About that eskimo pie thing.

[labellementeuse]

So, in New Zealand we have a couple of long-standing sweets called Eskimos - a kind of lolly, and an icecream (they're not related to each other at all.) An Inuit woman visited NZ recently and pointed out that this was, you know, kind of OFFENSIVE. Naturally, everyone has responded to this with the usual PC GONE MAD!1! nonsense.

This is a pathetic response. For a start, if we had any other culture represented in a comestible, ffs - well, we wouldn't. Little chocolates called Maoris? Or - well, insert any ethnic group here. No. Not possible. Think about how ridiculous and offensive that sounds to you and then think about why your response is so different.

AND THEN, on top of that ridiculousness. Eskimo is a kind of complicated word. It refers to a range of indigenous peoples of the top of North America. Some of them don't have a problem with it (Alaskans, apparently.) Some of them feel that Eskimo is a pejorative (Canada, Greenland.) Some of them aren't sure. My point is that the associations with this word are kind of a linguistic nightmare. It's not like having a lolly called Maori. It's a bit more like having a lolly called Horis (an offensive word in New Zealand for Maori, somewhat akin to nigger, perhaps a little milder.)

My point? COME THE FUCK ON, CADBURY. Don't you already make the same stuff as Penguins, anyway? Ugh.

Comments

[botrytis.livejournal.com]

I doubt that the name Eskimo Pie was a New Zealand invention:

Eskimo Pie is a brand name for a chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream bar wrapped in foil, the first such dessert sold in the United States. It is now marketed by Nestlé, owners of Dreyer's of the Western United States, and Edy's of the Eastern United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo_Pie

Although admittedly I was suspecting a UK origin. I've always known Eskimo Pies, as, well, Eskimo Pies. I've never truncated them to 'Eskimo'.

Re: the reaction, well, guess what, those who are outraged are more likely to rage than those who think "eh." and people don't like being told they're in the wrong.

The lolly is a product of another era. Given how other lollies have changed (spaceman cigarettes, I'm looking at you) or vanished (sniff, snifters) ... I'm surprised that we still have them.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

It doesn't matter whether or not we invented them. The question here is about whether it's appropriate to continue selling them under that name in this country.

As to why they're still being sold (and for the record, you can still get snifters in the big bags, just not boxes) my guess is that it has to do with their presence in lolly cake.

[dazyndara.livejournal.com]

You can still get snifters?! From where? How much? (I have a friend who has spent lots buying them by the bag on trademe...)

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

AFAIK... everywhere? But maybe I'm thinking of jaffas :-/

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

God, sorry, I am spamming your LJ. Lolly cake can *totally* be made sans eskimo lollies! We always used those hard marshmallow lolly things that are roundish and flat on the bottom.

Ew, the concept of chopping up Eskimos to put them in cake is exceptionally wrong.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Spam away, that's what it's here for...

I'm not commenting on your freakish lolly cake practises (;)) but: yup, "chopping up Eskimos to put them in cake" = wow, that sounds AWFUL.