A WELSH tourist in Spain who photographed a popular brand of chocolate peanuts and called its name 'racist' has gone viral on Twitter.
João Morais, whose family originally came from the Portuguese-speaking west African islands of Cabo Verde but who was born in Wales, went on a visit to Asturias where his mother now lives and was shocked when he saw a bag of Conguitos in a shop in the city of Avilés.
Similar in design to the now-discontinued British brand Peanut Treets, Conguitos are a household name in Spain and found in practically every supermarket on the confectionary shelf.
Morais was not only shocked at the name, but at the little 'chocolate peanut men' on the bag – dark brown cartoon figures with full African lips.
“There's a weird racist chocolate in Spain called 'Little Congans',” João tweeted.
It took around six weeks before his tweet went viral in the home country of Conguitos, given that he had written the caption in English, but once it reached Spain it was spread so often that João's mobile phone was 'going mad', ringing every few seconds.
“My mum is now convinced I'm a drug-dealer,” he says.
Most of those who responded to the photo and caption thought it was funny how the Welshman had interpreted the chocolates as being 'little people from the Congo' – something that had never occurred to them until then - and some pointed out to him that Conguitos also come in a white chocolate version.
This is not the first time João has commented on 'racism' in advertising: a few weeks ago, he tweeted a picture of a poster promoting Black Friday which featured now-ex president of the USA, Barack Obama, as its central character.
“Using Obama to advertise Black Friday because, you know, he's black...” tweeted a disbelieving João.
One of the Spanish Twitter-users who corrected Morais was Álvaro Mijares, who said the so-called 'Black Friday' poster was actually referring to January 20 as being a grim day because it was 'goodbye to Obama'.
“I don't think they were using his face because he's black, but because he's leaving,” Mijares says.
Morais responded: “We come from different cultures. This poster would be considered racist in the UK.”
Another Spanish user, named F. Santiago, replied: “If you find this racist, then you're saying that being black is something degrading and shameful. In which case, the true racist is you.”
Which is bizarre, given that Morais' family of origin is from Cabo Verde, so even though he is Caucasian, he has black roots.
João later tweeted a paper by Diana Q. Palardy of Youngstown State University on 'The changing face of race in Spanish advertising', which shows how the brand name of Conguitos was, indeed, originally based upon 'little people from the Congo' when the chocolate peanuts were launched in 1961.
'Congans' are called congoleños in Spanish, or congolitos for 'little Congans', so Conguitos is an adaptation of the correct diminutive which has never been changed on the chocolates in question in over 55 years.
“However, its advertising campaign has undergone substantial changes,” Ms Palardy writes.
“Whereas the original Conguitos were caricatures of spear-wielding African natives, modern-day Conguitos are anthropomorphic blobs that lounge around swimming pools in an atmosphere of fun and leisure.
“Even though the advertisers have gradually disassociated the product from its 'primitive' origins, they continue to benefit from the nostalgia generated by the original name and logo.
“In fact, in 2010, the marketing director of this product stated: “El negrito del Congo histórico...es algo que está intrínsicamente dentro de los españoles.” ('The little black guy from the historic Congo...is something that's integrally innate in the people of Spain'.).
“I'm not trying to be an anti-Conguitos pariah,” João admitted to one of the numerous Spanish newspapers who interviewed him.
“I just want to illustrate cultural differences and raise a laugh.”
