Popular American doughnut brand, Dunkin' Donuts has reportedly apologized for its advert for a new flavour which was deemed to be 'bizzare and racist' by the Human Rights Watch.
The advertising campaign in Thailand shows a smiling woman with blackface makeup, bright pink lipstick and a jet black 1950s-style beehive hairdo holding up a bitten black doughnut while the slogan in Thai reads as 'Break every rule of deliciousness'.
The Human Rights Watch has labeled the campaign as 'insensitive' while critics said that the image is reminiscent of 19th and early 20th century American stereotypes for black people that are now considered offensive symbols of a racist era, ABC News reports.
According to the report, though the company's Thailand franchise doesn't seem ruffled with the outrageous ad, the US headquarters quickly realized the error and issued an apology while assuring that the ad would be taken off immediately.
The deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, Phil Robertson said that Dunkin' Donuts should immediately withdraw this ad, publicly apologize to those it's offended and ensure this never happens again.
Dunkin' Donuts' CEO at Thailand franchise, Nadim Salhani dismissed the criticism as 'paranoid American thinking' and 'absolutely ridiculous'.
More From This Section
Salhani argued that what if the product was white and he painted someone white, would that be racist adding that it is a marketing campaign and is working very well for the company as citing the 50 percent rise in the sales since the campaign was launched two weeks ago.
The ad features Salhani's own teenage daughter as the model, the report added.
