A few months ago it was ColaCao, the chocolate drink brand, that ditched its decades-old song about the negrito – a patronising term for a black man – and replaced it with another jingle devoid of racist overtones. Now, the Change.org platform is saying that Lacasa, the company that produces Conguitos, should follow suit and get rid of its “adorable” mascot as the Black Lives Matter movement gains momentum in the wake of the George Floyd killing in Minnesota.
A petition on the Change.org platform has almost 5,000 signatures and the branding has caused a stir on social media, where the disproportionately large red lips of the Conguito caricatures have been remarked upon, as well as the fact that it has taken the death of George Floyd to make us aware in Spain that racism can begin with a bag of sweets.
The mascot was thought up by an ad agency in 1961 – more than 50 years ago. It is dated, like the 1985 Frigo ice cream ad with lyrics including the term negrito, and which is no longer shown on Spanish TV. Or like the caramel custard sold in the 1950s under the brand name Mandarin inside a yellow box, which would be considered highly suspect in this day and age.
On the back of the Black Lives Matter movement, international brands have been taking a closer look at some of their products and rebranding them. Nestlé is renaming the popular Colombian candy Beso de Negra (Kiss of the Black Woman), and Pepsi has announced that its Aunt Jemima products are to get a makeover.
However, far from considering modifying the imagery, company officials insist on the “adorable nature of the mascot,” adding that: “Since Lacasa Group acquired the product, it has got rid of its original connotations, giving it positive values that are linked to the product and not to any particular race.” To back their argument, they point out that white Conguitos have a white mascot on the packet. But this argument is making little headway with the people behind the Change.org petition, who are demanding a public apology from Lacasa to the black community and suggesting that some corporate profits should be donated to organisations fighting racism.