‘Lil Monkey’ is ‘politically incorrect’
Costco apparently was selling a black doll wearing a hat reading “Lil’ Monkey” and packaged with a stuffed monkey and monkey-themed accessories. So apparently nobody at Costco ever stopped to think, “Hey, maybe this isn’t a good idea.” But in addition, the toy manufacturer never stopped to think either. One of the things that boggles me the most about racism is how many people were witnesses and never bothered to say anything. The doll went from the drawing board to production. How many people were involved along the way?
What does the CEO of the toy company have to say?
Mary Gustaff, CEO of The Brass Key, said her company did not intend to offend anyone.
“It’s not within our realm of thinking,” she said. “We just don’t think like that.”
She apologized that the doll offended some people.
Her company is a family business in its third generation, Gustaff said.
The Seattle-based company employs young, diverse people, she said.
“We’re good people,” Gustaff said.
She called their products, “Sweet, pure items.”
Source. Translation: We don’t think about racism because it doesn’t really affect us. And we are going to pull out the whole “offended” thing–because obviously it’s about people being offended when we didn’t mean anything at all by our actions. We’re a wholesome third-generation company and we have one or two people of color on staff! We are not racists! What else?
“It’s so unfortunate because now it’s being portrayed as a purposeful act to be disrespectful and that’s not true. We really apologize. We don’t think in that way. We don’t operate in that kind of thinking. We have a really diverse family-operated company that’s been around for 28 years. What would we have to gain for heaven’s sake?”
Source. Translation: Unfortunate, because we’re getting bad publicity, and unfortunate that those sorry people don’t understand that our intention has always been good. Unfortunate that we don’t understand that it’s not about intention, it’s about the effect.
And Mary? You might want to learn the formula for apologizing: Say you’re sorry. Make amends. Then STFU.
In addition to the we didn’t mean it theme and the sorry if folks were offended, we have the attempt by the media to avoid the r-word at all costs. It was “possibly racially insensitive.” It was “politically incorrect.”
An African American doll wearing a hat that says “Lil Monkey” on the front has been pulled off Costco shelves after people complained that it’s politically incorrect.
The doll, called “Cuddle with Me,” is manufactured by a company called BrassKey Keepsakes and the CEO of the company, Mary Gustaff, says the derogatory headgear somehow didn’t move the needle on their political-correctness meter.
C’mon. You can say the word. R-r-r-r-racist! Once more: R-r-r-racist!
Like this:
Posted on August 14, 2009, in i speak racismese, systemic, wtf. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
As always, your translations are spot on.
This is disappointing, because I’ve always found Costco to be one of the better companies as far as their products, the way they treat their employees, and being more on hte progressive side of the house.
My question is always hiring. How many POCs do they have in leadership positions. I’m thinking this would have been caught if their power structure was actually diverse.
Well, I actually believe that given the proliferation of minstrel Obama posters, this was done on purpose, somebody is probably laughing about it right now. This doll is too obvious for someone not to get it, I expect this doll will be showing up at the tea bagger events as well.
HOLY SHIT. How can they not see the racism? The privilege, it burns.
My concern is how many other products are out there like this. Somebody was aware of what they were doing when they created the doll. Subliminal racism is a growing concern since it goes over the heads of a lot of people, but it’s impact is still recorded on some level.