German "Chocolate" Baby Ad Draws Heat

A German bakery owner says people are being too “oversensitive” about their chocolate advertisement, prominently featuring the photo of an African American baby. But many angry customers of Raddatz bakery located in Saxony, Germany, don’t see it that way and were seen tearing up the posters, declaring the images to be racist and offensive. The ad in question has a black shirtless baby seated adjacent to pieces of chocolate cake and brown bread that are on “special offer.”

The text reads – “Only while stocks last. Subject to changes and errors. Image is only a serving suggestion.”

“Something went wrong with this offer, but despite this, one doesn’t have to criticize shop workers or destroy posters,” declared Christoph Raddatzt, the company’s lawyer

Responding to the protesters, a statement was posted on the bakery’s website. But the tone was unapologetic, pointing out that in addition to the 580 staffed in Germany, the company has 50 employees in Namibia.

The bakery's statement continued: “The child which you see on the adverts is the little Sofiyha, whose mother Lina and father Timotheus are our staff. Because our connection with the people who work with us is very important and we are one of the most fecund companies of the region (an average of 17 births per year), the staff often make photos of their children, or the staff themselves, available for our weekly offers.”

Raddatz said the number of visits to the company’s webpage has increased by 300 percent since talk began about the commercial. “Many people are shocked that we advertise with a black girl for chocolate cake,” he said, admitting that the attention had not been planned.

He says these photos are then used as advertisements or on the side of delivery trucks with the aim of attracting attention – which it says is generally positive.

“Sadly there is in Germany a small group of over-sensitive fellow men who accuse us of spreading racist thinking – this is expressly not the case,” the statement says.


Article posted by Spencer Samaroo, Managing Director, Moo-Lolly-Bar
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