UNICEF ends campaign
on July 22, 2007
Category: Racism, Blogosphere
African American Opinion Pundit decided to write to UNICEF about their “black face” campaign
I am concerned about the “racial overtones” of the recent campaign of placing white children in black face. As a long time UNICEF supporter, I’m concerned that UNICEF and it’s German National Committee for UNICEF are involved in racial hatred with this Ad campaign.
And their response:
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We agree — these advertisements are not appropriate and run against UNICEF’s mission. They have been dropped from the UNICEF German National Committee’s website and there are no plans to use them in the future. We apologize for any offence caused.
Good to know that making the effort to write can work and that some organisations do listen.
A strange experience - I tried to copy the above quote from African American Opinion and a “copyright 2007″ followed by “right click protection” box comes up from something called “whozontop” - is this the way the blogosphere is going? How can you copyright something that isn’t yours in the first place? And why would you want to stop people from quoting from your blog/website anyway?
Sphere: Related Content
Trackback URL for this post:
http://www.blacklooks.org/2007/07/unicef_ends_campaign.html/trackback
12 Comments so far
1. Simon Columbus
July 22nd, 2007 at 1:56 am
blog texts should be under a creative commons license. Everything else is absolutely bad. Blogging shall not become just another kind of cash machine media… thereof we have much enough!
2. imnakoya
July 22nd, 2007 at 2:32 am
Did someone say blogs and bloggers are irrelevant?…This is an example (successful example) of Blog-driven social-activism. Hat-tips to all the spoke against this ads.
3. imnakoya
July 22nd, 2007 at 2:39 am
Just saw the latter part of your post Sokari, and I chuckled…I have been to quite a number of sites like AAO, and just simply can say what I make of the idea…publicly.
4. Sokari
July 22nd, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Raskal trippin shows there is still more to this story as you will note from this post on African Women Blogs. The response here is more detailed than published on AAOP as they begin to justify their campaign and explain that it was “tested” in Germany and received no negative response - now that speaks volumes. UNICEF is an international organisation with extensive projects in Africa. Why did they not seek advice from a wider audience including Africans and from the Black community in Europe or in Germany?
As Trippin states (her comment didnt get published for some reason) they have ended the campaign (which was due to end anyway) but they still dont get it.
5. Jikomboe » Tangazo la Unicef la Watoto wa Afrika Wachafu/Wajinga Laondolewa
July 22nd, 2007 at 5:18 pm
[…] hii unaweza kuisoma pia kwa Black Looks ambako ndio nimeipata. […]
6. Global Voices Online » Africa: UNICEF ends "black face" campaign
July 22nd, 2007 at 5:24 pm
[…] has decided to end their “Black Face” campaign: “African American Opinion Pundit decided to write to UNICEF about their “black face” […]
7. Africa: UNICEF ends “black face” campaign | Pilka
July 22nd, 2007 at 6:47 pm
[…] has decided to end their “Black Face” campaign: “African American Opinion Pundit decided to write to UNICEF about their “black face” […]
8. AfricanAmericanPoliticalPundit
July 23rd, 2007 at 1:10 am
blacklooks,
Thank you for the link and comments. I apologize for the software that didn’t allow you to copy my post. That software has been taken off.
I agree with you and your readers, there is truly power in internet activism.
I urge people to write companies and organization who insult and degrade people of all races, or backgrounds, and report their efforts in their blogs. I’m sure you will be amazed at how social activism through the internet can help change the world.
Best wishes,
AAPP
9. Sokari
July 23rd, 2007 at 1:13 am
AAPP @ Thanks for taking the time to write to UNICEF - also thanks for letting us know about the software.
10. Lauren
July 23rd, 2007 at 1:39 pm
The copyright Whozontop thing is really strange. At least there’s the Creative Commons to counter it, which it seems is more popular with progressive bloggers.
Thank you for posting on the UNICEF ads and bringing them to my attention! It’s great that they took them down.
11. Update on UNICEF’s Africa Campaign « Writeous Sister Speaks
July 24th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
[…] Sokari at Black Looks, you can check out the African American Political Pundit’s letter to UNICEF and their […]
12. No More “Black Faces”- UNICEF Pulls Down Controversial Ad - AfricanLoft
July 25th, 2007 at 5:39 am
[…] this is Black Looks’ blog post of the controversial UNICEF (Germany) ads. She writes in follow-up post: Good to know that making the effort to write can work and that some organisations do […]