Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Racist Ice Cream?

What do you think of this ice cream container? When I saw this at the supermarket in Lima, Peru, I just laughed and had to take a photo of it. Is what I was seeing for real? To top it off, just minutes before this supermarket stop, our Peru tour guide was telling us in a matter of fact way that African (South) Americans are not economically successful but instead make the best athletes because of their physique, and that Asian (South) Americans are economically successful because they are all smart and do well in school. I mouthed a wide-eyed "Oh my gosh!" to Kevin and we both had to chuckle and shake our heads in disbelief. It's interesting that the same racial stereotypes in North America hold true in the continent of South America.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

When is this product line hitting the States? What are the Latino and Asian equivalent flavors?

mainlandgal said...

I think if they sold Banana flavored ice cream with an Asian American face on the container, Strawberry with an American Indian, and Mocha Java with a Latino/a, the company would be in real trouble. (And if it did hit the the shelves in the U.S. I strongly believe that there would be protest against the consumption and marketing of this product.)