Seeing another post about aunt Jemima products that were discounted due to racial stereotypes I was curious what’s the worst product-fuckuo you have seen?
In Sweden we have a chocolate pastry ball that was called negerboll which translates to negro ball. Early 2000s it was deemed that it was not ok and it changed name to chocolate ball.
Bonus. https://www.testfakta.se/sv/livsmedel/article/bort-med-nidbild-pa-fazers-kinapuffar
We had the same product you mentioned in Germany, only it was called “Negerkuss” (negro’s kiss). It was than rebranded to “Dickmann’s” (Fat Man’s), which apparently didn’t sit right with the crowd as well.
They are now known as Schaumküsse (Foam Kisses) or Schokoküsse (Chocolate Kisses).
There’s however also a more elaborate pastry version of this which goes by Mohrenkopf (Mohr was considered to be the “polite” way of calling a person of color, Kopf = head), and some bakeries still make and sell them under this name.
Sounds like the “Negerkuss” (Negrokiss) or “Moorenkuss” in Germany. Nowadays it’s called “Schokokuss” (chocolate kiss) or “Dickmann” (fat man, a brand name). First time I noticed that as a kid was at a bakery that wouldn’t sell you a Negerkuss only a Schokokuss. Even our black friend didn’t get one.
Edit: Just remembered that before kiss they were called “Moorenkopf” (moor’s head). The violent implication didn’t really register until I was much older.
Not even a product but a childs game. “Wer hat Angst vorm schwarzen Mann? - Niemand!” Who is afraid of the black man? Nobody!
It’s basically about catching each other (with a ball) where you say those words in the beginning.
Fellow German here. As a child I always thought that the black man must be Death himself, wearing a black robe, his face on eternal shadow, bringing darkness to all who meet him. And of you get hit by the ball, death will come and “reap” you from the game. THAT’S someone to be afraid of.
It was only much later I learned that it could also be interpreted as a hurtful stereotype that should be avoided.
Radium or Cocaine in soft drinks.
People would actually encourage their children to throw large pointed projectiles in the air around other people.
Didn’t turn out very well. Discontinued for the most part, not so much taboo.
A little bit about Aunt Jemima for non-Americans:
The image of Jemima isn’t bad because it depicts a racial stereotype. Or not just that. The image of the Black domestic is a symbol of wealth and power. It’s meant to inspire a sense of nostalgia for the times when children were raised and food was served with black hands.
The image of the black domestic was as wide-spread, public domain, and as common as images of Uncle Sam or George Washington. It’s a cultural touchstone, and just like the Rebel Flag, that it might make people uncomfortable is half the point.
Aunt Jemima gets at the heart of race relations in the United States. She’s a caricature of blackness, created by white people, for other white people, that somehow every black American has to confront, even if only to rebel against it. Because once something has become a powerful cultural image of what you are, to most people, and maybe to yourself, you’re defined by the stereotype, even if it’s only in how far you deviate from it.
