In the latest incident of "Thailand Offends People Yet Again", the local Dunkin' Donuts franchise has recently come under harsh criticism. No, it isn't because they came out with a nasty pla ra-flavoured pastry, nor is it because customers were feeling cheated that their doughnuts had a hole in it (hardy har har).
The reason for the uproar pertains to a campaign Dunkin' Donuts Thailand launched to promote their new "Charcoal Donut". The ad shows a woman with blackface make-up holding a partially eaten black doughnut with a slogan in Thai that reads: "Break every rule of deliciousness".
Unfortunately, the only rule this ad broke was apparently that of political correctness, as American citizens, the mainstream media and even human rights organisations pointed out the insensitivity of flaunting an image that's reminiscent of offensive stereotypes for black people that were used in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
A representative of Human Rights Watch in Asia told the Associated Press: "It's both bizarre and racist that Dunkin' Donuts thinks that it must colour a woman's skin black and accentuate her lips with bright pink lipstick to sell a chocolate doughnut. Dunkin' Donuts should immediately withdraw this ad, publicly apologise to those it's offended and ensure this never happens again."
The US headquarters of Dunkin' Donuts did issue an apology shortly after by tweeting, "We are working with our Thailand franchisee to immediately pull the ad. DD recognises the insensitivity of this spot."
The chief executive for Dunkin' Donuts in Thailand was less than sympathetic by calling the outrage "paranoid American thinking". He went on to tell the Associated Press, "It's absolutely ridiculous. We're not allowed to use black to promote our doughnuts? I don't get it. What's the big fuss? What if the product was white and I painted someone white, would that be racist?"
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Those are some pretty heated exchanges to have over fried chocolate dough! I hope our future history textbooks don't have a chapter dedicated to the Great Doughnut Diplomatic Crisis of 2013 because that would just be really mind-boggling.
Granted, it's understandable that this ad could be perceived as racist, especially in a country that's still arguably sensitive about their historical treatment of African-Americans.
And it's understandable that this ad wouldn't be perceived as racist, especially in a country that still stereotypes people by their skin colour.
Of course, everyone's opinion will be different - it just depends where you're coming from.
But what actually offends me most about this ad is that it doesn't make any sense! Thailand is no stranger to showing the world that we have a limited and embarrassing understanding of sensitive historical topics, but I'll be damned if our country is going to sully our advertising skills too!
First off, I have no idea why the woman and the Charcoal Donut have to be the same colour. Are they trying to say you should put on sunscreen before eating the doughnut because it's going to cause unnecessary pigmentation? Or is it a lame "You are what you eat" metaphor? Does that mean the woman is eventually going to turn into a doughnut? If that's the case, then why the hell would anyone want to eat it if it's going to make you round?
Secondly, how is eating this doughnut "Breaking every rule of deliciousness"? Isn't the Charcoal Donut just chocolate-flavoured? I can assure you that chocolate is pretty damn delicious based on my vast experience with boring nights/PMS cravings/bad breakups.
Or, is the company trying to be provocative by saying that Thai people might only consider light-coloured foods delicious because of our own penchant for "whiteface-ing" ourselves? That seems like a very simplistic correlation that's not even true! Haven't you ever seen Thai people slurping up squid ink spaghetti? Somebody should make a whitening cream for their mouths after they eat that, because their teeth need it more than their face!
Obviously Don Draper wasn't the genius behind this ad, because it's causing more confusion than answers. But I think we can all agree, whoever came up with it is pretty damn (dough)nutty.G