Waitrose withdraws ‘racist’ chocolate ducklings amid complaints
An Easter trio of chocolate ducklings has waddled into a Waitrose ‘racism’ storm after shoppers observed that the dark chocolate figurine was branded ‘ugly’ while its white chocolate counterpart was referred to as ‘fluffy.’
Waitrose withdraws ‘racist’ chocolate ducklings amid complaints
Rather than duck the issue Waitrose immediately apologised for its unintended slight, withdrawing the £8 treats from sale once it was made aware of the potential for ulterior interpretations while it redesigned the packaging to erase references to ‘fluffy’, ‘crispy’ and ‘ugly’.
A Waitrose spokesman said: "We are very sorry for any upset caused by the name of this product, it was absolutely not our intention to cause any offence. We removed the product from sale several weeks ago while we changed the labelling and our ducklings are now back on sale."
The chocolate treats are believed to be a seasonal reference to the Hans Christian Andersen tale of ‘The Ugly Duckling’ in which a ‘duckling’ sheds its feathers to become a swan.
Waitrose isn't the only brand to fall foul of racist connotations with Heineken forced to pull its own 'Lighter is Better' campaign just last month.
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