A Russian ice cream company based in Yekaterinburg has come under criticism for an ad featuring Barack Obama. The ad promotes a chocolate-and-vanilla ice cream called "Duet" and announces "The Flavor of the Week! Black in White!".
A lot of people who have seen the ad think it is racist. Voskhod (Sunrise) - the company that designed the ad claims that the image wasn't meant to have any racist meaning.
There has been a sarcastic strain of humor in Russia on the part of people who seem to think the election of a black President in America is amusing. For example the image of Obama was used in an ad campaign to advertise tanning salons in Moscow. It's probably no coincidence that it was in Russia that Italian President Berlusconi chose to make his crack about Obama being "tanned".
Russian tanning clinic ad
featuring Obama
Obama's image was used in Moscow to advertise a chain of dental clinics. A smiling Obama showing his pearly whites appears beneath a banner announcing "Full Stomatological Democracy!"... whatever that means.
The humor also extends to a few Russian journalists who find it amusing to refer to Obama by the faux-patronymic, Barack Husseinovich.
A Voskhod spokesperson claims the intention behind the ice cream ad campaign is "just fun".
But not funny. For one thing it's a bit unusual to select the image of an American President or any head of state to advertise ice cream. If Obama had been a white President his image wouldn't have appeared in Russia advertising a "vanilla special" ice cream or skin lightening treatments for that matter. It's clear what the focus of the humor is. Is it racist? You be the judge.
The humor also extends to a few Russian journalists who find it amusing to refer to Obama by the faux-patronymic, Barack Husseinovich.
A Voskhod spokesperson claims the intention behind the ice cream ad campaign is "just fun".
But not funny. For one thing it's a bit unusual to select the image of an American President or any head of state to advertise ice cream. If Obama had been a white President his image wouldn't have appeared in Russia advertising a "vanilla special" ice cream or skin lightening treatments for that matter. It's clear what the focus of the humor is. Is it racist? You be the judge.
