Convention People's Party, has sent a letter of complaint to the Cadbury board on behalf of his party and British Ghanaians. He said Ghanaian groups in the UK will protest outside the chocolate producer's headquarters in Birmingham if the advert is not taken off air. "People are disappointed. It's like making an advert about America and only showing images of Harlem," he said. "It's a colonial mentality and stuff like this just brings the country down."

Reaction to the advert on the web has been mixed. A protest video was posted on YouTube by a Ghanaian living in Japan called Professor Lungu. The short film, called "Cadbury Sponsors Foolish African Tribal Monster Video", features a list of criticisms of the advert, the main one of which accuses the advert of "perpetuating sad and harmful stereotyping of Africans".

Kwame Nkrumah-Agyapong of Ghanaian Migrants Information Services said the campaign had caused outrage among the Ghanaian diaspora. "I've been called by loads of people about this advert. Ghanaians are very laid-back people, so for them even to voice this shows there's a problem. People feel it's racist and it doesn't present an accurate picture of Ghana."

A spokesman for the ASA, which has received complaints about racial stereotyping in the adverts, said: "This is something we take very seriously."

Tim Bishop, the head of private sector engagement at Care International UK, said, "Cadbury worked with Ghanaian communities to produce this advert and they consulted key figures in Ghana as part of their creative process."

Cadbury said it had been made aware of the ASA complaints and was co-operating fully. Phil Rumbol, the marketing director at Cadbury, said: "We completely reject these allegations. This campaign has been widely welcomed by Ghanaians, including community leaders both in Ghana and in the UK."

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Comments

Political correctness madness
[info]gpeilon wrote:
Sunday, 11 October 2009 at 01:04 am (UTC)
This is ludicrous. The advertising feature some African people in a friendly way with local African music and dance moves. There is nothing insulting here, and there is no stereotyping. With the same line of argument we should forbid the football shoes ads with poor kids from Brazil (depicting Brazilians as poor people thinking only about playing in the streets), remove the HSBC ad with some smiling asian in the countryside (simple minded people always smiling to westerners), etc.

The only thing this kind of accusation will achieve is that advertisers will chose the safe option next time and will display nice happy westerners in a nice happy western city, in nice suits.

Keep racism accusations for real racism for god sake, and stop trying to police everything people say tracking for possible suspicions that there was possibly a potential racist interpretation of part of what is said.
Re: Political correctness madness
[info]colinru wrote:
Sunday, 11 October 2009 at 11:09 am (UTC)
A succint demolition of this ludicrous article.
Re: Political correctness madness
[info]countup wrote:
Sunday, 11 October 2009 at 01:47 pm (UTC)
another one for your list - stop categorising all white people as racists
Get a New Job
[info]parkestony wrote:
Sunday, 11 October 2009 at 07:59 am (UTC)
Firstly, the video seems to take place in a village that grows (now FairTrade) cocoa and looks very like 50 other music videos filmed in Ghana that can be found on the internet.
Secondly, I am afraid that Mr Toyin Agbetu's (the Nigerian of the disgraceful protest inside Westminster Abbey) description of locals being portrayed as 'buffooning simpletons' reflects more on him than on them (see point above).
@ gpeilon: You have hit the nail on the head (no offence to nails). There ARE many more important things to write about Ghana.
@ emily dugan: It might be worthwhile to focus what limited resources you have to stories around the fact that a) in 2009 less than half the women in Ghana can read and write, b) it is an exporter of young people to the developed world when life expectancy is still less than 60 and c) Ghana is only just outside the top 20 in terms of deaths from HIV / AIDS.
what rubbish, totally
[info]lgalla wrote:
Sunday, 11 October 2009 at 11:01 am (UTC)
didn't she even look at what real people are saying on Facebook and YouTube. loads of love for this from Ghanaians. ANd why hasn't she even mentioned Tinny? - he's the star of this.
Kwame
[info]kwamex wrote:
Sunday, 11 October 2009 at 08:46 pm (UTC)
How come there are people in cocoa producing towns and villages who spend all their energies on cocoa farms and yet have not tasted chocolates before while there are also people in the UK who eat chocolates every morning and yet have not seen cocoa pods or beans before; You can sit in London and talk about the "political Correctness gone Mad". You saw the cocoa producing villages, you think we don't deserve the same quality of life as you do. Cadbury has been in Ghana for almost a century and you saw the villages. if you dont want to put something back in the communities, dont disgrace Ghana.

How come the last time the average Ghanaian tastes fresh milk is the last time he sucks his mother's breasts while a 70 year old man in UK could obtain fresh milk from a nearby corner shop; How come an average cadbury employee in UK has access to free medical care (company sponsored), while in Ghana the local employees die from inset bits? When was the last time you saw any good image or good part of Ghana or Africa? It's always the bad part.
Re: Kwame
[info]dogsolitude_v2 wrote:
Friday, 16 October 2009 at 05:34 pm (UTC)
I was under the impression that fair trade initiatives were in place to help go some way to redressing the imbalances of which you speak, by paying workers and co-ops a fair amount for their goods.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I buy fair trade goods simply *because* I believe that Ghanaians deserve a better quality of life!
What's the fuss?
[info]clearsword wrote:
Monday, 12 October 2009 at 01:10 pm (UTC)
I totally agree with gpeilon. Its a fun ad, catchy song and isnt an inaccurate depiction of a street party in a small town/village in Ghana. Minorities get a really bad depiction in the Western press and we should direct our energy at the subtle racism in the way news items involving blacks/asians are covered and not this misdirected and foolish over-sensitivity. Cadbury's previous ads for its Trident gum were woeful and I was straight on to the watchdog, something i'd never done for ANY ad, thats how bad I felt it was. But this ad is loved by Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians alike and shouldnt be spoiled by misplaced political correctness.
Re: What's the fuss?
[info]kwamex wrote:
Monday, 12 October 2009 at 07:57 pm (UTC)
Some of you can acuse us of being over sensitive but if you look at Cadbury track record:

a. Trident gum
b. Cadbury Gorilla Returns
c. Diary Milk Zingolo
d. Cadbury Eyebrows
e. Big Plant Cocoa

These are some of their best known brands. make your own mid up.
[info]tanyatony wrote:
Wednesday, 14 October 2009 at 08:24 am (UTC)
Some elements of this Cadburys advert are great, such as the dance sequences and the singing. But the grinning bug eyed, face pulling dim witted images are stereotypical of derogatory portrayals i thought had become extinct in the 21st century, particuarly coming from a company so closely linked to exploitation in the past.

In a perfect world we could all make jokes about each other regardless of race, sex or creed. However some groups such as jews, blacks, asians, disabled, gays and women require greater sensitivity when making fun because of persecution and exploitation in the events of history.
[info]lovecomesintime wrote:
Tuesday, 20 October 2009 at 08:23 pm (UTC)
i argee it is about milk chocolate and it has loads of black people in on tv and it is well racist x x i love ur artical x x this needs to be sorted because they live in the world with us and i have friends and they get so much shit for their colour its unreal and so ridiculous x x x love u all x
Hmm
[info]fruittwist37 wrote:
Saturday, 24 October 2009 at 07:24 pm (UTC)
I tried to see the funny side, but there is something not quite right about this advert, the wig on the dummy, the massive lips, nah not right, this is not the 70's Mind Your Language and Love Thy Neighbours days are behind us so I thought.
So this is worse than Mugabe?
[info]rockinrog wrote:
Sunday, 8 November 2009 at 05:33 pm (UTC)
Have these people nothing better to do? Is there nothing in Africa at the moment more important than this? Are all the atrocities being committed in the name of tribalism or religion in Africa so trivial that this ad is more important? This is truly, literally incredible.

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