This takes place in a world were increasingly people with chips on their shoulders have more time on their hands than they should.
Advertising watchdog: “Panther” liquorice ad not racist
An advert featuring a swarthy would-be lothario trying to flirt in heavily accented Finnish has been ruled as humorous, rather than racist. Finland’s advertising watchdog handled the case after receiving one complaint about the commercial.
Finland’s Council of Ethics in Advertising has ruled in favour of a television advert for Fazer’s ”panther” liquorice that a complainant contained prejudiced tropes about immigrants.
The ad features a man in a leopard print swimming costume trying to flirt with a Finnish woman, in accented Finnish, and offering to be her ”panther”.
He’s then interrupted by a rotund, blond-haired Finnish man in identical leopard print trunks, who returns to the scene with sun cream for the woman and compliments the foreign man on his swimsuit.
The voiceover then says ”the best panthers are from Lappeenranta”, referencing the town where Fazer makes the sweets. In its ruling the council ruled that the Finnish male character was also a caricature.