Introduction
Even though slavery has been abolished in the United States, the high-profile scandals of black people’s rights infringement still occur. Many fields do not take into account the interests of black individuals. As a result, the situation escalates, and the Black Lives Matter movement is proof of this pattern (Taylor 41). The paper aims to examine cases of discrimination and racism in the modern world through the fashion, food, toy, cosmetic, and health sectors.
Main body
Gucci House released a jumper for sale, which was later criticized by users for its racist nature. The wardrobe item with a controversial style was a black balaclava sweater with red fringing in the form of large lips on the collar and an opening for the mouth in the middle. In social networks, people found similar to the comedians’ image, whose caricature depicts black people (BBC News Business). At the beginning of the 19th century, a folk theater in the USA, known as the Minstrel Show, popularized comedians in black makeup who mocked African-Americans by depicting their accent (Hornback 131). Scenes with actors grimed by black people abounded in prejudice and offensive stereotypes, and the wardrobe item became the subject of ridicule.
Accusations of racism also touched the food sector, including popular products. For example, PepsiCo Corporation’s Aunt Jemima logo has an image of a dark-skinned woman, the heroine of a song from the famous minstrel show at the end of the XIX century (BBC News World). It is noted that this portrait offends the image of a black servant in a white family. Along with PepsiCo, Mars Inc also plans to change Uncle Ben’s rice product packaging, featuring an elderly African American who worked for a Texas farmer (BBC News World). PepsiCo also announced that it would provide more than $ 5 million over five years to support the African American community (BBC News World). Therefore, many companies are changing their product to achieve racial equality in all areas of life.
In the United States, large retailers announce that they will no longer lock individual products for representatives of the African American community in separate boxes. According to Neil and Brown, the woman who faced this problem stated that she felt shame and humiliation. The Walmart hypermarket chain announced the cessation of this practice (The New York Times). The intensified struggle of blacks for their rights has helped African Americans achieve justice from cosmetic stores and drugstore chains that sell cosmetics.
Another well-known case was related to the Easter set, and in a box of sweets worth eight pounds were three sweet ducks. According to Young, Products made of white, milk, and dark chocolate were signed “fluffy”, “crispy”, and “ugly” (The Independent News). A dark chocolate duck attracted the special attention of visitors to the store with the signature “ugly”. The supermarket temporarily removed the product from sale and changed the packaging design. Representatives of Waitrose apologized to customers and explained that the chocolate set was named after the cartoon “Ugly Duckling” shot by Disney based on a fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson (Young, The Independent News). Thus, it is another case of discrimination that occurred in modern society.
The coronavirus pandemic revealed an unsightly picture of modern America. Black Americans are more dependent on public transportation and less likely to work from home. Moreover, they make up a significant part of the critical workers; hence they exposure to Covid-19. According to Pilkington, the excessive mortality that makes up black individuals’ lives three times more than whites causes mass unrest (The Guardian News). Consequently, the country is still racially divided and continues to lack equality.
In conclusion, the blackface genre and other racist items flourished in the United States when black people did not have fundamental civil rights and served the fun of a purely white audience. However, remnants of past centuries are still in society, and the appearance of comic style in modern brands carries a racist character that insists on public discontent. Cosmetic and health sector cases are also associated with the dissemination of negative stereotypes about black people.
Works Cited
“Aunt Jemima to change branding based on ‘racial stereotype’“, BBC News World. 2020, Web.
“Gucci withdraws jumper after ‘blackface’ backlash“, BBC News Business. 2019, Web.
Hornback, Robert. Racism and Early Blackface Comic Traditions: From the Old World to the New. Springer, 2018.
Neil, Vigdor and Elisha Brown, “Walmart Says It Will No Longer Lock Up African-American Beauty Products“, The New York Times, 2020, Web.
Pilkington, Ed. “Black Americans dying of Covid-19 at three times the rate of white people“, The Guardian News, 2020, Web.
Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta. From# BlackLivesMatter to black liberation. Haymarket Books, 2016.
Young, Sarah. “Waitrose Accused of Racism over ‘Ugly’ Easter Chocolate Duckling”, The Independent News. 2019, Web.