Sticking head above parapet to ask. Aibu to be frustrated that Tesco answer to racists using their cards is to remove all monkey cards from sale.

[StrumpersPlunkett]

I have mixed race children.
My eldest was born in the year of the monkey.
Every year we get him a birthday card with a monkey on it.
Yesterday I was told by the card lady that they had removed all cards with monkeys on due to a complaint that one had been sent with a racist message inside.
F f s!!!
Racism is the problem. It is never acceptable.
Taking birthday cards with monkeys on the front off sale isn't the answer.
Sorry rant over.
Went to different shop and found a monkey card.

@FTMT30

Eh? So you think a) that OP is only bothered by the lack of monkey cards and b) that you think Tesco doing this will solve the problem?!

It's just a monkey to people who haven't been abused by the term

And to people who have, they are still aware that monkeys exist completely separate to that fact.
o people who have, I should imagine it's a source of great pain and an extremely emotive image
It's really not. It's an animal. You're being really quite insulting to assume that certain people can' t cope with seeing images of animals You think black people can't cope with Zoos without getting triggered?

@FTMF30

What on earth are you talking about?
FTMT30

You think a) that OP is only bothered by the lack of monkey cards and b) that you think Tesco doing this will solve the problem?!

You also think the receiver of the abuse thinks this will be solved by just not allowing a card with a monkey on it to be solved?!

A monkey is a monkey - let's stop with that source of great pain nonsense. People are abused by all sorts of things. Many Black people have no reaction whatsoever to a monkey image or an actual monkey unless it's being used for nefarious reason. If not there's no "great pain" involved when a monkey is seen - real or pictured.

Should we ban pictures of dogs in case someone uses them to call a woman a bitch? Ridiculous tokenistic nonsense.

Sorry I’ve been out shopping (not tesco!) - tesco pulled another ad featuring a black family? Seriously? Was that the lovely Xmas ad which I had heard there were a few complaints about and I thought that in itself was ridiculous ?

Tokenistic was the word I was looking for earlier thanks for whoever said that.

I expect you are all for gun control, but it’s not the fault of the gun..

It’s...it’s really not the same as this.

It’s a tokenistic piece of nonsense from Tesco. “Monkey” definitely is used as a racist slur. People who are going to use that as a racists slur will do it anyway.

“Monkey” is also an animal. Buying cards with animals on is not racist. People who are not racist won’t use the cards to be racist.

This won’t change anything for black people.

@itsalifetimesworkfella

Everyone piling on as to why me asking if they are Chinese is relevant. Talk about wanting to be offended. Why else would you buy your child a birthday card linked to the year of the monkey???

Jeez

Because some children like monkeys?? Nothing to do with ethnicity ffs

Allow me to be that pedantic fucker who says that the majority of primates shown on greetings cards are actually apes, not monkeys.

Anyway, I love primates in general, I often receive cards with that theme. That's because they are available from so many places. IIRC, I've even had charity cards featuring a sanctuary's cutest residents.

If you put your mind to it, you could probably make all greetings cards insensitive in some way.

There's still plenty of choice for the monkey lover in your life and

Soon

@itsalifetimesworkfella

There are some lovely Chinese celebration cards on Etsy that are more authentic and linked to celebrating Chinese culture

I would think that somebody whose children are half Chinese would have a fairly good idea of what is authentic Chinese culture, wouldn't you?

@StrumpersPlunkett

Please don’t try to tell me where to buy Chinese cards. That is not the relevant part of the thread. The relevant part was about Tesco stance and whether it is appropriate

Blimey!

It was just a helpful suggestion!

And I hate to tell you, but no thread on any forum anywhere is controlled by the OP...

The person concerned who put the racist message in should have been prosecuted and Tesco should have been supportive in the police investigation. Regardless of whether or not the cards continued to be sold.

Where does it end? No monkey cards despite the fact that monkeys exist hell there is even a monkey world should they get cancelled because they are monkeys? Anything can be a weapon physically or emotionally even the humble dorito can be used to start a fire should we make them challenge 21? Like firelighters? Misuse of an item should not make it illegal

They still have a cheeky monkey cake tho

If someone sent a woman a card with a dog on it and made a sexist comment inside about the recipient being a ‘bitch’ and ‘as ugly as a dog’, do we really think that posters on this board would be advocating for the withdrawal of cards with images of dogs on them?

Do we think that Tesco would have withdrawn the cards from sale?

Monkeys are animals. They do not exist in this world to be racist tropes, just as female dogs do not wander the land as daily examples of misogyny.

Provided that the card itself was not racist, I do not think that it should have been withdrawn from sale.

Provided that the card itself was not racist, I do not think that it should have been withdrawn from sale.

It's not a moral issue though - Tesco were selling it so they're free to stop selling it, regardless of anyone else's opinion.

I really think the decision was more to do with reputational risk than combatting racism.

Whenever the monkey = racist thing comes up I think there is a generational difference.
Some of us remember only too clearly the monkey actions and chants accompanied by inflatable bananas being thrown on the pitch in football games. Although I’m white in my mind there is a link. I try to avoid using the term cheeky monkey etc when talking to the children I teach. They most likely wouldn’t even notice, but I do.

As to the case in hand, do we know this is actually true? I’ve been told all sorts of random stuff by store staff before.

Pathetic. Right up there with banning Baa baa black sheep. Animal birthday cards aren't 'niche' what a bizarre thing to suggest. Monkeys aren't racist, people are. The person who wrote the racist message should have had the police called on them and been dealt with, banning cards with an animal on the front is just farcical.

@Tal45

Pathetic. Right up there with banning Baa baa black sheep. Animal birthday cards aren't 'niche' what a bizarre thing to suggest. Monkeys aren't racist, people are. The person who wrote the racist message should have had the police called on them and been dealt with, banning cards with an animal on the front is just farcical.

You know that singing Baa Baa Black Sheep was never banned, right. Like Winterval was never a thing. Just like this here is was all just hearsay.

Bloody hell, they’ll not cope when they hear about www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Hanging-of-the-Hartlepool-Monkey/ monkey hangers.

@StanfordPines

Whenever the monkey = racist thing comes up I think there is a generational difference. Some of us remember only too clearly the monkey actions and chants accompanied by inflatable bananas being thrown on the pitch in football games. Although I’m white in my mind there is a link. I try to avoid using the term cheeky monkey etc when talking to the children I teach. They most likely wouldn’t even notice, but I do.

As to the case in hand, do we know this is actually true? I’ve been told all sorts of random stuff by store staff before.

A member of support staff at our school ended up in a right up roar at school for calling a child cheeky monkey

She used to call people that a lot. Unfortunately one day she said it to a black boy. He hit the roof and then went home told his parents. They were not happy. It only got sorted out because she is Muslim and the other kids present repeated the names he called her after her blunder. They were not exactly PC. So the parents stepped down. Still a lot of tension between the staff member and some parents though.

I call my children “cheeky monkeys” all of the time. It’s a term of endearment. Wrote the same phrase on Facebook, apparently it’s a banded phrase. Ridiculous!!

Ridiculous. More posturing from the perpetually offended. 🙄

I'd like to check if this is actually true being told 'by the lady' doesn't seem akin to a Tesco press release to be honest