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Home / Lifestyle

Skittles' all-white candy for LGBT celebrations blasted as racist

news.com.au
20 Jun, 2017 03:03 AM2 mins to read

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All-white Skittles are being slammed as 'racist'. Photo / Twitter

All-white Skittles are being slammed as 'racist'. Photo / Twitter

Skittles' latest move to ditch its rainbow-themed candies for an all-white look has left a sour taste in some mouths with some people labelling the revamped candy as "racist" and a symbol of "white supremacy".

According to news.com.au, the candy company temporarily adopted black and white packaging in the United Kingdom and Germany in order to give LGBT pride celebrations "centre stage."

Michelle Green, a spokeswoman for the Chicago-based Wrigley Company, which makes Skittles, told The Associated Press that since rainbow colours are identified with both LGBT pride and Skittles, the candy maker chose one colour during the celebrations "in order for Pride's rainbow to take centre stage."

Skittles ditch colours for #PrideMonth because 'only one rainbow matters':https://t.co/0gtJxM6kfL pic.twitter.com/qZYoURrnFw

— Attitude (@AttitudeMag) June 15, 2017

While well-intentioned, the switch has sparked controversy on social media as Twitter users suggested the company failed to reflect racial diversity within the gay community.

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It is "that serious". The normalization of whiteness is a problem because we live in a society where whiteness is considered the standard.

— phillip 🇯🇲 (@TrillestPhil) May 3, 2017

Other users accused some people of taking their comments too far, saying it wasn't fair Skittles had been blasted for attempting to make a positive change.

When you wanna be mad at something but there's nothing to be mad at & you haven't called someone racist in hours so you fight a skittles bag https://t.co/fq6ImyDPBw

— Kareem (@OldHondaCivic) May 4, 2017

Anyone complaining that the white #skittles for pride month is racist must think every piece of BLANK white paper is racist too. Dumb shits.

— jilliannnnn (@OMFGitsjillie) June 14, 2017

June is LGBT Pride month. The Skittles switch began in late March and wraps up in September.

A Wrigley spokesperson responded to the controversy in an email to the website, saying, "diversity and inclusion are also key values for us."

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Twitter users slam 'racist' snapchats

24 Jun 10:48 PM
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