Racist name of ice cream
During summer 2009 the newest product of an Austrian ice cream maker triggered a heated debate about racist language in advertisement. The ice cream was being marketed under the name “Mohr im Hemd” [Moor in a Shirt] and promoted with the slogan, “I want moor!” Members of the Austrian black community, anti-racism initiatives like ZARA and some journalists criticised the use of the term “moor” as racist based on its origins in the colonial period. A lively discussion ensued on the forums of the FM4 radio station, in which advocates of using non-racist language and people who didn't want their traditional dessert taken away confronted each other. Similar discussions were found on the forums of Austrian newspapers and also Austrian television programme reported about the incident.
The criticism convinced the ice cream manufacturer not to continue the large-scale advertising campaign. The ice cream did retain its name.
The discussion was continued in March 2011, when a Journalist found the name “Lumumba” on a menu of a coffee shop in the first district of Vienna. The beverage referred to a alcoholic hot chocolate with whipped cream on top of it. Lumumba was a Congolese politician and member of the independence movement. The journalist took a photo of the beverage and published it on Facebook, thereby initiating a hot debate on whether this racism was involved or not.
Sources: Claudia Unterweger, Will i mohr? 2009-07-20, http://fm4.orf.at/stories/1620176/#forum, Date of access: 2011-10-30. Der Standard, 2009-07-22, http://derStandard.at/1246542755878/Eskimo-Werbung-regt-auf-I-will-mohr-Werberat-prueft, Date of access: 2011-10-30. ZARA Report 2009, http://www.zara.or.at/_wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ZaraReport_09Engl.pdf, Date of access: 2011-10-30. AfrikaNet, 2009-07-31, http://www.afrikanet.info/menu/news/datum/2009/07/31/m-im-hemd-und-die-rassistische-paranoia-mancher-autochtochne-oesterreichern/, Date of access: 2011-10-30. Presseschau: Diskussion zum "Mohr im Hemd", 2009-07-29, http://www.zara.or.at/index.php/archiv/2645, Date of access: 2011-10-30. Der Standard, 2011-03-24, http://derStandard.at/1297821366449/Brickners-Blog-Rassistisch-trinken, Date of access: 2011-10-30.
