Haribo stops making liquorice candy shaped like African masks after racism complaint | The Raw Story

Haribo stops making liquorice candy shaped like African masks after racism complaint | The Raw Story: According to the New Straits Times, customers in Sweden began complaining after Twitter users posted pictures of the Asian, Native American and African caricatures contained within the “Skipper Mix.” A description of its contents claims that it includes “many different delightful shapes [like] sea creatures, boats, little houses, bears and ridged cylinders.”

The head of Haribo Sweden, Ola Dagliden, told the AFP that the offending candies were meant to represent what “a sailor who travelled the world” in “days gone by” would have collected. That the “sailor” pictured on the packaging is an accordion-wielding white man contributed to Twitter complaints about the company’s racial insensitivity. According to Saam Kapadia, the white sailor with his “treasure” of racist caricature liquorice candies brought to mind the legacy of colonialism and the slave trade.