People come in many shades, so naming a beige paint hue “skin color” could easily leave out a large number of individuals. But unfortunately, a Swedish paint company ignored that minor detail.
But a local teenager has filed a complaint against the company, saying the name is racist and discriminatory against those whose skin color doesn’t fit that particular description.
“By renaming beige to skin color they show that there is a whiteness norm in society,” the 14-year-old, who has only been identified as Thyra, told a local newspaper. “It is completely sick that they just rename beige to skin color when black and brown are also that.”
The teen took her complaint against the paint producer, Universal Color and Chemicals, to the Equality Ombudsman, a government agency that aims to promote equal rights and regulate discrimination. Throughout her pursuit, Thyra has gained the support of both her family and her school and encouraged a conversation about race in the classroom.
Read more at The Huffington Post.
{Matzav.com Newscenter}
Crayola had problems with this years ago. They had a “flesh” color that was kind of salmon-beige – kind of thoughtless when you consider that 10% of Americans at the time were African-American and a lot more were Asian or Hispanic and definitely not that color. Disrespecting 15% of your customers isn’t a wise move – not to mention that it’s personally offensive. They got a lot of complaints and changed the name. For that matter, there are a lot of yidden (and not just of Ethiopian origin) who are darker. So it’s an issue for us too.