Naomi Campbell Mad It Took Cadbury So Long To Apologize For Racist Ad
Cadbury, the chocolate company that printed ads in British newspapers comparing supermodel Naomi Campbell to its newest bar of chocolate, has apologized after loud complaints from Campbell and others that the ad was racist. Campbell has accepted the apology (and her lawyers say they won’t sue Cadbury), but mostly she’s pissed it took them so long to get on their knees and beg her not to litigate.
The ad in question, for Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Bliss bars, warned, “Move over Naomi, there’s a new diva in town.” Campbell said, and rightly so, that there was nothing humorous about the ad. “It’s upsetting to be described as chocolate, not just for me but for all black women and black people,” she said in a statement. The Daily Mail reported Monday that Campbell was considering taking “every available option,” which very well could have included her lawyers suing the pants off Cadbury and its parent company, Kraft Foods. When civil rights groups started rallying for a boycott of all Kraft products, the company posted this statement on the Cadbury website:
Cadbury understands that our latest advertising campaign for Cadbury Dairy Milk Bliss caused upset to Naomi Campbell and her family. Cadbury takes its responsibility to consumers very seriously indeed and we would never deliberately produce any marketing material we felt might cause offence to any section of society. It was not our intention that this campaign should offend Naomi, her family or anybody else and we are sincerely sorry that it has done so.
We can confirm that the advertisement is no longer in circulation and we will not be using it in future marketing for Cadbury Dairy Milk Bliss.
We have been in discussions with Naomi‘s solicitors and can confirm that they have accepted our apology on her behalf as a conclusion to this issue.
While Campbell’s lawyers might be done with this issue, we doubt Campbell has let go of the anger the ad caused her. In a statement, Campbell said she was glad that Cadbury realized that its ad was insulting, and that it should have apologized and pulled the ad as soon as people started complaining about it.
“Better still,” Campbell went on, “they should avoid causing offense in the first place which is best achieved by having greater diversity at board and senior management level.”
In an open poll, 60 percent of Styleite readers who responded said they didn’t see the ad as racist or offensive. The ad is offensive because it actively compares a human being to a product designed to satisfy human gluttony. And kudos to Naomi for taking a stand.
Cadbury apologises to Naomi Campbell over ‘racist’ ad [The Guardian]
Earlier:
Naomi May Sue Cadbury For Using Her Name In ‘Racist’ Ad
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