Fazer to Retire Controversial Candy Mascot
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Image: YLE
The wrapper features a caricature of a black figure, with the exaggerated red lips and cornrows reminiscent of the reviled blackface images of the mid 20th century.
Fazer has revamped the candy wrapper a few times, but has never given up the caricature which was the original mascot when the liquorice was introduced in 1927.
"The wrapper sparks discussion in this multi-cultural society," Cloetta-Fazer Communications Director Anita Laxén says in a company statement. "In addition, a new wrapper is a necessity on the international market."
Laxén says that the company feels it is time to "modernize" the candy wrapper. Last October the Finnish Consumer Agency and Ombudsman raised the issue with Fazer.
The new package will be revealed by the end of the year at the earliest.