Heinz Apologizes After Releasing 2 Racially Insensitive Ads Just Days Apart From Each Other

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Heinz is in the hot seat for two new advertisements that many find racially offensive, particularly toward Black people.

Per Bossip, Nels Abbey, a writer for the Guardian who is also Black, recently called out Heinz for its new billboard that he saw while waiting at a London train station. He snapped a photo of it and tweeted it with the caption that read in part, “Believe it or not, Black girls have Dads too.”

The ad in question shows five people: a Black bride, a white groom, an older white man and woman assumed to be the groom’s parents and an older Black woman assumed to be the bride’s mother. There is no Black father pictured.

People are upset that the ad perpetuates the stereotype that Black dads are absent from their children’s lives.

Abbey wrote an article for The Guardian expressing his thoughts: “Admittedly, the stats on single parenthood look notably vicious for Black communities. The figure in England and Wales increased from 48.5% in 2011 to 51.0% in 2021,” part of his essay read. “However, in Black communities, the synonymising of single parenthood with deadbeat fatherhood is an error. As in all communities, it is not uncommon for Black or multi-racial parents to break up or to be unmarried, but it is increasingly unusual for Black fathers not to play a super-active role in the lives of their children. The stereotypes we inherited from yesteryear are yet to be updated and are crowded out by statistics that don’t paint a full picture.”

Heinz has since issued an apology, telling The Independent: “We always appreciate members of the public’s perspective on our campaigns. We understand how this ad could have unintentionally perpetuated negative stereotypes. We extend our deepest apologies and will continue to listen, learn, and improve to avoid this happening again in the future.”

Then, just a few days later, Heinz put out an ad part of its “Heinz Smile” campaign showing a white person and a Black person smiling from ear to ear while wearing smeared ketchup around their mouths, resembling what some are calling Blackface.

Heinz once again expressed its remorse, promising to do better going forward.

“As a consumer-obsessed company, we are actively listening and learning, and sincerely apologize for any offense caused by our recent ‘Smiles’ campaign,” a Heinz representative said, according to Newser. “Although it was intended to resonate with a current pop culture moment, we recognize that this does not excuse the hurt it may have caused. We will do better. We are working to remove the advertisement immediately.”

Do you think Heinz was unaware of the potential negative impact both advertisements would have? Sound off in the comments!



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