licorice

A German-based candy maker has pulled their line of licorice after customers in Sweden complained that the design of the candy played on racist caricatures.

The candy, black licorice faces meant to represent a captain’s trip around the world. Instead it offended members of the Swedish community.

From The Local:

“I understand the criticism and think it’s important to listen to the customers,” the director of Haribo in Sweden, Ola Dagliden, told the Nyheter24 news site. Dagliden, who has held top position for several months, told the paper that customer complaints had started trickling in during December last year.

“After that, we made the decision to take the candy in question out of production,” he said.

Read more at The Local

The candy appeared as part of a Skipper Mix. The mix will still be sold in Sweden but will not contain the black licorice faces.

Thoughts on the candy?

Is it offensive? Or are people just placing their own racial bias on a product?

Sound off below!