Nutella Apologizes For Praising ‘Racist’ Cartoon Shared On Social Media
Image via Sklo Studio / Shutterstock.com
Nutella is stirring up some wrath for commending a “racist” cartoon shared by an Instagram user.
The offending illustration shows a black child, along with two white children who have Nutella smeared around their mouths. The caption reads, “Who ate all the Nutella?” to which the obvious suspects point at the character with the darkest skin.
The image is accompanied with a hashtag for World Nutella Day, which fell on 5 February.
Nutella’s Instagram account then responded to the post by writing, “You’re the best for helping us celebrate World Nutella Day. Keep the fun going.”
Naturally, the move did not sit well with those who came across the comment. While it has been deleted, Facebook user Keelie Grindley managed to capture some screenshots of the “racist” response and shared them online.
“I came across this racist AF post on Instagram, only to see YOU (with the certified [Instagram] blue tick), actually support this b***s**t in the comments section,” she wrote.
The Facebook user also pointed out Nutella’s use of the word “fun” in the comment, and said, “I do not see any ‘fun’ in making fun of people’s skin color.”
“Great to see such a huge company like yours condoning racism on social media,” she added.
Nutella’s parent company, Ferrero, has since apologized for the gesture. A spokesperson told The Independent, “We truly apologize to anyone we may have unintentionally offended,” and explained that the comment was “posted in error.”
Ferrero also said the comment was deleted within 10 minutes as an employee had realized the mistake.
The company furthered that it was “against any form of” racism or hate speech, and had no intention of being associated with such motivations “nor individuals who post these types of messages.” It concluded that more measures would be taken to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.
So Nutella - I see its “World Nutella Day”. I came across this racist AF post on Instagram, only to see YOU (with the...
Posted by Keelie Grindley on Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Posted by Keelie Grindley on Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Posted by Keelie Grindley on Wednesday, February 5, 2020
[via Independent, images via various sources]
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