News

Adam Elliott-Cooper, a writer, activist and Ceasefire Associate editor, explores the concept of beauty among black women with this insightful interview of two up and coming writer and activists.

We are still awaiting conformation from Naomi Campbell, but we have been told by Cadbury that they have issued an apology.

We hope the apology is genuine, unlike the response offered earlier that stated 'we are sorry you are offended', as opposed to saying we are sorry for causing offense.

If this is the case we at OBV would regard the matter as closed. We had only quite rightly asked for a withdrawal of the advert and an apology.

It is regrettable that the company had to see a global response before they acted in this simple way.

These three senior executives form part of Krafts European team.

Michael Clarke Exec Vice President, Patrick Satamian, President Chocolate Kraft foods, Nick Bunker President kraft foods and Cadbury’s

The full team across Europe is 21; many won't be surprised to see that across Europe the senior team is all white.

Tony Warner, a Management Consultant specialising in diversity, writes about the film Attack the Block and it's negative portrayal of young black men.

It’s number three in the UK box office, after Thor and Fast Furious. It features a majority black British cast but how does the film Attack the Block portray black people and what impressions will audiences walk away with?

Oprah Winfrey gave a big farewell on the final episode of her long running talk show this week. Taking to the stage she looked back on a TV career lasting 25 giving a tearful goodbye and thanks to her fans saying,

"You all have been a safe harbor for me. My hope is that you will be that safe harbor for someone else."

As a young boy growing up in Britain I was often confronted with racist stereotypes in commercial advertising and in some senses much more sinister in children's reading books. This was commonplace throughout the 60s and 70s where attitudes to race were an echo of the days of slavery.

Cartoons featuring black savages, golliwogs featured everywhere and The Black and White Minstrels show one of the most popular shows on TV. One off the most striking and offensive was the soap advert that promised to turn black into skin white.

President Barack Obama addressed both Houses of Parliament in Westminster this week. I and my nineteen year old son were privileged to be in the audience. What the President had to say about foreign policy was widely reported. But more significant for me was what he said about diversity. The first thing he said was this:

The chocolate giant Cadbury’s - owned by Kraft - today refused to acknowledge that their present ad campaign that promotes a chocolate bar as a diva, with the strap line ‘Move over Naomi there is a new diva in town’, is offensive to Black women. The Naomi in question is the super model Naomi Campbell.

Cadbury’s executives fail to see that it is both insulting to Naomi Campbell and Black women to be likened to a chocolate bar.

Dear Professor Rees and Rt. Hon Nick Clegg,

RE: London School of Economics (LSE) and Its Continuous Association With Dr Satoshi Kanazawa

I am writing this letter to both of you (being respectively Director and Visitor to the LSE) in response to Dr Satoshi Kanazawa’s recent research previously published in Psychology Today, which concludes that Black women are far less attractive than white, Asian, and Native American women.