Do you find that statement racist? If you do, you’re not alone. I think it’s extremely racist, but that’s the whole point. A company in Germany is trying to cash in on the energy drink craze and is producing something along the lines of Red Bull.
They call it Black Bastard.
UPDATE March 2009: I guess this stuff didn’t really catch on, because the links to the company website are dead. Tastes like fried chicken.
I don’t know how you can look at that word combination and not come to the conclusion it’s racist. I’m sure they’ve thought of that, because if you turn to a page on their website and scroll down, you’ll see a smiling African woman wearing a Black Bastard t-shirt.
Is that supposed to act as a fig leaf? What if a pack of placard-waving demonstrators shows up at one of their so-called events? Will they hold a press conference the following Monday to announce they’re donating a quarter of profits to build schools in South Africa? Don’t hold your breath.
Germany has already been saddled with the reputation – earned or not – as a place where mobs of screaming skinheads chase foreigners through the streets like a pack of wild dogs, as a place with no-go areas where black people fear for their lives.
Is this going to help? Does anybody out there care any more about the painful effect words can have, or have they been so debased in modern society that insults that would get the shit kicked out of you in some neighbourhoods are slapped on trendy drinks at a heavy markup? How numb have we become?
© 2007 lettershometoyou
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They probaly should have named their product White Bastard.
Holy crap! Nobody in their right mind would try to launch that in the UK. Has it been around long? Have there been complaints?
I know a black man who grew up in East Germany before unification. He once told me that in Germany everyone insulted him because he was black, and when he moved to England everyone insulted him because he was German
How outrageous!
Wow. Where’s the German outcry to get this off the shelves?
No outcry so far, but then again I don’t know how many people know about it. Maybe they ARE simply unaware? I dunno. I do know that you’d never see this on the shelves of an English-speaking country.
The renamed the Negerkuß, which was the fashionable name in the 80’s for what I think are called Dickmanns today. At one point they realized it might be somewhat rascist.
Haven’t heard of this product you mention yet – but I think the trend is towards offensive attention-getting ads. The ad campaign for this new TV station (http://www.dmax.de) earlier this year had a really questionable video at their Website, claiming men are better than women because there have been so few female Nobel prize winners, etc.
Holy crap this is awful. Seriously if they wanted to call it “Hilters Power Drink”, they would be arrested on sight and thrown in jail.
Call it “Black Bastard” and somehow thats ok!!?
WTF?
i completely missed this. unbelievable. there will come a day when i’ll really feel ashamed to be german.
Hello there. I’m sorry you didn’t pick up on my sarcasm. If you truly knew me, you’d realize I am a huge liberal. I despise the war, I despise the administration, and I despise the fact that this senseless drive for profit for oil and defense contractors is killing brave Americans everyday. I equally hate the clownish argument that one cannot disagree with the war and simultaneously love the troops. It occurs to me that those who truly love the troops want to save their lives by bringing them home, not end their lives by forcing them to serve in a senseless war of rhetoric while under-armored and under- supported. I love the article, and believe the idea of moving on from the 9/11 mindset is the only way America can avoid the fate that befell the Romans, the Ottomans, the Mesopotamians, and every other citizen of a fallen empire. Sorry for the confusion, and have a wonderful evening.
There is an email address on the website. I have written and complained and I would suggest everyone else to do the same.
info (at) blackbastard (dot) de
Thanks for pointing this issue out. I am still shocked by this one. There are enough issues of racism on the table without idiots like this throwing gasoline on the fire.
chriseckel – comment left on your blog
indie – the Negerkuß is still what some people call it. Makes me cringe.
Paul B – let me know if you get any reaction to that email – there’s also a phone and fax number.
I mentioned this to our 14-yr-old a couple of days ago and his reply was “Why doesn’t this surprise me?” I guess he’s been living in Germany too long too.
Yes, I do find this racist. I’ve often experienced this kind of thing in Germany in both in advertising and just listening to people on the street. There’s a lot of consciousness-raising to be done in this country.
I don’t know – if the drink was called “white bastard” would you still think it was racist?
Black bastard is a well-known racist epithet. Anyone with English as a first language knows that. Click on the guardian link if you’re still not convinced.
Maybe in Canada or the UK, but in the US or Germany I don’t recall ever hearing that specific phrase. Of course, I heard plenty of racial insults, just not that particular one.
I suppose “white bastard” might be a common phrase in South Africa or Zimbabwe?
Your not having heard it doesn’t make it any less racist, nor does the existence of alternatives elsewhere.
OH MY. It’s incredible how either naive/ dumb or blatantly racist some people are, let alone taking a product through all steps of creation to manufacture and publicity without someone saying, “You’re an idiot.” Well, I guess someone may have said that to BB’s creator, who probably laughed in their face, thinking “free advertising.”
So with “Red Bull” you have no problem?
I mean it clearly is a racist slur against native-americans, isn’t it?
I think too they should rename “Black Bastard” to “Anthracite Bastard”.
Please. Red bull has never been used as a slur against native americans, but black bastard sure has been against africans – american or otherwise. Perhaps I should have simply ignored these people. After all, they’re merely after notoriety, and what the hell: if they get more sales that way, so much the better, right?
Are they still going, Ian? I wondered if they might have got shut down.
As for Red Bull being a slight against native Americans – pah!
I remember when I first moved to England and people seemed curious about ‘where I was from’ (it was probably the cheekbones) so when I mentioned that I was part Cree Indian they said – “oh, you mean Red Indian?” – which really cracked me up. As in Red Indians whooping and surrounding the wagon train as opposed to Indians from India? It didn’t occur to me to be offended as it was so clearly such a stupid thing to say. As Charles Dickens once said, “pity their ignorance and despise them”.
No it isn’t clearly a slur against africans – american or otherwise, not in Germany, we don’t usually talk in english between us. This term may hold a negative meaning in the U.S. and the U.K. but not in Germany. If I had seen this drink on the shelfs, before I read your entry, I wouldn’t have thought about an connections to black people at all. After all the drink is black and its name is clearly reflecting it or the other way around.
Would they have called it “Neger Bastard” you would be right, but Germans don’t associate the word
black with people of “african origion” like people living in the U.S. or U.K. .
BTW: Where do you see a “smiling African woman wearing a Black Bastard t-shirt”?
Volker,
Clearly if you’re talking about “Schwarzfahren” – riding the bus without a ticket – then black has other connotations in German – but I have certainly heard Germans refer to Africans as “Schwarzer” and considering the level of education in German schools, I’m pretty sure that any kid above the 7th grade would know what black means.
The African woman wearing the t-shirt was to be found on their website at the time of the post was written. Hey, check back. They sponsored a fashion show! Very chic. Now with a little bit of international exposure this stuff might just catch on.
Yeah you’re right we call them black, “us” white and asians (not all) yellow.
But that isn’t the point, we don’t “automatically” associate the word or the color black with people of african origion like U.S. Americans or British do.
Well, we do, and that’s my point. It’s in English, it’s offensive.
But it is produced for the German market and not for the British or the North American.
Man I’m way more articulate in German.
That said I’m aware that Black people are under constant attack from racist pricks and unthoughtful politicians, media persons etc., but I really don’t think that this is offending, not in this cultural setting.