Least surprising development of the day: German marketers prove they’re racially tone deaf AGAIN

Last time we had Mr. Wong doing wrong with its logo, now some genius in the Fatherland has actually screwed up a UNICEF ad (try it sometime) by putting a blond kid in black face in it. Quoth AdFreak:

This campaign was meant to raise support for schools in Africa, but even that part of the message is mangled by lines that sound like they’re condemning an entire continent: “In Africa, kids don’t come to school late, but not at all.” The campaign’s apparently been pulled after international criticism, although UNICEF notes that there was no “negative reaction from the German public after publication.”

Apparently they’ve stopped (?) teaching history in the German school system. Y’know, coming from the US I’m usually hesitant to throw the first stone in a racial insensitivity contest UNLESS IT’S AT THE GERMANS. (Fact that my last name is von Hoffman gives me some standing too.) Here’s a nice blanket rule for all those Deutsch marketers: Don’t use racial imagery in an ad. If you have to make sure it can’t possibly be construed as talking about THEM as not being part of US. We are the world, good. They are impoverished, bad.

Advertisement