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livia a. aliberti ‏/ Twitter

‘Racist’ chocolate Easter ducks pulled from shelves

The supermarket has since replaced the collection.

 

Samira Sadeque

IRL

Posted on Apr 10, 2019   Updated on May 20, 2021, 3:12 pm CDT

British supermarket chain Waitrose is in hot water after branding chocolate Easter ducks in a manner many found racist.

The collection of three featured a milk chocolate duck named “Crispy,” a white chocolate (or yellow one, really) called “Fluffy,” and a dark chocolate one named, uh, “Ugly.”

A Twitter user shared her concern in March, after seeing the ducks for sale and overhearing other customers complaining.

https://twitter.com/livia_aliberti/status/1103692238272499714

The names of the ducks are said to have been inspired by Danish author Hans Christian Anderson’s children’s story The Ugly Duckling. However, in 2019, that connection will likely fly over customers’ heads as they shop for Easter candy. Also, the “ugly duckling” has traditionally been described as gray in color before realizing she was a beautiful swan, not dark brown.

Many did not understand how this mistake could have happened. 

Waitrose has heard the feedback and removed the ducks from its aisles a few weeks ago. The chain also apologized in a statement emailed to the Daily Dot.

“We are very sorry for any upset caused by the name of this product, it was absolutely not our intention to cause any offence,” Waitrose said. “We removed the product from sale several weeks ago while we changed the labelling and our ducklings are now back on sale.”   

Meanwhile, Twitter user Livia A. Aliberti, who first called out the supermarket chain, has faced a flurry of backlash. Beyond the usual comments shitting on “political correctness,” some said her complaint was making light of other, more complex issues of racism.

https://twitter.com/themogoat/status/1115663477920673794

https://twitter.com/edwin_afc/status/1115718255166017538

While it may appear trivial to some, perhaps that is both the point and the problem: Racism is present even in the simplest, everyday things and that infiltrates into much bigger, more obvious, possibly violent things. None of it needs to be normalized.

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*First Published: Apr 10, 2019, 9:54 am CDT