# Is this advertisement racist to you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907 "2011-05-31T23:20:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/41 "2011-06-01T16:09:38Z")
Not racist, but not very nice either. IMO they aren’t making fun of her for being brown like the chocolate, they are making fun of her for being pretentious . . . like the chocolate. . . ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/42 "2011-06-01T16:11:54Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Not racist, but not very nice either. > > IMO they aren’t making fun of her for being brown like the chocolate, they are making fun of her for being pretentious . . . like the chocolate. . . That’s how I read it, too. It’s not like the copy was, “Move over Naomi, there’s a new _chocolate_ diva in town,” just a new diva who happened to be chocolate. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/43 "2011-06-01T17:32:52Z")
> [@Double\_Foolscap](#): > > … OK, I can’t think of any white divas off the top of my head. Jacques Cousteau? Scuba diva? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/44 "2011-06-01T17:33:59Z")
> [@Double\_Foolscap](#): > > I read it as describing the chocolate as a diva was more prominent than describing Naomi as chocolate. It would have made just as much sense if the product was a high-end fruit salad or the diva was… OK, I can’t think of any white divas off the top of my head. Jacques Cousteau? Bernadette Peters Patti Lupone Glenn Close Nathan Lane:D ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/45 "2011-06-01T17:54:05Z")
Yeah referring to black people as chocolate is racist in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/46 "2011-06-01T18:25:52Z")
Racist or not, that clucking bunny better watch his back ifyanowatimean. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/47 "2011-06-01T18:33:18Z")
Elizabeth Taylor was the ultimate, but - too soon. Eva and Zsa Zsa Gabor Cher Basically anybody the Drag Queens are personifying. . . ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/48 "2011-06-01T18:40:52Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Yeah referring to black people as chocolate is racist in my opinion. Um, the ad didn’t do this. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/49 "2011-06-01T18:59:50Z")
I can’t think of any reason they’d have chosen to use Campbell other than her race. Even if the effect doesn’t work out to be racist, it seems to me that the intent pretty clearly was. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/50 "2011-06-01T19:13:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I can’t think of any reason they’d have chosen to use Campbell other than her race. Even if the effect doesn’t work out to be racist, it seems to me that the intent pretty clearly was. Really? Even though lots of other people in this thread pointed out Campell can be a real bitch sometimes? Like the recent cell phone throwing incident? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/51 "2011-06-01T19:20:05Z")
Not racist in the least. Naomi Campbell is a publicity-seeking blood diamond accepting beeyatch. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/52 "2011-06-01T19:24:04Z")
I will say, however, that it must come as a huge relief to minorities that a bunch of whiteys on a messageboard are so willing to go on record as saying what is and isn’t racist. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/53 "2011-06-01T19:30:46Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Bernadette Peters > Patti Lupone > Glenn Close > Nathan Lane:D Lupone is hardly a diva, and Peters definitely isn’t. In my book, _diva_ involves thinking you are better than you are, which is clearly impossible in Bernadette’s case. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_of_Lucan)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/54 "2011-06-01T19:48:09Z")
My response on reading the article was that the only racist inolved is Naomi Campbell, who has decided to read racism into an ad about tempermental divas and chocolate. She is a former diva who is now known only for her ill-manners and mistreatment of her staff. She is determined to do anything to revive her career, and knows well that it’s not racist. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/55 "2011-06-01T20:07:34Z")
> [@kapri](#): > > As a white person do I get to decide what’s racist? > [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I will say, however, that it must come as a huge relief to minorities that a bunch of whiteys on a messageboard are so willing to go on record as saying what is and isn’t racist. If white people aren’t ever able or allowed to recognize racism then there’s no hope of ever doing away with it, is there? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/56 "2011-06-01T20:37:03Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Yeah referring to black people as chocolate is racist in my opinion. Good thing for them that no reasonable argument can be made that the ad does that, then. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_of_Lucan)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/57 "2011-06-01T21:40:15Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I will say, however, that it must come as a huge relief to minorities that a bunch of whiteys on a messageboard are so willing to go on record as saying what is and isn’t racist. I understand that you mean well by this comment, but you are mistaken. If your jeer were correct, then there would be no objective way to assess the existence of racism in a situation. You suggest that the only way to assess its existence is by checking the subjective feelings of potential victims. If they feel racism, it exists. Of course their view is relevant, and is highly likely to be accurate as a guide to the existence or non-existence of racism. However, it is not conclusive proof, and others are entitled to test whether the potential victim is mistaken. Suppose I read your comments, and I feel you are prejudiced against Irish people like me. On your logic, I alone am right. You cannot validly decide if my view is correct, because I am the potential victim and feel you are racist. That would not be realistic. Instead, you should respect my view that racism is occurring, but you are entitled to query it and to test the accuracy of my view. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/58 "2011-06-01T21:54:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I can’t think of any reason they’d have chosen to use Campbell other than her race. Even if the effect doesn’t work out to be racist, it seems to me that the intent pretty clearly was. Yeah, I’m sorry, but I have to agree with this. I don’t of myself as quick to be offended, but this seems, at best, to be in bad taste. Racist? I can’t say. Racially tone deaf? Yeah, I’d think so. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/59 "2011-06-01T22:11:20Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > If white people aren’t ever able or allowed to recognize racism then there’s no hope of ever doing away with it, is there? I never said white people can’t or shouldn’t be allowed to recognize racism. In fact, the majority demographic absolutely needs to be able to see racism, to acknowledge it, and stop it. I am saying that if a minority culture is feeling marginalized and expresses that viewpoint, it is at the least unthinking and tacky and at the most oppressive, for the majority culture to tell them their opinions are unfounded and there is, in fact, no racism there. ---
**Author:** ![Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f6c823/32.png) [@Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lo-Slung_Denim)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907/60 "2011-06-01T22:11:44Z")
I think it’s a stupid ad, but I don’t think there was racist intent. I wonder if she’s got so riled because of the diamonds too? She was involved in some blood diamond war crime trial I think. Agree with poster upthread who described her as a twat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-advertisement-racist-to-you/583907.md?page=4)