HONGKONG (May 17): ASIANS have been buying Darkie Tooth Paste for 60 years, unaware the name or black man in a top hat with a grin revealing dazzling white teeth logo was offending anyone. Now they're being persuaded to brush with Darlie.
This month, Colgate-Palmolive and Hawley and Hazel are launching a year-long drive to introduce consumers to Darlie Tooth Paste, complete with a new logo of a face so shadowed that it could represent any race. The bright white teeth remain.
Outrage in the United States - after Colgate bought half of Hawley and Hazel in 1985 - and elsewhere at the label has prompted its makers to change the name and image and mount a massive campaign to retain confused customers.
'We look at it this way,' said Eddie Niem, managing director of the Hongkong-based manufacturer, Hawley and Hazel. 'We want the toothpaste to be internationally acceptable.' Targeting Singapore, where Darkie has a 50 per cent market share, Mr Niem said the challenge was to make the switch while retaining the loyalty of current users.
The marketing avalanche then spreads to Taiwan, Hongkong, Malaysia and Thailand, where Darkie commands between 20 to 75 per cent of the market.
With Colgate paying for the redesign and repackaging plus reimbursement for any loss in profits, Mr Niem said researchers went through many variations on the name Darkie to find one similar but not potentially objectionable. Darkie didn't make it.