Racism: Ypê is accused of racism in campaign – 12/06/2023 – Market

The cleaning product brand Ypê was accused of racism for installing a sculpture of a hand holding a multipurpose cleaner on a street in a wealthy neighborhood in Salvador (BA). After criticism pointing out the hand as black, Salvador City Hall removed the piece.

Química Amparo, owner of the Ypê brand, published a statement saying that it “repudiates any type of prejudiced and racist manifestation” and that the sculpture refers to the “iconic North American character Mãozinha, from ‘The Addams Family’, based on the 90s film ” which has appeared in the brand’s commercials in a Halloween campaign since October. In Ypê commercials, Mãozinha is white.

The case gained visibility on social media after writer and professor Bárbara Carine published, on Tuesday (5), a video on her Instagram with the caption “The visible hand of racism”. According to Carine, the sculpture reinforces the “slavery stereotype of keeping black people in socially subordinated spaces.”

The writer, who is the author of the book “How to be an anti-racist educator: For family members and teachers”, said in the video that the monument is on “Avenida Oceânica, a noble area of ​​the city” and that “obviously it was not going to be the hand of dondoca white” holding the product.

The Secretariat of Urban Development of the capital of Bahia removed the work and released a statement saying it repudiates racist stereotypes and “always works to combat discrimination and build public policies aimed at racial equality.”

According to Ypê, the sculpture and all other reproductions of Mãozinha complied with the technical standards established by an organization called the Addams Institute, which holds the copyright to the character.

According to the press office, the institute understands Mãozinha as the reproduction of an adult male hand with white skin and approved all the pieces in the campaign, including the sculpture that tried to reproduce it in this way. The reference for Ypê’s campaigns is Mãozinha from the 90s films, who does not have scars like in the recent series ‘Wandinha’, on Netflix.

The company reported that the campaign was also carried out in São Paulo and Campinas, both of which have already ended, and that in these cities the sculptures installed had the same color as the Salvador piece.