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

[GardenNope]

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

I have just asked my handy ‘Polynesian’ (my Māori DP, I am NZ-based) whether it is offensive. He says, “I think only to white middle class people with too much time on their hands”.

I am white middle class and find it uncomfortable, but that pretty much proves his point.

You seriously need to lighten up op!

I remember seeing some novelty Jesus figurines in a gift shop once – Jesus wearing a garland of lei, holding a mojito, standing on some sand etc. I asked my friend who’s a curate whether she found it upsetting because it trivialised her faith. “No”, she said, “for all we know, Jesus might have taken his annual leave in the Dominican Republic had he had the transport to get there, there’s nothing in scripture that says he didn’t deserve a holiday.”

You haven't seen much Pacifika Art then.

I think if you grew up in the 70s, with Little Black Sambo as your first books at school, then to think this is a crude representation of black people is not a huge leap.

I grew up in the 60's, with Little Black Sambo as a pre-school book, and on no possible plane of existence did I think it was anything other than what it is - a rather tacky representation of a tiki. So yes, it was a huge leap!