http://www.theroot.com/buzz/disneys-black-princess-sells-watermelon-candy?wpisrc=root_more_news
We went over this all week and you knew it was gonna be the test on Friday. But you still flunked.
I actually find it kind of amusing that the product went through.
Devil’s advocate here>
1.The black people love watermelon stereotype is not well known outside the USA at all, was the person who did the graphic design on the packet from the USA or aware of it?
2.I have one of these strips I bought for my son, except his has characters from some animated kid’s show on the pack BUT it does include vanilla and watermelon as flavors, so it seems these are common flavors on this type of candy.
As presented, the boxes and flavours look racist.
Not using them this way, or swapping them to avoid the look of racism is equally racist.
What to do?
Ironically, I would have expected them to go for the obvious. If Snow White is selling vanilla, I figured they’d have Tiana selling chocolate.
But watermelon? That’s just over the top.
Chocolate is not a flavor I have ever seen on this type of candy, in fact if anything vanilla is the odd one out as it is the only flavor that isn’t a fruit.
Prince Charming could sell the fruits?
The vanilla side is Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, FTR.
What I’d love to see…
In the Disney Seshul Delights Adult Store…
Snow White brand chastitiy belts and Tiana brand 18" vibrators…
I’ll admit I have no idea what a “dipping stick” is. I was thinking it was kind of like pocky sticks.
Candy sticks shaped like tongue depressors with a similar consistency to SweetTarts, that you lick, then dip into flavour powder that’s rather like the stuff in Pixy Stix.
Theoretically… I always ended up doing that once or twice, then just eating the stick, and getting the flavour stuff with my fingers. >_>
It is a hard candy stick that comes inside a small pouch along with six or so pouches of flavored sugar powder, you’re supposed to lick or wet the stick and then dip it into the powder to consume it.
At Disney World’s Pleasure Island in Orlando , they used to have a lingerie store called “Jessica’s” (meaning Jessica Rabbit, of course).
Sadly, it didn’t last long.
I wasn’t aware of this stereotype.
Pictures of Jessica’s (Sign and interior):
If they depicted her with her face buried in a piece of watermelon with juice dribbling down her chin I could see the outrage, but this? Should candy or other food producers just avoid anything watermelon flavored lest some advertising person slips up and depicts a black person - gasp - enjoying it?
I think it’s more SMH than outrage. Disney does have a history with racist cartoons. There was even criticism of The Princess and the Frog as mentioned in the article. It won’t cause Limbaugh level backlash. It’s not one of those watermelon eatin’ coon postcards but you do have to wonder what they were thinking. At least I do. They could have chosen [del]grape[/del]cherry.
Years ago I saw Dalmatian-patterned (fake) fur coats for sale for children and adults in a Disney catalog. What were they thinking? And yes, it was during a year when they released one of the live-action 101 Dalmatians moves, and they had 101 Dalmatians art on the pages where the coats were models.
I suspect someone OK’d it who wasn’t familiar with the stereotype. Given the amount of different types of Princess merc Disney churns out, having the black princess stamped on something people would find offensive was more or less inevitable.
You sure that wasn’t Cruela De Vil Halloween costume?
It’s definitely iffy at best, but having Aurora sell the Vanilla flavor pushes it into absurdity. I just started laughing.