Heinz to axe second ad as it apologises over new racism accusations
Gray took to social media to criticise the new campaign
Heinz is understood to be “working” on the removal of a second advert after it apologised this week over an ad that many claimed was racially insensitive as it appeared to depict a fatherless black family.
Its new ‘Smiles’ campaign, which marks the Halloween season and showcases its sauce range, comprises a series of images showing models bearing sinister-like grins with an outline of tomato sauce over their lips, which is thought to reference the upcoming movie The Joker 2.
However, one particular image depicts a black person with sauce smeared around their lips, which some critics have likened to minstrel-esque blackface, a racist form of entertainment made popular in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Taking to LinkedIn, Havas creative agency Annex88 chief creative officer Andre Gray said: “How are we still lacking the diverse teams and cultural competency to have the semiotics of our imagery properly scrutinized BEFORE it gets out in the world?”
“This is how Black people have been show[n], characterized, stereotyped and dehumanized long before the Joker, and much, much more often than the Joker.”
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A spokesperson for Kraft Heinz told PRWeek UK: “As a consumer-obsessed company, we are actively listening and learning, and sincerely apologise for any offence caused by our recent ‘Smiles’ campaign.
“Although it was intended to resonate with a current pop-culture moment, we recognise that this does not justify the hurt it may have caused. We will do better. We are working to remove the advertisement immediately.”
Kraft Heinz has been contacted for comment.
3 Comments. Leave new
Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action
– Ian Fleming
Ignorance is forever.
I am sooo bored of this now….. we are people eberyone and all, We breath and live in the same skin regardless of colour whcih is errelavant.
What truly matters is our shared humanity.