On Tuesday, June 23rd, Nestlé announced that it will change the names of popular lollies Red Skins and Chicos. According to a statement, the company believes these names “have overtones which are out of step with Nestle’s values, which are rooted in respect.”
Redskin has long been used as a derogative term for Native Americans, while Chico has been used as a derogatory term for people of Latin-American descent.
“This decision acknowledges the need to ensure that nothing we do marginalises our friends, neighbours and colleagues,” Nestle said in a statement on Tuesday.
“This is just part of looking at where we want to be as a company and making sure we don’t do and say things that marginalise people,” they said.
Red Skins and Chicos are produced for Nestle by Allen’s, who released this statement: “At Allen’s we are about creating smiles. Today we announced that we will change the name of Red Skins and Chico lollies.
“This decision acknowledges the need to keep creating smiles, ensuring that nothing we do marginalises our friends, neighbours and colleagues, or is out of step with our values.”
In completely unsurprising news, Pauline Hanson has offered her unwelcome hot take on the Nestlé decision — condemning the decision to rebrand was “pathetic” and an example of “caving to the hysterical left’s demands”.
“Pathetic… the only way to describe companies and politicians dealing with the cancel culture epidemic,” the One Nation leader wrote on her Facebook page.
“I keep telling people that caving in to the hysterical left’s demands only makes things worse,” Hanson said.
Incredible that Pauline Hanson believes there’s a cult of hysterical lefties mercilessly campaigning for Nestlé to rebrand their sweets. Though us “social justice warriors” certainly welcome these necessary rebranding decisions, the capitalist motivations are glaringly mercenary.
Pauline, hun, we’re too busy campaigning to abolish the police to worry about two of the shittest sweets on the market.
