Picture this: An ad featuring three non-native people dressed up like native people, covered in white powder for some reason, defending the purity of bottled water with spears. What do you think: racist? Well, Quebec-based bottled water company Eska Water gave that campaign the green light, and, no, not everyone’s a fan.
In the video above, Clifton Nicholas, a Mohawk from Kanehsatake, explains why he’s now leading a boycott of the company.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a fictitious group,” Nicholas says about the ad’s so-called Eskan warriors. “They’re still natives. I could do the same. I could put on blackface and say I’m not depicting a certain group of blacks, but… the message is clear. It is what it is. You’re depicting a certain ethnic group.”
There are now also Facebook groups promoting the boycott. One in English and one in French, the two of which combined currently have about 500 members.
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Blogs & Comment
Just bottling water, or racism too?
Picture this: An ad featuring three non-native people dressed up like native people defending the purity of bottled water with spears. Racist?
By Trevor Melanson
Picture this: An ad featuring three non-native people dressed up like native people, covered in white powder for some reason, defending the purity of bottled water with spears. What do you think: racist? Well, Quebec-based bottled water company Eska Water gave that campaign the green light, and, no, not everyone’s a fan.
In the video above, Clifton Nicholas, a Mohawk from Kanehsatake, explains why he’s now leading a boycott of the company.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a fictitious group,” Nicholas says about the ad’s so-called Eskan warriors. “They’re still natives. I could do the same. I could put on blackface and say I’m not depicting a certain group of blacks, but… the message is clear. It is what it is. You’re depicting a certain ethnic group.”
There are now also Facebook groups promoting the boycott. One in English and one in French, the two of which combined currently have about 500 members.