Dunkin' Donuts has apologised for the "insensitivity" of an advertising campaign in Thailand featuring a woman in blackface makeup to promote a new chocolate flavoured doughnut.
The Dunkin' Donuts franchise in Thailand came under criticism on Friday after Human Rights Watch called the advertisements "bizarre and racist."
The company's chief executive in Thailand initially defended the campaign but the US headquarters quickly followed up with an apology.
"We are working with our Thailand franchisee to immediately pull the ad. DD recognises the insensitivity of this spot," Dunkin' Donuts said in a tweet posted on its official US website after complaints erupted on Twitter, in a variety of blogs and in mainstream American media.
The local franchise launched the advertisement earlier this month to promote its new "Charcoal Donut."
In posters, TV commercials and on Facebook, the campaign shows a smiling woman with blackface makeup, bright pink lipstick and a jet black 1950s-style beehive hairdo holding up a bitten black doughnut. The slogan in Thai reads: "Break every rule of deliciousness."
Critics say the image is reminiscent of 19th and early 20th century American stereotypes for black people that are now considered offensive symbols of a racist era.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said it was shocked to see an American brand name running an advertising campaign that would draw "howls of outrage" if released in the United States.
The campaign hasn't ruffled many in Thailand, where it's common for advertisements to use racial stereotypes.
Hours before the apology was issued by Dunkin' Donuts headquarters, the company's chief executive in Thailand dismissed the criticism as "paranoid American thinking."
"It's absolutely ridiculous," the CEO Nadim Salhani said in a telephone interview.
"We're not allowed to use black to promote our doughnuts? I don't get it. What's the big fuss? What if the product was whiteand I painted someone white, would that be racist?"
