Racist ‘Feed a child’ ad depicting black child as a dog resurfaces

A South African charity, Feed a Child advertisement with the help of PR agency Oligvy Mather, Cape Town has resurfaced.

It depicts a black child in the likeness of a dog. Just like a pet animal, he fetches his white owner’s paper, lays on their owner’s lap as she feeds him treats, sitting at her feet as she gave him treats, and even licking her finger while cooking.

There has been much outrage after Javonnie Brustow reshared the video that was released in 2014.

Watch:

At the time, Feed a Child responded to the outrage stating, “the management and associates of Feed a Child extends our unreserved apology to any person(s) or group(s) who have been offended or hurt in any manner by our recent commercial that was shown on national television and YouTube. Our intention was not to cause offence.”

The year may have been 2014, before the “woke” brigade, however, is no excuse even today why the video had been reshared. It is still truly shocking how it managed to get the green light.

Dozens of questions arise, was there no person of colour to see this before it aired on TV? Did they not see the clear contrast of having a black child likened to an animal and a white pet owner. Especially the many racist connotations this has?

Yes, the charity is about feeding those most vulnerable, which can easily be said is for the majority, black people, but was there no better way to convey this?

There was no need for this analogy, show the people the statistics, how things have worsened over the years and the gap between the poor and rich grows.

Companies have been taken to task by the masses on social media on the last couple of years. Using platforms to expose blatant racism, lack of diversity at the top when repeated “racially insensitive” ad campaigns were released.

Oligvy apologised to only those who were only “offended”.

“The Feed a Child commercial was created … with the aim of drawing attention to the extremely important issue of malnutrition in South Africa … It was not our intention to offend in any way and therefore we unreservedly apologise for any offence caused,” the agency said.

This is not the first time the agency has been in hot water in the same year, they apologised for their ad depicting the shooting of Nobel Prize nominee Malala Yousafzai. Their office in India posted a picture depicting Yousafzai’s recovery from the shooting, helped by her “bouncing back” off a Kurl-On Mattress.