"New Face of Ferrero" competition - only white children should apply?

[RedApple11]

Just bought a pack of Ferrero treats for my DD and was shocked at what looks like a blatantly discriminatory campaign. The new "Faces of Ferrero" (ie, the winning children whose images will be used to promote Ferrero products) are all white and fair featured. Five boys, one girls. Are only fair white children attractive enough to be the Face of Ferrero then?

I contacted Ferrero about this and was told:

"We would like to stress that the competition was judged purely on the basis of the children's responses to the question which was: "what they want to be when they grow up and why?".

So I investigated further and discovered that actually, what a crock that was. In fact, all entrants were required to upload their children's photos in order to have a valid entry and these images were then displayed in a gallery. See www.faceofkinder.com/terms.php and scroll down to section 9.3 which states:

"The photograph must have been taken within the last 6 months before it is sent as an entry in the competition. The child must be fully clothed. Whilst entrants may crop and enlarge photographs, they must not submit a photograph which has been substantially altered. By entering into the competition, the entrant agrees that the promoter can visit the child to check that the photograph is an accurate representation of him or her. No changes will be permitted to photographs accepted into the Gallery after the voting period opens on 30th May."

Anyway, the wonderfully white and photogenic winners can all be found here: www.faceofkinder.com/gallery.php

Don't get me wrong, these kids are all gorgeous and this isn't sour grapes - I had no idea about this competition and wouldn't have entered my DD into it anyway.

That said, I think it's outragous that in this day and age, a company like Ferrero can get away with promoting the idea that only fair white children are attractive enough to be the Face of Ferrero. This seems wrong on so many levels.

OP I think the responses here are a little harsh, actually!

YANBU to notice and to be concerned by the predominance of white faces - although this particular instance seems perhaps an odd one to be so particularly and specifically bothered by: go and watch the next ad break you find, and count the black/Indian/Chinese faces you see there. It'll be crap, but I bet it's pretty much reflective of these 6 winning kids' ethnicities.

It's not unreasonable, or wrong, or silly to notice these things - but might be more effective if you'd broadened the debate from just this one competition.

umm actually on the face of kinder website www.faceofkinder.com/prize.php there is what appears to be a black boy in a rather fetching chefs costume, not to mention the FUCKING MASSIVE pic of a black boy in a firemans uniform.

Totes racist

Er, Face of Kinder - small micro site
The actual winners - 6 white children

Photos don't prove age. Having a 'date of birth' section on the entry form and then asking winners to bring their birth certiciates would have solved this problem. And would have been much easier than asking 5000 people to try and upload their JPGs

Just a thought but, if a competition is called Face of Kinder then doesn't it make sense that at some point they are going to want to show the children's faces? Hence the photos?

And so the photos are a factor Empusa - that's my point

"Er, Face of Kinder - small micro site "
Er, whats your point with this comment? I thought this micro site is what you linked to in your OP?

What was your DDs answer?

The point is that the children who will be used to promote Kinder brand in shops etc will all be nice little white children.

OP it is perfectly acceptable to be angry with something, realise that YABU and drop it!? Now may be the time to do that

Actually Dylan looks a bit ginger. I'm glad they are finally including ginger kids.

yep, asking at least 10000 people to come along bringing birth certificates to some office and waiting in line is a lot easier to manage than, I dunno, simply emailing a pic with a DOB.

so what was your DDs answer then?

Hairy lemon - read my post if you're going to make a sarcastic comment about it. I said just have a DOB box on the entry form. Then ask the SIX winners to bring their birth cert to the final shoot. That's easier than 5000 people having to upload their 5000 JPGs, since the photos weren't supposed to be part of the judging criteria!

The UK is predominantly white (over 90% according to the last census), which means on random selection alone, you'd run into 9 white people before you saw anyone else of another colour.

The fact that a small sample of 6 children all happen to be white doesn't reflect racism... it reflects the fact that our population is mostly white.

A sample of 6 contest-winning children in Ghana (for example) would probably all be black.

And photos don't prove age. You only have to look at a classroom full of kids to see how some look way younger than others

Well, in 2009, an adorable little girl with Downs Syndrome won. here

And disabled children aren't represented frequently in advertising, either.

Is this honestly the biggest issue in your life?

Do you have some other problems and this is a displacement activity?

Photos prove you are actually a child though op

The point of this thread was to show that this competition, which was supposed to be about creativity, selected six all white winners from 5000 entrants. Why were photos needed at all if they weren't part of the judegment criteria?

Pets - you don't think they'd have noticed when they turned up at the photo shoot?!!

Sorry but this is bordering on delusional now. You are determined to find this racist.

It's sad and a little worrying. This really is not racism RedApple. It would be racist to select a child simply because of the colour of their skin rather than their efforts, That's insulting and patronizing. People want equality not pandering.

Whatever you are trying to achieve here is wrong and counter productive. Just stop.

And a photo still doesn't prove ID. Anyone can upload any picture and claim it's them/their kids etc. The photo doesn't validate the entry in any way

Can I be sockpuppet?

OP - I'm totally with you. You should see the racism in this house I have 2 dc and BOTH are white. Seriously, what are the odds?? And sexism actually as BOTH are dd!!!!

RedApple11 Even if the photos were part of the judgement. They will still have had vastly more photos of white children than any other (due to the population demographics).

On random selection alone, you'd need to have a sample of 10 children before you expected to see a child who wasn't white.

Are you serious about this?

Honestly?

sorry I misread your post. Apologies.

so what was her answer then?