Human Rights Group Calls on Dunkin Donuts to Remove Racist Ad
A human rights group is calling on Dunkin’ Donuts to remove an ad that they say is offensive.
The ad, currently running in Thailand, features a woman covered in black with only her lips colored pink, similar to that of the popular Minstrel Show images of early 20th century America.
Human Rights Watch calls the ad “bizarre and racist.”
In posters and TV commercials, the campaign shows the woman with a shiny jet black, 1950s-style beehive hairdo holding a bitten black doughnut alongside the slogan: “Break every rule of deliciousness.”
Human Rights Watch said it was shocked to see an American brand name running an advertising campaign that would draw “howls of outrage” if released in the United States.
The campaign hasn’t ruffled many in Thailand, where it’s common for advertisements to inexplicably use racial stereotypes. A Thai brand of household mops and dustpans called “Black Man” uses a logo with a smiling black man in a tuxedo and bow tie. One Thai skin whitening cream runs TV commercials that say white-skinned people have better job prospects than those with dark skin.
The CEO for Dunkin’ Donuts in Thailand referred to the protest as “paranoid American thinking.”
Thoughts on the ad?
Is Human Rights Watch just being paranoid or do they have a legitimate claim?
Sound off below!