Blackface outrage at potting mix logo
A Kiwi gardening company is defending one of its product logos, amid concerns the imagery is racist.
Yates, which was founded in Auckland in 1883, sells its seedraising mix under the name ‘‘Black Magic’’ along with a caricature of a small black genie.
Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox was astounded when shown the image. ‘‘Blackface characters, and using them for marketing, is an inappropriate thing,’’ she said.
‘‘It just is remarkable to me that we continue to use this kind of image, and think that this is OK in the 21st century.
‘‘Yates should be re-examining their product range, and ensuring that they are not perpetrators of institutional racism, or just blatant ignorance.’’
Kara Beckford, who is of mixed black and Maori descent, said the image conjured up primitive ideas of what it meant to be black. ‘‘Black magic is associated with evil and hedonism, which is derived from when they used to call Africa ‘the dark continent’.’’
David Mortimer, New Zealand country manager for Yates, said the logo was not intended to be offensive and was created when the mix was first developed in the 1950s, and workers commented it was a magical product.
‘‘It’s black because the product is black, and it’s magic, hence the genie,’’ he said. ‘‘We certainly don’t mean to cause any offence.’’
Dr Camille Nakhid, associate professor of social sciences at AUT University, said the image was problematic because it represented attitudes that were outdated and offensive.
‘‘Caricatures are usually gross exaggerations of a particular group of people, and usually they are not positive,’’ she said.
‘‘They were from a time when white people had dominance, and had the privilege of creating whatever stereotypes they wanted.
‘‘If we defend it once we are called out for it, and we continue to maintain it, then yes, we are racist.’’
Nakhid said New Zealand faced an ongoing issue with institutional racism, which she believed was demonstrated in the recent debate over Sir Peter Leitch’s comments to a young Maori woman on Waiheke Island.
‘‘This is a changing world, and we can’t continue to do the same things we did 50, 60 years ago. We don’t have that privilege any more, because people will call you to account for it.’’
Mortimer said Yates had no plans to review or change the product branding.