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Ed Do you like your cheese?

Orphia Nay said:
"Getting offended by the name of a cheese brand is ridiculous says guy offended by the new name of a cheese brand."

- Just seen elsewhere.
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Bingo.

"What's the big deal about 'under God' in the pledge? it doesn't mean anything!"
"OK, then let's just take it out"
"NOOOOOOOOOOO"
 
bluesjnr said:
I suggest you don't go around certain parts of Ireland telling people how "satisfactory" the name is. See how easy it is to slip up?
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Thanks for that bit of history unknown to me. :thumbsup:

Riding in the front of the slippery slope toboggan. An employer has asked that I go through many of their security policy/procedure documents replacing the terms "whitelist/blacklist" "white hat/black hat"
Wish they would find a better term for "Penetration Test"
 
I think most people don't care. However, if I were to own the business, I would always keep the marketing side of the product in mind. Questions like, "How will we best market our product to not only keep exist customers, but to reach new ones while, at the same time, minimizing the costs required to do so?"

It seems to me that if you can imagine a scenario where someone that is unfamiliar with your product. They see it on the shelf at their grocery store. They are curious, pick up the package and see the word "Coon" predominately displayed on the product (or any derivation of the word). I can easily imagine that there will be a percentage of people that will immediately recoil, rightly or not. Because of this, I think that a business should be cognizant of these issues especially if the bottom line is the main issue.

I think they should change the name if their marketing research tells them that the cost of doing so is less than the expected gains from new market share due to having a name no longer even tangentially close to something that could be construed as racist.
 
Belz... said:
Why are you assuming not only that black people are offended by a brand name without checking, but that they might get violent on me just for asking the question?
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Where in my post do I suggest violence? Why are you assuming they would become violent? I was only suggesting that you would wish to avoid offending them by using the word, that you wouldn’t wish to incorrectly be viewed as insensitive or worse by tossing about a racist word.

I generally try to place myself in other people’s shoes to guess how they might feel. So, being Jewish, I tried the “Hitler’s Heavenly Cheese Bits” test and decided I would be offended by it. I gather the Coon cheese company has also received significant feedback from people who have been offended.

Are you really suggesting that a group of people who have for years been verbally assaulted with an intentionally malignant word would somehow not be offended seeing it as the name of a product? Advertised as such. On store shelves. That we would have to survey Jewish people (or most anyone else for that matter) to see if they had any problems with “Hitler’s Heavenly Cheese Bits?” Come off it.

I don’t get it. Why are some posters offended by what is a sensible business and ethical decision?
 
Giordano said:
Where in my post do I suggest violence? Why are you assuming they would become violent?
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Because that's usually what's meant by the phrase you used.

Are you really suggesting that a group of people who have for years been verbally assaulted with an intentionally malignant word would somehow not be offended seeing it as the name of a product?
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I'm suggesting A) that it may be a good idea to hear whether the people we assume are going to be offended are actually offended before asking others to stop offending them and that B) maybe black people can understand something called context.
 
Giordano said:
I don’t get it. Why are some posters offended by what is a sensible business and ethical decision?
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I don't think it offends. I think it's a marketing decision and means absolutely bugger all beyond that. It doesn't change anything. It does't have anything to do with the systemic changes that are needed at government level in many countries to address issues that need addressing.

There's no pat on the back due to anyone and this doesn't really make the world a better place.
 
Kinda surprised the name lasted so long. I get it that it's named after the creator/founder but still. Is not "coon" a racial insult in the US? In the UK it's a pretty well established racial slur.
 
Belz... said:
Because that's usually what's meant by the phrase you used.



I'm suggesting A) that it may be a good idea to hear whether the people we assume are going to be offended are actually offended before asking others to stop offending them and that B) maybe black people can understand something called context.
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I dare say that being told “I suggest you not do that” is far from a universal threat of a violent consequence. “I suggest you not wear striped shirts with checkered ties” is not warning of a murderous consequence.

We know some people have already expressed offense at the name and that logic and empathy dictate that many others are too. And although I like to think I myself understand context, I would still be offended by my “Hitler’s Heavenly Cheese Bits” (tag line “Baked in gas ovens”?) whatever the origins or intent of the name. It is just unnecessary to continue to offend people in such a fashion.
 
One of my favorite name changes happened in Mesa. There is an area of town that used to be called Spook Hill and the the mayor and city council decided it was time to get rid of such an obviously racist place name. When local residents pointed out that the name had nothing to do with blacks, that it had been named by local cowboys who noted that their horses seemed to get "spooked" in that area, the mayor expressed skepticism. He did not believe there were a lot of horses in Mesa back in the pioneer days.

ETA: I meant to say that the reason this was one of my favorite name changes is because the name didn't get changed. Sanity actually prevailed for once and the area is still known as Spook Hill. For now.
 
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Belz... said:
White people or black people?

That's kind of important, because otherwise white people are just assuming that black people _should_ be offended by the brand name.
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OK, I'm white. I would find it disturbing. If I was in Australia I would guess that the word probably doesn't have any racist connotation there, but it would still creep me out. If it was sold in the US, I would assume that the name had non-racist origins, but that company management were stupid and might also make bad decisions involving food safety.
 
Some posts have been cast into the fiery flames. Please don't bicker and get personal with each other; address each other's arguments rather than attacking the arguer
Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: Agatha
 
Belz... said:
So am I. That's why I don't want to speak for black Americans.
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Neither do I. That's why I stated that the name is disturbing to me. So is "B&M" beans. OK, I know the name has nothing to do with bowel movements, but for a product that looks the way it does, the name is just too close for my liking.
 
Belz... said:
It's my impression that the slur is mostly used in the US, but I could be wrong.
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The cheese is being marketed in Australia, so I don’t think Americans are going to be too worried, whatever their skin colour.

The term is certainly known as a racial epithet in the UK (see the video I linked earlier), though I’ve not heard it used for many years (outside re-broadcasts of old material). Whether it is known in Oz is surely the crucial point, though it could be a generational thing; I’m pretty sure Till Death Us Do Part would have been shown there. The fact that a name change has been proposed suggests that at least some people know about it.
 
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