Cadbury's Naomi Campbell ad not racist, rules watchdog

source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jun/20/cadbury-naomi-campbell-ad-not-racist

Summary

A press advertisement by Cadbury inspired an assessment by the Council of the Advertising Standards Authority into possible racism. The advertisement depicted a Cadbury chocolate bar with text saying: ‘’Move over Naomi, there’s a new diva in town’’ shocked Naomi Campbell and the group Operation Black Vote. Cadbury stated it was not a remark on Naomi Campbell’s skin colour but her diva attitude they were referring to. The Council did not see the need for further investigation into the campaign but Cadbury still made a public apology and withdrew their press advertisements.

Response

In my eyes the moment you use someone’s name in an advertisement and the person in question has a problem with it, the advertisements should be changed or dropped entirely. In this case Cadbury itself willingly dropped the advertisements and made a public apology, this I encourage greatly and shows the company has a good (in my opinion) social awareness. On the other hand I think Naomi Campbell has overreacted a bit. Though she sure is being compared to a bar of chocolate it’s not because of her colour and I believe most people would know this.

P.S. I prefer the bar of chocolate over Naomi Campbell any day.