German candy manufacturer Haribo, known for making intestine-destroying gummy bears, recently had to pull a line of black licorice in Sweden due to complaints that the candy's face-shaped designs were racist.
German racist candy pulled from shelves
Haribo's "Skipper Mix" contains licorice pieces in the shapes of distorted black faces, African masks and oriental caricatures. According to a company spokesman, the sweets were themed around items "a sailor who traveled the world" might have encountered and brought home.
Haribo said it had taken into account the critical comments made over the Internet in recent weeks.Packages of "Skipper Mix" have been pulled from shelves in Denmark and Sweden as a result of social media backlash. The thing is, this candy has been around for years. Somebody just realized this shit is racist?
"We decided that we could keep the product while removing the parts that certain consumers found offensive," Haribo Sweden head Ola Dagliden told AFP.
The offending sweets are in the shape of ethnic masks or facial representations that resemble primitive African, Asian or Native American art.
They depicted what "a sailor who travelled the world" in days would have brought home in days gone by, Dagliden said.
"It wasn't something we saw as having negative connotations."
Also, black licorice is gross.