A friend of mine found this at the supermarket. According to the website it’s “Middle East’s Number 1 Steel Wool”. It’s a Lebanese company which makes sense since racism is still pretty widespread there. [Link]
Thanks Farah!
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Mark and Nat, a married couple who are living in Kuwait. Both are designers, Mark works in advertising while Nat works in television. This blog is based in Kuwait.
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Do you have ras il-abed in Lebanon?
yeah its also lebanese and made in Lebanon by Ghandour I think.
Never use the N word in US
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyXuP48LDOE
Actually its the best :) hehe
Leef Negro! OMG that’s even more racist because it says a negro’s hair is like steel wool
And this with a sizable Lebanese community living and working in Africa
Ride To SAV3
friday 20th October
2.30 om to 4.30 pm
Shiik Resort by Bidi33 Circle
is an event sponsored by Dar Al Shifa Hospital in alliance with BMW Motor Club, Kuwait Blood Bank & Kuwait Thalassemia Association.
BMW Motor Club will organize the biggest bikers’ gathering in the region to convoy to Dar Al Shifa Hospital to DONATE Blood. Thalassemia patients will be receiving the bikers as a token of gratitude.
that is pretty bad
well As i remember my mom using Negro since 1977 till this moment, And now my wife now using the same brand.
I saw this at Geant yesterday and took a picture. They now have Negro minis :D
Yup Ras-il-abed is the best example. A very racist name which they tried to change a few years ago to tarboush but ras-il-abed has been around for so long that people got adjusted to calling it that. Ras-il-abed is also one of those rare brands that doesn’t have the time on the box or packaging!
whats ral el abed ?
Ras el abed (slave’s/black guy’s head) is a cream filled chocolate…thing
They renamed it to Tarboush recently, but everyone still calls it ras el abed :P
http://www.gandour.com/family.aspx?MID=3&CatID=CCD&ID=CNL#TAR
We also have “Negro” cookies here, sort of like Oreos.
As far as I know, the word Negro is not racist by itself (its use here is a completely different matter). One of the major organizations for African-Americans is the United Negro College Fund.
Negro is not a racist term what so ever. Stop with the misinformation.
lol lebanon the same place that refers to peanuts as ’slave nuts.’ very fashion forward and progressive…lol.
No one said Negro was a racist word, it’s the way the word is being used that is racist.
Mark it looks like the company is german based THATS way more disturbing! we expect antics such as ‘n’ word to percolate from our parts BUT GERMANY WITH THEIR HISTORY now that is unsettling!
Mathai, this is Ras el Abed ;)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_A_J8heKZC94/SbfsHD6G2kI/AAAAAAAAD1k/Z-DWngghpwA/s200/Ras+El+Abed.jpg
http://www.360east.com/wp-content/chocokiss.jpg
BTW, They changed its name to “Tarboush Abu El Abed” ;)
:O not very nice
There is a very popular Swedish dessert called “negerbollar” which literally mean Negro Testicles. Gives new meaning to Chef’s song “Suck on my chocolate salted balls”.
http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=negerbollar&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=4E0FS9HnJor74Aboz7TECw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CB4QsAQwAw
@ Fonzie: thanks for the info!
That second picture looks like a dick head X(
it`s very old lebanese product.. more the 40 years and still the number one in racism orientation.
Also i would like to remind everyone here with Fair & Lovely racist tv ads…be white and sucseed in your life.
this brand is quite old
If it was Nigger and sold in the USA then boy they woulda have to shutdown like next day
Racist?! Negro steel wool is superior to Honkey steel wool. Honkey hair ain’t good for cleaning nothin’.
There’s also a chocolate bar in Lebanon called Negro.
That is Aunt Jemima’s Long Lost Son. LOL
wtf!
N the directory is german :P
Nice find Mark, im black and I dont find that racist. Where can I order some?
I’ve been using Negro for 2 years now ..
So far I have been very satisfied with Negro steel wools!
Don’t laugh when I tell you I’ve been using these to clean rust off of my old bicycles and ATVs that I want to restore .. the result is amazing!!
It does indeed bring the perfect shine.
Try them and you will never look back!
maybe it pronounced more in a french accent so it may differ a lot !! knowing lebanon
I think people should utilize their sense of humor in this and get over it .. I mean come on .. the guy’s all muscled up and handsome hahaha
just bought that last night in Bayan Co-op!! LOL!! kinda funny!!
This is pretty racist people. I have always found that most people who are not of dark/brown skin have a hard time distinguishing what is racist. If there was a product that had an arab man displayed in a racially or bias overtone I would feel disgusted.
Was more amazing is the racism in the Arab world in general. I’m a black american myself and its always interesting to see and talk with black arabs, many of whom would be considered black if there were walking down the street in the U.S.
So I decided to research the whole term Arab and I have found that the original Arabs were a black skinned people. (I am about to be a geek) During the abbassid caliphate , the scholar Ibn Rumi, wrote a letter to the ruler of the caliphate questioning why he insults the family of the prophet (PBUH)
It should be understood that at that time, the Abbasids had become very mixed with the Romans, Greeks, and Persians. Here is part of what Ibn Al-Rumi said in his famous poem called Al-Jeemia:
“You insulted them (the family of the Prophet Mohamed) because of their blackness while there are still pure-blooded black-skinned Arabs. However, you are blue (eyed) – the Romans have embellished your faces with their color.”
I say this to say that we have terrible misconception of the word arab and the true history behind it, and thinking like the comments above continue to be racist, bias, and ignorant. I think that many Arabs are subscribing to European ideals which have and will always be pretty racist.
Kudos Mark on the post and recognizing that there is some racism in Lebanon.
Peace
Try the new and improved Negro called Sand Negro!