Hundreds of users reacted with outrage to an Instagram post by Bahlsen on Valentine's Day.

Bahlsen: A product is renamed after accusations of racism! – The most important thing at the beginning:

Chocolate-covered waffles, which have been in the Bahlsen range for decades, are called “Africa”. An Instagram post on Valentine's Day drew accusations of racism. Bahlsen has now reacted and will rename the product.

Why “Africa”?

If you ask Bahlsen why the chocolate-covered waffles were given the name “Africa,” the answer is that different continents were named after various products in the 1950s and 1960s.
For the special waffles, the name “Africa” referred to the largest cocoa-growing region in the world, namely the Ivory Coast and Ghana, i.e. West Africa.

The wafer sheets covered “with lots of chocolate” have been in the biscuit manufacturer Bahlsen’s range for decades. They have always been called “Africa”.
The company probably never thought that this could lead to accusations of racism.

Reactions on Instagram

On Valentine's Day, the company asked in an Instagram post who they would most like to share the cookies with today. The picture depicted a scene in which two people were drinking coffee together and snacking on some Bahlsen cookies.
But soon there were comments like: “A brown cookie called Africa ? For real?”

Concrete consequences

On Monday, the Instagram post was updated with Bahlsen now responding to user opinions. Bahlsen distances himself from racism and discrimination in all forms and also states that racist ideas never played a role in the choice of the product name in the 1950s.
Not all users can understand the outrage surrounding the name. But for Bahlsen it is a valid reason that some people associate the product name with racism to find a new name for the waffles soon.

Source: Neue Westfälische
Article image: Shutterstock / By Claudio Divizia


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