Italy's state-owned railway Trenitalia has decided to replace first and second class on its high speed trains with four categories - executive, business, premium and standard.
The move by Trenitalia raised a few eyebrows because the passengers in fourth-class are so obviously at the bottom-end of the passenger pecking order... according to a Guardian article not permitted to use the on-board cafeteria and even prohibited from entering the more upscale carriages. The new arrangement drew complaints that the company was promoting segregation.
Matters took a turn for the worse when Trenitalia's web commercial appeared. Executive class showed a group of corporate looking white people settling in. Business class showed empty seats with an open tabletop ready for briefcases and laptops. Premium class showed a smiling white passenger chatting with an attendant pushing a trolley full of goodies. At the bottom of the class ladder -standard - the passengers were represented by a black family.
The ad drew a lot of negative commentary when it was profiled on the L'Espresso site.
Guardian:
It isn't the first time concerns about segregation - or the perception of it - have made the news in Italy. Over the past few years there has been a strong anti-immigrant backlash, some of it blatantly racist. In 2009 a Berlusconi ally, Matteo Silvani - Milan secretary of the anti-immigrant Northern League - said he wanted "seats and carriages reserved for the Milanese" on local transport.
Since sensitivities are high it's surprising that Trenitalia was OK with an ad that was pretty much guaranteed to provoke a negative reaction.
Following the outrage generated by the ad, the video was quickly withdrawn and replaced by a new one that shows a white family in standard class. In addition, two non-white women now feature in the executive class group.
Guardian:
Attention was first drawn to Trenitalia's video by a blogger, Alessandro Gilioli, on the website of the weekly L'Espresso, and it soon triggered a torrent of complaints. "Grotesque" and "This is called racial discrimination" were among the more polite comments on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites.
It isn't the first time concerns about segregation - or the perception of it - have made the news in Italy. Over the past few years there has been a strong anti-immigrant backlash, some of it blatantly racist. In 2009 a Berlusconi ally, Matteo Silvani - Milan secretary of the anti-immigrant Northern League - said he wanted "seats and carriages reserved for the Milanese" on local transport.
Since sensitivities are high it's surprising that Trenitalia was OK with an ad that was pretty much guaranteed to provoke a negative reaction.
Following the outrage generated by the ad, the video was quickly withdrawn and replaced by a new one that shows a white family in standard class. In addition, two non-white women now feature in the executive class group.
