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Original poster

To think this product at The Range/Wilko is just plain racist?

230 replies

GardenNope · 19/11/2024 09:57

I've been complaining about this range of products since I saw them in my local store a few weeks ago.

I keep getting fobbed off with no response, or 'we aim to provide products for all tastes'.

This just seems to me like a blatant racist stereotype of Polynesian culture. But the company doesn't seem to agree at all. Am I losing my mind here because it seems very blatantly wrong to me?

https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/single-solar-tiki-water-sports-ornament-in-assorted-styles/p/8087004

Single Solar Tiki Water Sports Ornament in Assorted styles | Wilko

Shop for Single Solar Tiki Water Sports Ornament in Assorted styles at wilko - where we offer a range of home and leisure goods at great prices.

https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/single-solar-tiki-water-sports-ornament-in-assorted-styles/p/8087004

OP posts:
Thread gallery
12
SatansBobbleheadedDashboardOrnament · 19/11/2024 10:50

RedToothBrush · 19/11/2024 10:47

Christ, The Range will be delighted that you've decided to advertise something that people will buy as a joke gift, just in time for Christmas in peak sales week.

Well done OP I congratulate you on your marketing strategy for your employer. Thats dedication. I hope you get a promotion. I know they were worried they wouldn't shift them all because they are so fugly, but now you've said they are slightly offensive they will just fly out the shop.

Coming to a secret santa from someone who hates you soon.

Oh come on. The marketing department are jel they didn't think of it.

Growlybear83 · 19/11/2024 10:50

@RedToothBrush Actually that had crossed my mind. I've been on many threads in the past where someone who has made very positive or very negative comments about an item or company has been accused of being a plant. I also suspect that the OP really works for the Range 😆😆

potatocakesinprogress · 19/11/2024 10:49

This reply has been deleted

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RedToothBrush · 19/11/2024 10:47

Christ, The Range will be delighted that you've decided to advertise something that people will buy as a joke gift, just in time for Christmas in peak sales week.

Well done OP I congratulate you on your marketing strategy for your employer. Thats dedication. I hope you get a promotion. I know they were worried they wouldn't shift them all because they are so fugly, but now you've said they are slightly offensive they will just fly out the shop.

Coming to a secret santa from someone who hates you soon.

BodyKeepingScore · 19/11/2024 10:47

Racist against who? Tikis are not people, they're a cultural symbol. So how is an ornament, of a symbol, not a person, racist?

NeverHadHaveHas · 19/11/2024 10:46

Have a look at the Polynesian hotel at Disney world. Figures with tiki masks such as the one in the picture literally adorn the whole hotel because they are a depiction of an element of Polynesian culture in a Polynesian themed hotel (the clue is in the name). They aren’t a depiction of a Polynesian person’s face!
Should that entire hotel be closed down due to cultural appropriation?
😵‍💫🙄 you would think someone would have raised it already if it was a genuine example of racism.

Original poster
GardenNope · 19/11/2024 10:45

CoffeeCantata · 19/11/2024 10:42

Ah - thank you! Well, I've outed myself as a complete chocoholic!!! 😂 Wishful thinking...

It reminds me of a terracotta figure someone gave me of an Aztec deity called a chacmool, I think, but since it was an exact copy of the real thing, not in any way a cartoonish image, I didn't think of it as offensive in any way. Mind you, I put it at the end of the garden when I read that the figure holds a bowl to contain the torn-out hearts of Aztec sacrificial victims!!!

It's the cartoonish aspect of this which is a bit 'off' - but I still don't think, racist. I think it trivialises rather than offends, personally.

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Yes I agree it's partly the trivialising (in an area of the country where this is commonplace). One of them is posed as though they are drunk in a rubber ring. That seems crass at very best.

OP posts:
ImNoSuperman · 19/11/2024 10:44

GardenNope · 19/11/2024 10:10

It's actually a garden ornament and the eyes light up (there's a range of them in different positions).

I do think that a lot of tiki products are fine, and not cultural appropriation, but depicting actual people in this way feels completely wrong to me.

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It's meant to represent a Tiki God not an actual person. Look at it properly, it's even got wooden texture on its arms.

Or do you think the statues are racist too?

Lemonadeand · 19/11/2024 10:44

Lochroy · 19/11/2024 10:16

I have to say, I can't believe people would pay £18 for that, but apart from that I don't see the issue?

It's fully in the style it's supposed to represent. It's not superimposing something else in there or mush mashing styles.

I'm sorry if I'm missing something, but I don't see it's any different to e.g. if they sold a toy NY police car or soft toy kangaroo.

I would pay £18 to not have that in my house.

Wishfives · 19/11/2024 10:43

I have "masks" from New Zealand Tanzania & other places, proper handcrafted pieces. I also own carved tiki necklaces from New Zealand, hand carved deities from different religions. Chosen or given from places I've been to.
I'm white, am I'm racist for owning them? Or is it just cultural appropriation on my part?

Original poster
GardenNope · 19/11/2024 10:43

CamelTail · 19/11/2024 10:42

You realise you are actually showing quite a racist and uneducated midset unless you are trolling...

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Which part? Cringing at the blacked-up Morris dancers?

OP posts:
CoffeeCantata · 19/11/2024 10:42

GardenNope · 19/11/2024 10:10

It's actually a garden ornament and the eyes light up (there's a range of them in different positions).

I do think that a lot of tiki products are fine, and not cultural appropriation, but depicting actual people in this way feels completely wrong to me.

Show quote history

Ah - thank you! Well, I've outed myself as a complete chocoholic!!! 😂 Wishful thinking...

It reminds me of a terracotta figure someone gave me of an Aztec deity called a chacmool, I think, but since it was an exact copy of the real thing, not in any way a cartoonish image, I didn't think of it as offensive in any way. Mind you, I put it at the end of the garden when I read that the figure holds a bowl to contain the torn-out hearts of Aztec sacrificial victims!!!

It's the cartoonish aspect of this which is a bit 'off' - but I still don't think, racist. I think it trivialises rather than offends, personally.

CamelTail · 19/11/2024 10:42

GardenNope · 19/11/2024 10:39

To me it's just turning those statues into a racist stereotype.

(Re. blacking up: one example is that the local Morris dancers still do this locally, but it's actually very common in local carnivals and festivals too.)

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You realise you are actually showing quite a racist and uneducated midset unless you are trolling...

SatansBobbleheadedDashboardOrnament · 19/11/2024 10:41

Wishfives · 19/11/2024 10:18

@Lochroy I always wonder who buys the gnomes Asda sells!

The massive wedding-themed ones are a sight to behold.

MrsSkylerWhite · 19/11/2024 10:41

£18 for that? Are they mad?

Cattery · 19/11/2024 10:39

Wishfives · 19/11/2024 10:18

@Lochroy I always wonder who buys the gnomes Asda sells!

People who like a bit of tat

Original poster
GardenNope · 19/11/2024 10:39

CamelTail · 19/11/2024 10:36

It's nit depiction of actual Polynesian person but based on style of statues ya melt😂

Is it fugly? Quite. Is it Gollywog? Absolutely not

To me it's just turning those statues into a racist stereotype.

(Re. blacking up: one example is that the local Morris dancers still do this locally, but it's actually very common in local carnivals and festivals too.)

OP posts:
SatansBobbleheadedDashboardOrnament · 19/11/2024 10:39

I'm sorry, but I just burst out laughing reading this.

You know they'll have this photo next to your name for when you email them, right?

CautiousLurker1 · 19/11/2024 10:38

CoffeeCantata · 19/11/2024 10:06

I wouldn't say it was racist exactly. If you made one out of white chocolate with a European person - eg a copy of the Venus de Milo or a famous piece of art - that would be OK. I think it's the kind of representation that would be used in art by say, Polynesian people - it's not meant to be a regular person!

It's just trivialising and in poor taste - but not racist. The face isn't meant to be naturalistic, is it? It's meant to imitate Polynesian/Macronesian masks and sculptural art. It might be the sort of image these indiginous people have made themselves...but the fact that it's a chocolate novelty is the 'offensive' part, I think - it makes a joke of it.

B

Was going to post along the same lines: Polynesian sculptures and masks are all in this style - though more tastefully depicted in wood or stone. Without more detail as to the manufacturer and designers’ ethnic origins we can’t say whether it’s racist. But it is not a caricature (like the gollywogs of old which were pejorative even when socially acceptable on jam jars) but a gaudy plastic replica of a known Polynesian art style.

However, I do think these are a bit ugly/garish and an odd thing to have in a UK garden, frankly, so think Wilko buyers have got this wrong.

Ihopeithinkiknow · 19/11/2024 10:38

Would love to know where you live where "blacking up" is still very common

ClicketyClickPlusOne · 19/11/2024 10:37

Is it a replica of a Polynesian artefact? I. E how Polynesian folk artists present images
Or a made up depiction of Polynesian people?

TulipTuesday · 19/11/2024 10:36

GardenNope · 19/11/2024 10:25

I suspect you are right, and we will basically return to the days when it was absolutely fine to throw around sexist and racist tropes.

I live in a part of the country where 'blacking up' is still very common and I genuinely do find this product offensive.

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Assuming you’re in the UK, which part of the country still commonly ‘blacks up’?!

CamelTail · 19/11/2024 10:36

It's nit depiction of actual Polynesian person but based on style of statues ya melt😂

Is it fugly? Quite. Is it Gollywog? Absolutely not

EffortlesslyInelegant · 19/11/2024 10:36

IamChocLover · 19/11/2024 10:15

Don't forget to tell them how much your house is worth!

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Also remember to tell them how much the value of your house has dropped precisely because of this ornament. They'll love it!

JC03745 · 19/11/2024 10:35

Why don't you go after every other retailer that sells such tat OP? I wouldn't buy it personally, but clearly people do. What about gnomes, gonks or Krishna toys?

To think this product at The Range/Wilko is just plain racist?
To think this product at The Range/Wilko is just plain racist?
To think this product at The Range/Wilko is just plain racist?
To think this product at The Range/Wilko is just plain racist?