“I am shocked. It’s upsetting to be described as chocolate, not just for me, but for all black women and black people. I do not find any humor in this. It is insulting and hurtful,” said the uber model Naomi Campbell. Obviously she was referring to the new Cadbury Ad to promote its new Bliss chocolate bar. The advertisement read, “Move over Naomi, there’s a new diva in town,” with an image of the candy posed on a mound of diamonds.
Cadbury has now apologized to supermodel Naomi Campbell for using her name in the new Bliss chocolate bar Ad. Cadbury posted the following statement on its website: “Cadbury understands that our latest advertising campaign for Cadbury Dairy Milk Bliss caused upset to Naomi Campbell and her family. Cadbury takes its responsibility to consumers very seriously indeed and we would never deliberately produce any marketing material we felt might cause offence to any section of society. It was not our intention that this campaign should offend Naomi, her family or anybody else and we are sincerely sorry that it has done so.
We can confirm that the advertisement is no longer in circulation and we will not be using it in future marketing for Cadbury Dairy Milk Bliss. We have been in discussions with Naomi’s solicitors and can confirm that they have accepted our apology on her behalf as a conclusion to this issue.”
Naomi Campbell was pleased that Cadbury asked for forgiveness. But, she added, “It is also a shame that it took so long for Cadbury to offer this apology. I hope they and other multinationals can learn from this; that offence may not be their intention, but when it is shown that it has caused offence a sincere apology straight away goes a long a way. Better still they should avoid causing offense in the first place which is best achieved by having greater diversity at board and senior management level.”
By the way Naomi Campbell Posed with a Chocolate Bunny for a David LaChapelle Photograph sometime back!