Black History Month Ad rubs folks the wrong way

Acme Markets’ recent Black History Month circular has sparked quite the debate. The company has run the advertisement for seven years and says there has never been an issue before, but the ad is now being called racist.

Products advertised include corn bread, collard greens and grape soda. The Delaware chapter of the NAACP says more than 100 people have complained that the products perpetuate stereotypes: “It’s racist, it’s insensitive, it’s not culturally correct. Don’t assume that to celebrate Black History Month that we must have corn bread. Whoever put this ad together thought it’d be a good joke,” said Delaware NAACP President Cecil C. Wilson who demands Acme run a full-page apology in “all of Delaware’s newspapers”.

In a statement from Acme, the company said the advertisement was designed to highlight Black History Month and many of the items are products supplied through the company’s “supplier diversity program”.

“For example, Glory Foods, an African American-owned manufacturer, is featured with four of its products because it is our way of supporting and strengthening their brand with added exposure during the month of February,” the statement said.

Wilson also said Acme shouldn’t be discounting any foods specifically because it’s Black History Month. In Colonial times, slave owners would discard the remains of butchered hogs, and slaves would cook and season those parts, such as chitterlings and feet, into delicacies. The Acme ad took on a similar theme, Wilson said, by discounting Acme soda and maple syrup instead of the brand-name counterparts.

“This whole thing is cheapo,” he said. “All the products on sale are typically low-grade products that they have to clean off the shelves. I don’t know what their motive is, but it still reeks with suspicion.”